Buster Keaton fights the bloody hand

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Movie
German title Buster Keaton fights the bloody hand
Original title The High Sign
The High Sign (1921) - Ad 1.jpg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1921
length 21 minutes
Rod
Director Buster Keaton ,
Edward F. Cline
script Buster Keaton,
Edward F. Cline
occupation
The High Sign

Buster Keaton fights the bloody hand (Original title: The High Sign ) is an American short film comedy by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline . The film was produced in early 1920, making it the first short film independently produced by Buster Keaton. However, Keaton did not seem to consider the production good enough for a debut film, so it was only released in April 1921 as his seventh film in theaters.

action

The "hero" of the film played by Buster Keaton (no role or actor names are given in the opening and closing credits) is a prowler who applies for a job as an art shooter at a shooting gallery at a folk festival without actually being able to shoot. The gigantic "Tiny Tim" , head of the shooting gallery, soon retires to a back room where the gang of gangsters "Blinking Buzzards" resides. This has just received the order to murder the citizen August Nickelnurser , because he did not want to pay protection money. Meanwhile, Buster has tampered with the shooting gallery's hit bell so that it rings every time he shoots. August Nickelnurser, who comes by with his daughter, is so impressed that he hires Buster as a bodyguard. Later, Tiny Tim is amazed at Buster's shooting skills, so he lets him join the buzzard gang and assigns him the murder of Nickelnurser. Buster is desperate over his conflicting obligations.

Nickelnurser has meanwhile equipped his house with a large number of trap doors and secret doors. Busters arrival there is expected not only by Nickelnurser, but also by the buzzard gang. On Buster's orders, Nickelnurser kills himself after Buster shoots in the air. Unfortunately, they don't hold out the actually convincing performance until the gang has cleared the field, so that Buster is chased back and forth through the house, a classic acrobatics revue for Keaton films. Buster can gradually take out one by one gangsters, at last he sinks Tiny Tim in a trapdoor.

Reviews

The short film received good reviews, despite the skepticism of its creator.

  • The New York Times saw on March 20, 1922 "a raging Buster-Keaton comedy - less pointed than some others, but witty and irresistibly funny".
  • The Variety magazine wrote on March 24, 1922: “His gags are original and always consistent with the narrative thread. Not an arbitrary piece of work, they are always introduced legitimately. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Lisle Foote: The High Sign on busterkeaton.org. Retrieved December 27, 2018.