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Some people -- to paraphrase Mel Brooks -- call Buster Keaton a genius. But that's both too little and too much to give him credit; Einstein was a genius, Keaton... is incredible.

In the Fatty Arbuckle films he's amusing in what we tend to put down as a 'silent-comedy' way, a {by and large} straight-faced clown in a world of food fights, cross-dressing, clumsy cops and general anarchy. After exposure to a few hours of these I was, frankly, ready to write Keaton off as simply another sub-Laurel-and-Hardy slapstick act -- in the Arbuckle shorts he's reasonably funny but nothing to rave over. And then, suddenly, in the middle of the programme, came "The High Sign"... and it knocked me for six here, there, and into the middle of next week.

As a solo debut it's nothing short of astounding. It's the spectacle of a great talent emerging fully-formed and all at once into unique existence, like Athena from the head of Zeus. From the opening scene, the style, the humour, the devices, the sheer *intelligence* are instantly, blazingly original: this isn't just 'silent comedy' to be laughed at and over by the modern public with an air of faint condescension, it's surreal and hilarious and utterly gifted to side-splitting effect by anyone's standard. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. And the audience reaction -- from the former good-natured 'look-he's-dipped-the-bouquet-in-the-dirty-oil' laughter to the sudden roar of genuine surprise and delight -- was instant and electric. Suddenly, it was we who were eighty years behind the times, belated recipients of a moment of magic. Director, acrobat, actor, gag-writer, cinematographer, stuntman... for the first time Buster Keaton was set free into the universe of his own imagination, with confidence, grace and meticulous inventive brilliance, and before our eyes -- how could we not know it? -- a star was born.

Even more incredible to learn, and yet true, is the fact that Keaton himself rejected and suppressed this first film as insufficiently original, holding up release for a year: no-one ever saw it at the time. He knew he could do better and, unbelievably, he was right. But that's another story...

The entrance of Buster Keaton's unnamed character in 'The High Sign (1921)' is, in some ways, reminiscent of Chaplin's Little Tramp persona. The wandering vagrant, named only Our Hero, is booted off a moving train, and lands in an unknown town, the audience denied any back-story or unnecessary exposition. Wandering into a nearby theme park, Buster deftly snatches a newspaper from a moving carousel (done so casually that he doesn't look like he's even trying), and attempts to read the mammoth broadsheet. In search of a job, he happens upon an opening for a talented sharp-shooter, and, despite inadvertently gunning down a duck with his practice shots, Buster feels that he's qualified enough for the position. Chaplin's Tramp was never averse to breaking the rules if he wasn't hurting anybody who didn't deserve it, and Keaton's Hero is no different. By rigging an ingenious dog-powered bell-ringer to falsify the carnival stall, Buster fools his massive employer into believing that he is an ace with the rifle.

But, of course, if the plan had gone smoothly, then there wouldn't have been a story to tell. It seems that the employer is also a member of the Blinking Buzzards mob, a bold bad bunch of blood-thirsty bandits with a curious affinity for the letter "b." Buster is enlisted to assassinate one of the gang's enemies, and, by a curious turn of events, is also employed as that very same man's bodyguard (our hero, ever the hopeless romantic, accepts the latter job only to impress the target's pretty daughter, played by Bartine Burkett). When he steadfastly refuses to carry out the hit, Buster's reckless bid to escape the Buzzards' fists leads him on a farcical anarchic chase through concealed doorways and hidden compartments, a madcap comedic set-piece that never takes the time to slow down. Despite this memorable virtuoso finale, Keaton apparently felt unsure of the quality of his first independent two-reeler, and 'The High Sign' was shelved until the following year, when a broken ankle slowed the performer's output.

What amazes me in every Buster Keaton short is how good the physical action is. In 'The High Sign' he has the perfect setting to show us his tricks. In a house where there must be a secret escape in every room he has to escape from a couple of guys who do not like him very much because he betrayed them. He had to kill a certain person but faked the whole thing.

The story in a Buster Keaton short is not that important. Once he starts doing those great things on screen I don't want it to end. The camera is able to see four rooms at the same time and Keaton moves from room to room, through walls and ceilings. It is all great.

