Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Cineanalyst "This fellow Keaton seems to be the whole show.""The Playhouse" is one of Buster Keaton's best and one of the most ingenious films from around this time that I've seen. It might never have been, either, if Keaton hadn't broken his ankle, thus temporarily prohibiting him from some of the daredevil stunts he'd become famous for. Instead, "The Playhouse" relies upon technical innovation and intelligent concepts; as a result, it's one of Keaton's most cinematic films, alongside "Sherlock, Jr."The first six and a half minutes are especially brilliant, featuring an opera house where all the performers, staff and audience members are Buster Keaton. It unfolds wonderfully, beginning with a sole Keaton purchasing a ticket, then opening upon Keaton as the conductor of a six-Keaton orchestra, a la trick-shot pioneer Georges Méliès's "L' Homme orchestre" (The One-Man Band) (1900). That's followed by a nine-Keaton minstrel show, two Keaton's dancing in harmony and the above retort made by a suspicious Keaton audience member to top it off. In addition to what seems an intentional allusion to Méliès, others consider the program gag a rib at influential producer Thomas H. Ince, who, indeed, credited himself repeatedly in the opening credits of his movies. There's a resemblance, especially in the interaction of the audience members, to Charlie Chaplin's "A Night in the Show" (1915), too.Keaton reveals the opening sequence to have been a dream, something he did with some of his other films, as well. What I think is especially interesting about the remainder of "The Playhouse", as well as the first sequence, is its self-reference. Even though the film is set in theatre, the cinematic self-reference isn't lost, and much of "The Playhouse" alludes to the deceptive nature of movie-making, from the multiple exposure effects to realize multiple Keaton's to the illusion that a set is Keaton's bedroom. Furthermore, the twins and the use of mirrors reference the first part of the film.The latter part of the film greatly resembles "Back Stage" (1919), which Keaton made with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbcukle. Perhaps even the same sets were used for both films; otherwise, they were duplicated. As in "Back Stage", an acting troupe quits, forcing Keaton and some other amateurs to take their place for the night's show. There's the typical backstage mayhem, with Joe Roberts chasing Keaton around. The aping bit from "Moonshine" (1918) and the cup of water gag from "The Rough House" (1917) are also both revitalized here. Every scene in this ingenious, witty picture takes on greater significance and humor in referencing itself, other films and cinema in general.

Ron Oliver A BUSTER KEATON Silent Short.You can expect a lively night when the Buster Keaton Minstrels entertain at THE PLAYHOUSE.This hilarious little film is a tour de force for Keaton, who is often devastatingly funny. The amount of obvious effort that went in to making the special effects work is also impressive. Highlights: the opening minutes, with Buster playing absolutely everyone in the theater, from an old lady to a little boy, and, a little further on, Buster's peerless impersonation of a chimpanzee.Born into a family of Vaudevillian acrobats, Buster Keaton (1895-1966) mastered physical comedy at a very early age. An association with Fatty Arbuckle led to a series of highly imaginative short subjects and classic, silent feature-length films - all from 1920 to 1928. Writer, director, star & stuntman - Buster could do it all and his intuitive genius gave him almost miraculous knowledge as to the intricacies of film making and of what it took to please an audience. More akin to Fairbanks than Chaplin, Buster's films were full of splendid adventure, exciting derring-do and the most dangerous physical stunts imaginable. His theme of a little man against the world, who triumphs through bravery & ingenuity, dominates his films. Through every calamity & disaster, Buster remained the Great Stone Face, a stoic survivor in a universe gone mad.In the late 1920's Buster was betrayed by his manager/brother-in-law and his contract was sold to MGM, which proceeded to nearly destroy his career. Teamed initially with Jimmy Durante and eventually allowed small roles in mediocre comedies, Buster was for 35 years consistently given work far beneath his talent. Finally, before lung cancer took him at age 70, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his classic films were being rediscovered. Now, well past his centenary, Buster Keaton is routinely recognized & appreciated as one of cinema's true authentic geniuses. And he knew how to make people laugh...

alice liddell This has to be one of the strangest, most daring films ever made by a major Hollywood studio, and surely the funniest and most perceptive study of madness in all cinema. The first ten minutes are a breathtaking display of bewildering surrealist magic. Buster Keaton buys a ticket for a variety show. Buster Keaton conducts an orchestra of Buster Keatons, defeated by their hostile instruments. An art-deco line of Buster Keaton minstrels have a calm discussion, while pairs of male and female Buster Keatons make up the audience, restless, spiteful and belligerant.This is stunning cinema in any language (arf), and a supreme visualisation of mental breakdown, distorted personality, megalomania, and the most terrifying anxieties. It is also an hilarious pre-empting of the auteur theory - the elaborate playbill reveals Buster Keaton to be responsible for EVERYTHING, from scenario to lighting - this monopoly of creativity leads to chaos, madness, fragmentation and estrangement.As in so many of Keaton's films, this remarkable fantasy is shown to be the dream of a lowly, bullied man, this time a theatrical hand. Far from diminishing the film's dreamlike structure, this revelation intensifies it. An astonishing series of variations on the line between art and life, dream and reality ensues, an argument which descends into ever-increasing spirals of confusion and disintegration.Some of Keaton's best comic set-pieces follow, all hilarious in themselves, yet underlining the melancholy and fears of Buster himself - be he ordinary man or isolated genius. Life can never remain stable for him, his personality is shot to pieces - whether through existential crises or booze is unclear; like Gulliver in Houyhnhm land, his humanity is stripped to the level of bestiality - a very funny, subversive sequence, which is as despairing as the end of NIGHTMARE ALLEY. The supposedly redemptive love interest is a bewildering, tormenting game on Buster, as he repeatedly fails to remember which twin is his fiancee. The continually collapsing sets are a thematically rich, Usher(playhouse, geddit?)-like representation of Buster's fragile mind. To universalise the genius of Buster Keaton is to belittle and emasculate him. He is like us only because his trauma is so particular.

Vigilante-407 To be honest, the only video of this movie I've seen has been rather washed out. But the wonderful special effects of the first half still show through. This isn't a Melies' fantasy with avant garde stylings and effects, but rather a simple and almost elegant movie with one simple effect: Buster Keaton plays ALL the parts in a theatre presenting a minstrel show. This may not seem much in the CGI-world of the nineties...but back in the 1920's it was a tour de force. The ease with which Keaton brings together at least ten separate performances at one time is amazing...one can only imagine the planning that went into this movie.The second half is a tad low-key...though it of course features more of Keaton's acrobatic slapstick, and a particularly striking bit with him dressed up as a monkey.This is definitely not The General or Steamboat Bill, Jr., but it is very enjoyable and, I believe, very deserving of a high place in the canons of early film for the artistry that Keaton applied to the special effects.