Though not one of Buster Keaton’s most iconic shorts, 1921’s The Haunted House is, at its best, like one of those uber-fun Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? chase scenes – ghosts, skeletons, demons and other unexpected spooks flitting in and out of rooms and doorways, dodging, ducking, dipping, chasing, and ultimately, scaring our jarred, though still somehow stone-faced, hero.
Where it struggles slightly is its setup. Keaton is a clerk, a hard working employee at a small time bank. The larger than life money manager (behemoth Joe Roberts) has hatched a plan to rob said bank, his team of thieves looking to a crumbling old home, long rumoured to be haunted, as their hidy-hole – preparing for the cops or any other unlucky trespasser, they have booby-trapped the long since abandoned abode while also gathering white sheets to act as ghosts, building on its infamous reputation. After a glue gag that kind of falls flat, Keaton is spotted by the owner with guns in hand (after having chased off the robbers) – it looking like he is the criminal mastermind. . . fleeing, he hopes to find respite in the haunted house.
A side story finds an acting troupe performing Faust, failing miserably (a tale of good versus evil, it features all kinds of characters dressed in supernatural costumes and makeup), pelted by the onlookers. . . they are soon chased offstage, and, you guessed it, they too find their way to the comfort of the bank robbers’ haunted house.
It is at this point where things take off. Keaton, showing off his supreme skills, must outsmart the thieves and overcome his fear of the acting troupes’ costumes. With a disappearing staircase, trap doors, lazy susan-like floor, smoking books, rocket-launcher-like candles, a crackling fire (why ghosts would have a wood fireplace blazing is another question), and most dangerous of all, guns, he is in for a major challenge.
Jumping, sliding, climbing and, most of all, falling, there is no one better at taking a tumble. . . his movement and recovery skills no match for those inept actors and even less impressive robbers. Other clever set pieces find the gun wielding bankers and cops outside frightened away in a most comical way, while Keaton, now onto all the fake spooks, decides to direct their travels in and out of doorways like a traffic cop, then, our hero uses a vase by throwing it into the air to knock out an assailant; and, of course, Keaton’s constant attempts to outwit the collapsing staircase are priceless. Finally, there is the impressive coda, a dream that encompasses heaven, hell, and everything we have just seen within the house.
A fun if not perfect Buster Keaton adventure, The Haunted House is an entertaining autumn watch. A final touch worth noting, Keaton and co-writer/co-director Edward F. Cline utilized blue and yellow tinting to differentiate between when it is dark in the house and when the lights are on. So, put on a brave face and enter this haunted house, don’t be surprised if you won’t be able to keep stone faced for very long.