This is the kind of pleasantly silly and very funny film that typifies the very best of these old silent short slapstick comedies. It's fast-paced and filled with clever gags, and a couple of especially hilarious scenes. It starts when Buster tricks everyone into thinking that he is a crack shot, and thus finds himself hired by a rich miser to be his bodyguard, while also being recruited by a gang of criminals (the 'Blinking Buzzards', who go around saluting each other with the 'High Sign') to assassinate the same man. There's not much else to the plot, which is mostly a setup for a lot of zany antics. It's funny all the way through, and there is some especially good use of props and settings in this one. It's just slapstick fun, nothing to take seriously, but slapstick doesn't come much better. This is highly recommended for fans of silent short comedies.

The 'High Sign' has to be my favourite Buster Keaton short and it just so happens to be the first independent film Keaton produced, giving birth to his iconic unnamed character. However, Keaton was reportedly disappointed with the short and didn't release it until the following year, instead making One Week his first solo short. I question why though as I feel the premise of The 'High Sign' is one of Keaton's most inspired and even worthy of being used as the set-up for a feature - it's true what they say, the artist is often wrong about their own work. The opening prologue of The High Sign states "Our hero came from Nowhere- he wasn't going Anywhere and got kicked off Somewhere"; and considering his superhuman stunts, Keaton is like an alien who just landed on Earth. This opening prologue reminds me of a statement Roger Ebert made in his review of The General; "(Keaton) seems like a modern visitor to the world of silent clowns".

The 'High Sign' packs in so much gags and material into its 21-minute runtime, chocked full of blink-and-you-miss-it moments in the story of a wannabe gangster who also becomes a bodyguard for the man he is assigned to kill. The gag involving Keaton's set-up with the dog, the meat and the string (it's hard to explain) is reminiscent of something Mr. Bean would conjure while the short also features the earliest example I've seen in a film of a recurring gag with the high sign itself, a secret signal between the members of a gang known as The Blinking Buzzards. Keaton even messes with the audience's expectation for comic effect by walking past a banana peel on the ground only to not slip on it. Furthermore, the short's finale is a real "How did they do that?" sequence. The house with its traps and secret hatches is an astounding piece of set design and when four rooms on duel levels appear in the frame at once in which Keaton jumps back and forth between them, it reminds me of a 2D platform video game. I was laughing, in awe and was even shocked (when the gangster's neck is closed on the door) all at once. All of this takes place within a nostalgic, Coney Island-like setting (filmed at Venice Pier in Los Angeles) and even features the appearance of a man at the 11 minutes mark who bears quite a resemblance to that other great silent comic, Charlie Chaplin (intentional or not?). I'll say it now and I'll say it again; the genius of Buster Keaton will never cease to amaze me.

Although "The High Sign" is a short film and not very well known, in many ways it is one of Keaton's best. It is non-stop entertainment, especially because the plot is very nearly irrelevant and the gags are so constant. What makes this so special in the development of movie comedy are the shooting gallery scene and the trapdoor house. These are examples of quintessential American slapstick, and they have been copied hundreds of time since 1921. There is also one small special effect in the midst of all the comedy that really caught my eye: Someone spikes Keaton's drink with either alcohol/poison (we are not told) and Keaton sips it. He can tell it is spiked, and looks into the cup, and we see in the drink the image of the rear of a horse kicking it's hind legs. This obvious allusion to the 'drink with a kick' is not only funny, but it is the essence of cinema: show not tell. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for a short, innovative, hilarious comedy.

This little gem of a movie is chock full of inventive gags that will keep you laughing. There are the usual physical ones, such as the house and its many entrances/exits. What had me intrigued were some of the sight gags as well. The dog and the bell was amazing to watch. Each and every corner in Keaton's world has something wondrous around it. The man was an amazing athlete, and it shows here. Watch for the weird guns throughout the film. They don't make sense but then again they don't have to.

'The 'High Sign' (1921)' is one of the pieces, along with 'One Week (1920)' and 'The Scarecrow (1920)', that prove Keaton works better in short form. Essentially, it's a delight. It moves through a few different set-pieces and, most pertinently, places Keaton in the position of both bodyguard and assassin. Of course, our hero can't actually kill in cold-blood. Self-defence is a different matter, though. The finale sees him scurry about a trap-laden house as he's chased by a bunch of bad-guys, performing all number of slapstick acrobatics in the process. It also sees him, accidentally or otherwise, kill a number of his assailants - most graphically by trapping one of their heads in a door, leaving his aghast expression motionless for the duration of the piece. It's heavier stuff than usual - even when compared to earlier in the same short - but it lends to a feeling of proper consequence. The sequence is also really entertaining, featuring frenetic choreography within an impressively constructed cross-section of the booby-trapped home. The entire thing is just entertaining, really. The fast-paced gags are usually funny and, even when they're not, they're always enjoyable. The set-up is unique and the set-pieces are splendid. Plus, it isn't about Keaton trying to impress a girl again. 7/10

This begins with Buster being a crook. First, he steals a newspaper from a man riding a merry-go-round. It turns out to be the biggest newspaper you have ever seen! He sees a "help wanted" ad for a worker in a shooting gallery. You must be "crack shot." Buster isn't, of course, but he cheats again and gets the job, thanks to a little (and very clever) scheme with a little dog. (Buster is not an honest man in this movie, but he sure is resourceful!).

