One Week (1920)

A newly wedded couple attempts to build a house with a prefabricated kit, unaware that a rival sabotaged the kit's component numbering.

Directors:

Edward F. Cline (as Eddie Cline), Buster Keaton (as 'Buster' Keaton)

Writers:

Edward F. Cline (as Eddie Cline), Buster Keaton (as 'Buster' Keaton)

Stars:

Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely, Joe Roberts

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Buster Keaton	...	The Groom
Sybil Seely	...	The Bride

Storyline

Buster and Sybil exit a chapel as newlyweds. Among the gifts is a portable house you easily put together in one week. It doesn't help that Buster's rival for Sybil switches the numbers on the crates containing the house parts.

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Plot Keywords:

national film registry | bathtub scene | house warming | building site | house building | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1920 (USA)

Also Known As:

Uma Semana

Filming Locations:

Congregational Sunday School, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Joseph M. Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min (TCM Print) 19 min (1995 Film Preservation print)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was restored in 2015 through Lobster Films, a process partially funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

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Goofs

The directions to the house explain it should be constructed according to the numbers of the crates; but Buster already has the walls up when Handy Hank changes the number on crate 1.

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Quotes

The Bride: Now look at the darned thing!

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Connections

Referenced in Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

User Reviews

You Have To See This House To Believe It!

Man, this 19-minute Buster Keaton short is almost too exhausting to watch as one crazy scene after another is shown. This is a wild and always-entertaining short, considered one of Buster's best. It's total lunacy.

Newlywed Buster and his bride (the pretty Sybil Sealey) get a "portable house" as a wedding present. When they get to the site, they find out they have to build the house themselves.

A poor loser who lost the girl, "Handy Hank," sabotages the house-building process by fouling up the numbered directions. When finished, the house is a little strange, to say the least! One look and you are guaranteed to laugh out loud. Anyway, there's work to be done decorating and adding a few more little things like th chimney or trying to fit a piano through a front window.

A calendar is shown throughout the movie and we see the daily "progress." Obstacles are many but the couple persists and kisses their way through all the problems.

Most of the film turns out to be sight gags and slapstick, especially when they have their "housewarming" at the end of the week and a big windstorm literally turns the house into a "merry-go-round."

If that isn't enough, you should see the ending when the train.......