Long before Zac Efron and his fraternity bros started terrorizing new parents Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in the 2014 comedy Neighbors, there was another movie with the same name, a superlative 1920 short from the great Buster Keaton (one of his first four shorts on his own).
A tale of star crossed lovers, The Boy (Buster Keaton) and The Girl (Virginia Fox – originally one of Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties, she would marry major Hollywood mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, retiring from the business just a few years later) are madly in love, though the fence that separates their tenement apartments might as well be topped with barbed wire and armed with snipers, as their families despise each other – a feud rivalling the Montague’s and Capulet’s. Both fathers are especially involved in keeping the pair apart, though The Girl’s giant sized Father (Joe Roberts) is a much bigger threat than The Boy’s equally diminutive dad (played by Buster’s own father, Joe). Early each morning, they slip notes through a hole in the fence to communicate.
A cleverly concocted case of mistaken identities, it seems as though almost every action, from the notes onward, gets misconstrued – meaning that shenanigans arise from the multiple mistakes. Eventually finding themselves in court, the Judge (Jack Duffy) decrees that neither family should get involved in the love of these two infatuated individuals. But, will it be that easy? Will the neighborhood sweethearts finally be able to marry?
Written and directed by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline (a frequent collaborator on the early Keaton shorts as well as the co-director of his first feature, Three Ages. . . and also the main cop in this one), they throw one outrageous gag after another at you (even if one, by today’s standards, may be off-colour – if you catch my drift). When Keaton scales three stories of the edifice only a few minutes in, it impresses, but really, it is like a warm up comic before the main act. An equal fusion of acrobat, monkey and pirate, The Great Stone Face swings, jumps, climbs and balances like something from a Cirque De Soleil act, always daring to push the envelope to entertain his beloved fans. And let us not forget fall. . . for you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can take a tumble in a more talented, creative and funny way than Keaton. To conclude the eighteen minute comedy, a video game-like spectacle is executed to perfection, mesmerizing in its daring simplicity, awe-inspiring in its ability to make you absolutely, unequivocally state, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you would never, ever try even one-tenth of the visual gag.
Short, sweet and so much fun, Buster Keaton’s Neighbors is just one more example of a comedic mastermind at work – physical comedy in its most compelling form. It is the type of thing that brings the kid out of you as you watch it. . . the exhilarating mixture of excitement, fear and comedy that comes out of watching an outrageously daring venture. So, make sure to rescue this one from the past, for you too will pronounce it a perfect marriage of acting, story, and first and foremost, comedy.
Neighbors is quite easy to source – just do a search on Youtube.com and you should find multiple options.