the high sign – Otis Morley’s A-Level Film Studies Blog

Filibustering Keaton: The High Sign

Throughout The High Sign (1921), Buster Keaton employs elements of both realist and expressive styles of filmmaking, in order to create comedy in the most effective means possible.

Realist

The film is shot on location, depicting the populous streets of LA.
The costume design is also authentic, being evocative of the 1920s.
Keaton’s character is kicked off the train – his train-hopping demonstrates a realist issue in society. Paupers snuck onto trains as a mode of transportation in order to seek work in the city.
The merry-go-round seen within the film was a popular attraction during the time period.
The newspaper featured within the film represents the fact that it was the most common form of media during the time period. Furthermore, the advert in the paper is symbolic of nationwide employment across the country.
Keaton’s disrespectful behaviour towards the policeman is demonstrative of America’s negative attitude towards authority. The gag is also shot with a long take using deep focus, so that the viewer is able to freely focus upon the scene as they see fit.
The shooting gallery, a key location within the film, informs us that they were relatively common attractions found throughout the Jazz Age of America.
The primary antagonistic force of the film are the Blinking Buzzards. This comical gang is a representation of the presence of organised crime throughout 1920s America. The planned assassination of August Nickelnurser epitomises the many assassinations carried out which were primarily driven by political gain. This lawless society was established due to many ex-soldiers living a life of violence and corruption after the events of WW1, hyperbolised by the character of Tiny Tim within the film.
Within the films, characters can be seen drinking alcohol from flasks which demonstrates the effects of the Prohibition Era (1920).
A long take wide shot of August and Sybil introducing themselves to Keaton is used, allowing the viewer to freely observe each character.
The butler in August’s house is representative of the divide between social class that existed during the time period.
The four rooms of the funhouse are filmed with a static wide shot. The deep focus allows the viewer to focus upon each of the four rooms separately.

Expressive

The opening intertitle details the origins of Keaton’s character with the language “Nowhere, Anywhere, Somewhere”, which evokes a sense of ambiguity.
Keaton falls of the freight train in unrealistic and exaggerated manner.
The comically large newspaper gag is very surrealist and heightens the comedic value of the scene. The ensuing closeup of the paper also introduces us to Tiny Tim.
The banana gag is cartoonish and unrealistic – Keaton use of absurd expression manipulates the viewer’s emotions.
Keaton’s shooting of the bottles is hyperbolically inaccurate, shattering the illusion of reality. Keaton further accentuates the the gag by shooting a seagull out of the sky, which is achieved through the employment of special effects.
Fast motion is utilised as the man runs away to create a sense of cartoonish light-heartedness.
A closeup of the dentist sign allows the viewer to read the ‘Dr Pullem’ sign, an example of a comical pun.
Tiny Tim turns out to be very large, dwarfing Keaton in the frame. This subversion of the viewer’s expectations creates a comical realisation. Tim also wears dark makeup, this example of mise-en-scène foreshadows his antagonistic behaviour revealed later in the film.
An intertitle introduces us to the Blinking Buzzards through the use of absurdly hyperbolic alliteration. (Brutal bungalow of Blinking Buzzards, a bold bad bunch etc.)
Keaton employs parallel editing between his character in the shooting gallery and the Buzzards in their lair, contextualising the simultaneously occurring events to the viewer’s.
The ransom letter delivered to August is displayed with a closeup using vignette. This, alongside appropriate reading time, manipulates the viewer into reading the letter.
The iconic Blinking Buzzard hand sign featured throughout the film endearingly mocks stereotypical gang signs through Keaton’s use of choreography.
Parallel editing is employed between Keaton in the shooting gallery, the dog ringing the bell and Tiny Tim’s reaction as to fully contextualise the gag for the viewer.
Keaton briefly breaks the fourth wall by directly looking at the camera as he realises he has become a double agent, this is a knowing acknowledgement of the audience.
Keaton hangs his hat onto the wall by manifesting a peg by painting one onto the wall. Due to the gag being so surrealist and physically impossible to achieve in reality, comedy is instilled within the viewer. This can also be seen within a similar scene, in which Keaton smokes a pipe that appears to be part of a painted backdrop at the shooting gallery.
A fade to black signifies the passage of time between events.
The prior banana gag makes a reappearance as the policeman attempts to use his gun on Tiny Tim, creating fulfilling humour. As the peel is dropped on the floor, no one slips over it which subverts the viewer’s expectations of a classic cliché.
August’s house is full of elaborate contraptions and secret getaways. Including the likes of revolving wall panels, trapdoors and hidden corridors, this expressive mise-en-scène lends itself to Keaton’s surrealist and abstract comedy.
A classic Keaton chase sequence ensues within the house, demonstrating his daring athleticism and establishing comical slapstick humour.
A shot using vignette plays with the viewer’s perspective, the viewer is able to view both rooms simultaneously in order for the joke to be told most effectively.
One of the gang members’ head becomes stuck in the door, reinforcing the absurdist nature of the film.
The final scene of the film is subversive as the viewer does not know which side Keaton is on until the very last second.

