The Haunted House

A slapdash of half-cooked ideas that really don't fit together as a greater whole, despite writer / director Buster Keaton's best efforts. The first reel is your typical simple Keaton scenario, involving a young, lovestruck bank teller who carelessly tips an unfortunately-placed jar of glue into the till. This leads to a zany, if predictable, tarring and feathering of angry customers and confused managers alike, accompanied by the standard cavalcade of pratfalls and sight gags. Lightly amusing and occasionally inventive, but not his best material. The same can be said of the second act, an abrupt shift to the titular spooky mansion that's set about by a fearful band of would-be bank robbers. There's some light fun to be had with the trick staircases, trap doors and false walls, but for the most part this detour is thin and disconnected, lacking the sharp wit and playful recklessness of Keaton's better work. I'd rather watch him make something of nothing than flail about with lame set pieces and hammy, overwrought themes. Bare-bones and repetitive, this is about as close as prime Buster gets to a mailed-in performance.