The arcade is run by a giant of a man (Charles Dorety?) who is a member of the Blinking Buzzards, a brutal secret group of extortionists and hit men. One of the men on their hit list is the town tightwad: "August Nickelnurser." The latter, knowing his days are numbered, walks by the arcade, sees Buster, and hires him as his bodyguard. The big villain-arcade owner (no name was ever given him) comes back, takes Buster to the Buzzards hideout, makes him a member and gives him his first assignment: kill Nickelnurser.

Holy cow - Buster is both the bodyguard and the hired assassin for the same man!!! What to do?

This fantastic premise - to be played out in the second half of the film, doesn't really get going until the final few minutes, unfortunately. We have to sit through a few meaningless scenes back at the arcade. However, when Buster, the target and his cute daughter, and all the Buzzards all wind up in the same house - a great house filled with trap doors....the finish is fantastic!

Buster Keaton, in his first work as a solo headliner, drifts into a new town and winds up hired as both assassin and bodyguard to a rich old gentleman with unpaid debts. Right away, it's clear that Keaton wants to get more narrative-driven than in his preceding pictures. Not that there's anything wrong with selecting a topic and free-form riffing on it for twenty minutes, but he seems to yearn for something more complicated, something to make those goofs and pratfalls carry a bit of purpose. This one's spotty, but it's an early effort; a growing pain, of sorts.

The establishing shots are tame and somewhat dull, probably why Keaton elected to hold back on widespread release until he'd made a good first impression, but it all comes together for the climax, which is absolute mayhem. The indebted old miser at the heart of it all must've seen trouble coming, because he's rigged his abode with all sorts of well-hidden switches and escapes. Keaton's barely learned the ropes when local gangsters show up to force his hand. So, with the criminal element in hot pursuit, Buster trips and stumbles through a maze of trap doors and secret chambers, disarming or disabling the bad guys mid-tumble and unwittingly saving the day. It's a dazzling single-shot scene, filmed in an incredible four-room, two-story cross-section, with enough simultaneous action to chew up two or three repeat viewings. The whole minute-long shot is simply remarkable, given its age and budgetary constraints.

Big set pieces had already been a target of fascination for Buster, even during his later pairings with Fatty Arbuckle, but he'd never approached anything of this scale. Hell, most modern films don't show half as much ingenuity or gumption. It's an omen of greater things still to come.

The High Sign" was Buster Keaton's first two-reeler after he went solo after leaving his partnership with Roscoe Arbuckle in 1920, but it was not the first film he released. Here he plays a drifter who gets hired by a member of the gang "The Blinking Blizzards" to run a shooting gallery. In a turn of events that can happen only in a Keaton film, Buster winds up being hired to both kill the father of the girl he loves and also to protect him. The film ends with a funny chase sequence through a house that has a series of trick doors, false walls, and traps that could only be designed by the mind of Keaton. Keaton disliked "The High Sign" and delayed its release. Instead, his premiere release was "One Week". Both films show a genius in bloom.

In The High Sign, our intelligent half-wit Buster trying his luck at shooting when he reads a newspaper ad wanting shooters at an amusement park shooting gallery. Our gypsy-like wandering hero lands up in a town, with an inter-title introducing him as a man going nowhere who's found anywhere and will land up somewhere. He steals a newspaper from the pocket of a guy and finds this ad; the guy later approaches Keaton and buys the same newspaper from him, not knowing that it was his own paper which Buster had stolen.

Before entering the park, he tries his hand at shooting and evidently stinks at it. Yet, Keaton is happy that he took out the practice targets, always the one he wasn't aiming at, and he accepts the job once he enters the gallery. Before leaving to his office in the next room, the tall owner instructs him that he wants to hear the bell go off every time Buster shoots. This puts our hero in trouble as we know he has little skill at shooting.

