This time it was 1921's The High Sign:
Not only a 21 minute short that fit my schedule last night, but a notice to everyone that sometime next week I’ll finally see Babylon. It’s been awhile since I’ve had any Buster Keaton in my life (will these experiences happen more frequently in ’23? Perhaps) so this was selected as I stumbled across it on YouTube awhile back and kept it in a list for the right time.
Buster cons his way to working at an amusement park; people are led to believe he’s an expert marksman so he’s hired by a gang to kill a target… and the target unknowingly hires him too to take out the gang. There are plenty of sight gags and pratfalls as you’d expect, along with funny intertitles. I don’t want to spoil much except that there’s a very tall man, gun-related jokes, chases, and a house full of trap doors.
It’s never not creative but the final few minutes are especially so—I’m referring both to the plot and the pratfalls. One last note: there is a hand signal that the gang uses; not only is it unique (and is what you see Buster giving on the film’s poster), that is used for more than one gag.
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