Our Hospitality
| Our Hospitality | |
|---|---|
Our Hospitality (1923)
|
|
| Directed by |
Buster Keaton John G. Blystone |
| Produced by | Joseph M. Schenck |
| Written by |
Clyde Bruckman Jean Havez Joseph A. Mitchell |
| Starring |
Buster Keaton Joe Roberts Natalie Talmadge |
| Cinematography |
Gordon Jennings Elgin Lessley |
|
Production
company |
Buster Keaton Productions
|
| Distributed by | Joseph M. Schenck Productions Metro Pictures Corporation |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
74 minutes (7 reels) |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
| Box office | $537,844 |
Our Hospitality is a silent comedy directed by and starring Buster Keaton. Released in 1923 by Metro Pictures Corporation, the movie uses slapstick and situational comedy to tell the story of Willie McKay, who gets caught in the middle of the infamous "Canfield"–"McKay" feud, an obvious satire of the real-life Hatfield–McCoy feud.
It was a groundbreaking work for film comedy as Keaton included "careful integration of gags into a dramatically coherent storyline", "meticulous attention to period detail" and "beautiful cinematography and extensive location shooting". This was a contrast to the usual slapstick comedies of this era. Turner Classic Movies describes Our Hospitality as a "silent film for which no apologies need be made to modern viewers" and Roger Ebert considered it Keaton's first masterpiece.
The Canfield and McKay families have been feuding for so long, no one remembers the reason the feud started in the first place. One stormy night in 1810, family patriarch John McKay (Edward Coxen) and his rival James Canfield (Tom London) kill each other. After the tragic death of her husband, John's wife decides her son Willie (the infant Buster Keaton Jr.) will not suffer the same fate. She moves to New York to live with her sister, who after the mother's death raises him without telling him of the feud.
Twenty years later, Willie (Buster Keaton Sr.) receives a letter informing him that his father's estate is now his. His aunt tells him of the feud, but he decides to return to his Southern birthplace anyway to claim his inheritance. On the train ride, he meets a girl, Virginia (played by Keaton's wife Natalie Talmadge). They are shy to each other at first, but become acquainted during many train mishaps. At their destination, she is greeted by her father (Joe Roberts) and two brothers (Ralph Bushman and Craig Ward); she, it turns out, is a Canfield. Willie innocently asks one of the brothers where the McKay estate is. The brother offers to show him the way, but stops at every shop in search of a pistol to shoot the unsuspecting Willie. By the time he obtains one, Willie has wandered off. Willie is very disappointed to discover the McKay "estate" is a rundown home, not the stately mansion he had imagined. Later, however, he encounters Virginia, who invites him to supper.
...
Wikipedia