Buster Keaton: The Silent Clown

Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton (1895-1966) was an American comedy actor and filmmaker. Popularised during the Classical Era of Hollywood, Keaton specialised in directing and acting in his silent films. Keaton is known for his stoicism and deadpan expression (developed as part of his family vaudeville act ‘The Three Keatons’), while performing dangerously impressive slapstick stunts.

In 1919, Keaton set up ‘Buster Keaton Productions’ alongside film executive Joseph M. Schenk. Through this, he received complete creative freedom within each of his films. Collaborating with co-director Edward F. Cline, Keaton initially created a multitude of successful ‘two-reelers’. Alongside Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Keaton created a numerous amount of silent films during this period, including the likes of One Week (1920), The High Sign (1921) and Cops (1922) which received wide critical acclaim.

Each of the films utilised an innumerable amount of visual gags within its storytelling, including: dangerously daring stunts, pan demonic chases, expressionistic gags and subtle critique of American society. The films were almost always shot on set in Los Angeles near the studio and Keaton often utilised long takes to illustrate a sense of realism within his films.

Expressionism can also be found within Keaton’s films, particularly through his use of surreal anti-realist devices – an example being the comically large newspaper in The High Sign. Keaton’s daring stunts and exaggerated body language could also considered to be a form of expressionism.

*The expressionist newspaper gag in The High Sign*

In wake of the success of Keaton’s short film success, he then moved onto to creating feature-length productions. The likes of Sherlock Jr. (1924) and The General (1926) are considered to be some of his best work, with Orson Welles remarking upon the latter as being “perhaps the greatest film ever made”.

Despite the decline of Keaton’s career in the 30s after he lost his artistic independence, his legacy continues to live on. His iconic gags are ever-present within contemporary cinema, and his deadpan expression will forever be evocative of the Classical Era of Hollywood.

The High Sign (Buster Keaton, 1921)

The High Sign (Buster Keaton, 1921) is an American slapstick silent film starring and directed by Buster Keaton. Being a ‘two-reeler’, the film was shot using two reels of film and thus has a relatively short duration of 21 minutes. The film was actually Keaton’s first effort, but due to his disappointment with the final product, it was not released until a year after its completion.

Within the film, Keaton plays a nameless drifter who lands a job in a shooting gallery. We are then introduced to a gang known as the Blinking Buzzards who wish to kill a man named August Nickelnurser. Keaton is then employed by both the gang as an assassin, as well by Nickelnurser as his personal bodyguard. This results in an hyperbolically humorous ‘double-agent’ storyline.

*The endearingly comedic Blinking Buzzard hand sign*

The film features a more complex storyline than both One Week and The Scarecrow, incorporating much more realism than expressionism throughout. Although the story is much more authentic and grounded in reality, Keaton’s trademark use of fast motion, slapstick humour and elaborate sets are still ever present. For example, an array of revolving wall panels, trapdoors and hidden corridors are utilised by Keaton to grand comedic effect. To demonstrate this, Keaton utilises an unusual wide shot at one point in the film, exhibiting the four rooms of the funhouse simultaneously. Through this, the comedic pandemonium is displayed in a creatively unique way.

The appearance of the Blinking Buzzard gang in this film is also an accurate portrayal of the 1920s time period, during which many ex-soldiers led a life of violence and corruption after the war.

I thoroughly enjoyed The High Sign and preferred it to both One Week and The Scarecrow. I found the double-agent storyline to be Keaton’s most engaging work thus far and found the ending to be extremely fulfilling.

Overall, I would rate The High Sign ★★★★.

Component 2c: Silent Cinema

The third component we are studying is Component 2c: Silent Cinema. This section of the course entails four films of study, each directed by Buster Keaton – a renowned silent filmmaker. These include One Week (1920), The Scarecrow (1920), The High Sign (1921) and Cops (1922). Throughout this component, the areas of study are the core study areas (including the key elements, contexts, aesthetics and representation) as well as one specialist study area – Realist vs Expressive filmmaking. This specialist area of study focuses on how the emergence of film as a new art form led to filmmakers around the world taking a variety of starkly juxtaposing approaches to filmmaking.