But Keaton is an intelligent half-wit, and so he devises an ingenious plan: he ties up a street dog to the bell and ties a meat bone close to the dog. Inside, when he steps on a lever kept hidden close to where he stands, the tied up meat will lower down. The tied up dog would try getting it and in its attempt cause the bell to ring each time the meat is lowered. This works very well until the dog sees a cat, a probability Buster never considered.

While this is going on in the gallery, we are also taken to the owner's office in the next room where we realize that the owner is actually the leader of a murderous group of extortionists called Blinking Buzzards. The group is impressed with Buster's 'shooting skills' after hearing the bell go off every time and assign him the task of killing an old man who refuses to pay him money. Our intelligent half-wit acquiesces.

Meanwhile, the target of this gang visits the shooting gallery along with his daughter and is impressed with Keaton's shooting ability. He requests Buster to protect him from the gang and our intelligent half-wit Buster, unaware that it's the same guy who's to be shot, acquiesces. The rest of the action continues at the old man's home.

I found out Donald O'Conner, the funny-man from Singin' in the Rain considered Keaton as a major influence. The 'Make Em Laugh' number from the legendary musical reminds me of the Keaton sequence in The High Sign when Buster tries to evade the gang of Blinking Buzzards at the old man's house by jumping from one room to the other, tearing up walls and sliding through connecting windows. I doubt any of Buster's contemporaries could top him when it comes to nailing the excitement of physical comedy. Anything is possible in Buster's world, like the scene when he slams the door into one of the gang members and we see his head popping out through the door.

Everyone including Buster himself considers him to be something he's not. He's not a shooter yet he's hired as a shooting gallery shooter as well as assassin as well as a guardian angel. And Buster plays along the situations creating comedy and craziness on the way. He likes exploring the possibilities of cinema and creativity in an age where cinema was still developing as a medium, and so he creates his world as he pleases. Take for example where he simply paints a hook on the wall and hangs his hat on it and it really does hang like there's an actual hook. That's how malleable and modifiable Keaton's world is. And High Sign is a high sign of what Keaton brings to the world of cinema.

This movie is chock full of visual gags. It starts of establishing a plot that seems a bit interesting (the guy getting two jobs at once), but you soon realize that this is only to facilitate a lot of different stunts and sight gags. The secret symbol of the evil gang here is also used well, and Keaton's inability to use in the correct situations. As the plot slowly progresses, the movie ends up in a situation where Keaton is in a man's house for two different reasons (that oppose each other), and the house is full of traps. When Keaton ends up getting chased around in this house, there's just minutes of fun, jumping from one room to the other, often with big sets consisting of several rooms at once. It's great how much Keaton manages to squeeze into this movie's 20 minute run time.

It is a simple word in this case because all is just amazing. The melancholic traits of story, the gags, the fight scenes, the portrait of the good guy front to huge challenges and the sign of recognition. Buster Keaton is so talented and his talent gives so splendid results, than each comment seems unfair for the imposibility of ordinary condescendence to an old short film about silly situations. The craft is high and the manner to use the humor almost fascinating. So, a too modern short film.

A BUSTER KEATON Silent Short.

Giving THE "HIGH SIGN" reveals members of the Blinking Buzzards, a nasty gang of ruffians who expect Buster to kill a wealthy old man - the same gentleman who's just hired Buster to be his bodyguard.

Lots of physical comedy in this little film, as Keaton first fools around a shooting arcade and then gets to outwit the Buzzards in the old man's mansion. The ingenious cutaway set, showing at once four rooms on two floors, was sized specifically to Buster's proportions and it's fun watching him rapidly use the trap doors & secret panels while being chased by the villains.

Born into a family of Vaudevillian acrobats, Buster Keaton (1895-1966) mastered physical comedy at a very early age. An association with Fatty Arbuckle led to a series of highly imaginative short subjects and classic, silent feature-length films - all from 1920 to 1928. Writer, director, star & stuntman - Buster could do it all and his intuitive genius gave him almost miraculous knowledge as to the intricacies of film making and of what it took to please an audience. More akin to Fairbanks than Chaplin, Buster's films were full of splendid adventure, exciting derring-do and the most dangerous physical stunts imaginable. His theme of a little man against the world, who triumphs through bravery & ingenuity, dominates his films. Through every calamity & disaster, Buster remained the Great Stone Face, a stoic survivor in a universe gone mad.

In the late 1920's Buster was betrayed by his manager/brother-in-law and his contract was sold to MGM, which proceeded to nearly destroy his career. Teamed initially with Jimmy Durante and eventually allowed small roles in mediocre comedies, Buster was for 35 years consistently given work far beneath his talent. