Keaton's Silent Shorts: Beyond the Laughter

Chapter 8: The High Sign

llIapfa8 The High Sign (April 1921) Ccurtay of the A(Wemy of Mocion Piclure IIrIS lUld Scienccs K eaton shelved The High Sign after production in tbe first t'"-' monthsof 1920 and premiered with One Week. Because it ischronologically Keaton's seventh released film, we migllt tend to consider it as tile next "rung in his ladder." We must remember , though, that it was in fact Keaton'sp'rst independent venture. As such, we sce first impressions of the Buster persona and of the 93 The High Sign filmmaker that Keaton would become. As the seventh release, however , we have the hindsight advantage of comparing The High Sign with his more refined comedy. We can thus understand Keaton's reluctance in releasing The High Sign when greater achievements were flowing through his head. OUR HERO CAME FROM NOWHERE-HE WASNT GOING ANYWHERE AND GOT KICKED OFF SOMEWHERE. Speeding locomotive wheels dominate the opening frame, focusing on Buster who soars in horizontally and lands on the ground. Keaton's concern with visual space is immediately obvious from Buster's dynamic entrance. The moving train becomes a canvas, its enormity canceling the frame until it passes and the landscape reaches out into the background. The opening title's underlined words of ambiguity suggest a survival of the fittest by questionable scruples. Buster's behavior will soon suggest reasons for his placelessness. Once the train passes, Buster surveys a small town with an amusement park and strolls out of the frame. Next, he plucks a newspaper from a carousel rider; as he opens the paper, it unfurls section by section into a sheet filling (again caU:celing) the frame. He falls under its enormity; when his head tears through, he spies an ad: HELP WANTED - MALE WANTED - Boy in shooting gallery . Must be expert shot to attract crowd. Ask for TINY TIM, 233 Spring Street. Buster folds the paper; the carousel rider hands him a coin for it, thinking him a newsboy. Further on, Buster lifts a cop's gun from its holster, substitutes a banana from a fruit stand, then casually leaves. Upon meeting Buster, we are struck by a cocky, and what Robinson calls "positively larcenous," character.1 His introduction includes stealing a newspaper, banana, and gun, followed by impersonation. Buster's interest in the advertised job implies opportunism rather than skill or experience (comedy often arises from contradiction; therefore, Buster's claim to be a sharpshooter suggests his ineptitude). Fate punishes Buster; the newspaper is a momentary, albeit ridiculous, nemesis. Yet Buster turns tables with "larceny" and outwits Fate: he tears the paper and pockets a profit from the reader (in fact, his "victim"). The foiler-foiled theme 94 The High Sign will persist in other films, as Keaton has already so vividly introduced it in his first production. The amusement park fully rises into view as Buster crosses a sandy expanse by a boardwalk. We are again struck by Keaton's visual concerns as a first-time director. A lanky kid (AI St. John) tosses a bottle that Buster catches in the palm of his hand; he sets it up with two more bottles for target practice, which occurs in the foreground while other gags break into middleground. As Buster paces to the foreground and turns his back to the camera, we focus on his arm, the only moving element in the scene. With his back to us, Buster and the motionless kid eliminate distractions to the one action that punctuates each shooting gag: his taut arm overstretching to fire the gun. His arm aligns with the center bottle, but when he fires, the right bottle breaks; he fires center, but the left bottle breaks. Buster fires at the kid mocking him, but the center bottle breaks. Buster fires at a fourth bottle but hits the kid's rear end. In fast-motion, the agonized kid races over the boardwalk and leaps into the next frame before the building of DR PULLEM DENTIST. The boardwalk is a background anchor, fixing our eye on the distance, which the kid penetrates as he runs. This depth-breaking principle worked (or, this being Keaton's debut, was to work) in Neighbors when the view expands "beyond the frame" as Buster slides along the laundry line and "offscreen" around the banister; and in The Haunted House when Buster reaches into the clock or directs the ghost traffic. Buster fires one last...