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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Unusual & Very Creative, 13 July 2001
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

This is an unusual and extremely creative short comedy that shows off both Keaton's technical and comic skills, and it's loaded with clever visual details. Keaton's main character in this one is a stage hand, but he plays 20 or more different roles, most of them in the fascinating and bizarre opening sequence. The craftsmanship is perfect - even when several images of Keaton appear in one shot - and when you realize what the sequence represents, it's very suggestive as well. The main part of the film moves a little more slowly, but has some good laughs in it. There is a nice recurring joke about Keaton's girl - she is one of a pair of twins, and Keaton can never keep them straight. While Keaton made other films that are more uproariously funny, "The Playhouse" is a gem of inventiveness, and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys silent films.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
A visual delight... perhaps Keaton's Best Short., 2 December 1998
10/10
Author: Kevin (kevin22@jps.net) from SoCal

Drawing from his experience in vaudeville during his youth, The Playhouse is one of Keaton's most autobiographical shorts. Keaton displays his inventive genius for visual effects in a dream sequence by playing the role of all performers in a minstrel show and its audience as well. Each Buster, from drum player to a Grandma Buster, has its own distinctive personality and character. This is truly one of the great sequences of Keaton's career.

Buster is awakened from his dream of grandiose, caught sleeping on the job. In the second part of the short, he plays a stagehand who gets into trouble both on and off the stage. From this point forward the short relies less on technical marvel, but remains equally entertaining. Keaton's facial impressions when dressed up as a monkey are priceless.

As with most Keaton shorts, there are many unique details which enhance the overall film, but are not essential to the plot. Some of the funniest shots in the film don't even involve Buster, specifically two hilarious Civil War veterans in the theater's audience, each with only one arm.

Buster's co-star in The Playhouse is Virginia Fox. She does a charming job in a dual role playing twins. It has been written that in his youth Buster had a fondness for twin performers and was known to pursue both sisters.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
"Malkovich! Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich? Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich.", 3 March 2006
10/10
Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

Long before we became John Malkovich, an entire playhouse became Buster Keaton... and it's absolutely delightful. "The whole thing seems to be this Keaton fellow," says Keaton to Keaton dressed in drag (a much more attractive crossover than Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis!). Indeed.

Oh, but that's not all! Nooo, why stop there when we have an antagonist to show? Because Malkovich is only in the head, and thus Keaton is but a dream. However, the real playhouse owner... he has a bone to pick with the little guy, in some of the most hilarious Keaton hijinks.

This is the consummate Buster Keaton short. From the magic and creativity of the beginning, to the chase scenes and guy-gets-girl later story, we follow him as he takes on and removes persona faster than the speed of a swinging chimp! Oh, and he gets to play that chimp too, and very very believably.

--PolarisDiB

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Welcome to the Buster Keaton Show, 24 December 2004
10/10
Author: David Lane from Winston-Salem, NC

For some odd reason, I find the Buster Keaton features such as "the General" and "Steamboat Bill Jr." to be well-made, yet lacking in the explosive laughter I would expect. His short films however, pack a punch with comedy. "The Playhouse" is his best work ever - a showcase of his versatility and unparalleled comedic techniques. Any musician watching his clarinet technique (gnawing on the mouthpiece) can't help but hit the floor when they watch the opening orchestra scene. Likewise, the variety of audience members he plays, this is amazing. I can't help but wonder... how long (given makeup and costumes) did this one scene take to film? There are also more Warner Brothers cartoon foreshadowing in this than most other films I've seen. For a true short film masterpiece, see this film.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Masterpiece of the Absurd., 6 October 1999
Author: Darragh O' Donoghue (hitch1899_@hotmail.com) from Dublin, Ireland

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.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Keaton Multiplex, 17 October 2005
Author: Cineanalyst

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"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 in previous films. 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' '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 Thomas H. Ince, who, indeed, credited himself repeatedly in the opening credits of his films. 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), a film 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, as well. 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 film takes on greater significance and humour in referencing itself, other films and cinéma in general.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Probably Keaton's best short, but COPS is also quite amazing as well., 16 July 2006
10/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I've seen quite a few of Buster Keaton's short comedies and I would have to say this is probably one of the best of those still in existence. And, oddly, it isn't just because this is a very funny film, but because the first ten minutes or so are absolutely amazing--having perhaps the greatest camera-work of his age. In a case of complete absurdism, Buster is shown playing every part in a musical--including each member of the orchestra, the audience (ranging from men to women to kids) and even minstrels. While this isn't politically correct, it is amazing! Then, Keaton wakes up--it's all a very complex dream. In fact, he is a stage hand and occasional actor and has a wide variety of adventures both on and behind the stage. One of the cuter bits is an act consisting of identical twins--one is in love with Buster, the other could care less. He ALWAYS seems to think the wrong one is his lady love. In another great moment, he accidentally lets a trained orangutan go and so he dons makeup and imitates a chimp to keep the act from being a bomb. And, his chimp makeup and actions are uncanny and funny!

The film has so many laughs I can't even begin to list them all. Plus, amazingly fresh ideas and direction make this a must-see. Perhaps even better than wonderful shorts such as COPS!

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant editing makes this Buster's most cinematic short, 28 June 2005
8/10
Author: (aandersen@landmark.edu) from Putney, VT

During the first five minutes of this short, we see Buster assume over two dozen characters (including three pairs of audience members, conductor, six orchestra members, a stage technician and an astonishing nine minstrels all in a row.) He also manages to dance with himself on stage. The multiple exposures had to take place within the camera - accurately masking off sections of the film, then re-running it to expose parts while those already filmed are covered. Special effects had not come to the labs as yet. This brilliant knowledge of film and film editing shows why he is the greatest of all silent film comedians - he understood the craft and the art of film making.

The remainder of the film does not live up to those first five minutes. Buster pursues twins (actually the same girl-again making use of multiple exposures). There is a great impersonation of a monkey but other than that not much to amuse us. The pair of war veterans, each with one arm, clapping their remaining hands together when both liking something comes a cropper when one refuses to lend his hand to an act he doesn't care for. Other than these two inspired bits, the rest of the film is not inspired. It moves very fast and is amusing. Those first five minutes, though, and the edited screen sequence in SHERLOCK JR. are Keaton's greatest moments on film.

Kino's print is crisp and clear, using violin, piano, drum, flute accompaniment. A must-see.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Keaton's Day at the "American Music Hall", 16 December 2008
10/10
Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

THE PLAY HOUSE is Keaton showing his growth as a film comedian and director. It is in two sections actually, and they are blended together without much difficulty. We see Keaton as an employee going into a vaudeville house. We eventually learn it is the Keaton Vaudeville House, and everyone in the audience, on stage, in the orchestra, and backstage is Keaton in one set of clothing or another, and with different wigs or make-up arrangements. That includes an entire nine man minstrel show (which we even see two jokes about a cyclone being told). All the Keatons act well in their roles: as an elderly snobby couple (the man keeps falling asleep, and the lady complains of a lower class mother and son above them who are emptying soda pop on them). The six piece orchestra (with conductor) are all distinct from each other (the clarinet player treats his "licorice stick" like a licorice stick; the violinist puts resin on his bow like it's chalk on a billiard cue).

Then it turns out Keaton is sleeping on a bed, and is awaken by his usual nemesis Joe Roberts. With derby on head and cigar in mouth, Roberts is ordering Keaton off his bed and out of the room. To mournful music Keaton gets up, and picks up his hat from beneath the bed. Some of Roberts staff have come in, and have started taking other furniture out. Keaton goes out the door, and then we see the walls being taken down. Keaton has been sleeping on a set for the theater that he actually works in.

The rest of the film deals with Keaton's involvement as a gopher/backstage hand/ and occasional performer. He has to take over for a performing chimpanzee that is part of one of the acts (needless to say Buster does very nicely as the "trained chimp"). He also has a moment that needs a bit of explanation for the 2008 audience: Roberts is the head of an act of performing zouaves (French soldiers from North Africa who were known for prodigious acts of physical durance and speed). He is understaffed for the performance, and turns to Keaton, asking for more zouaves. "Zouaves" were also a name for a 1920s style of cigarettes, so Buster offers Joe his pack, before he's straightened out. Buster finds the "zouaves" at a nearby work site, where their foreman is dozing off, and they follow him to the theater and perform.

A running thread in the film is that Keaton is romancing one of a pair of twin sisters, and keeps kissing the wrong one (and getting slapped as a result). It is only at the tale end of the film that Keaton finds a way of telling them apart.

Keaton does not miss a single point about 1920s Vaudeville. The Zouave act is being applauded by two one armed old war veterans (the Northern Army in the Civil War had a Zouave corps for awhile). When they like what is going on they clap their two surviving hands together. But they disagree about the further antics of the performers, and one switches to another gentleman sitting next to him to clap his personal applause with.

It is a marvelous short, showing Keaton stretching himself for his jump (also in 1921) to feature films.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Keaton's best...but a technical triumph, 26 January 1999
6/10
Author: Dik Meyer (doc_muzik@geocities.com) from St. Clair, Pennsylvania

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.

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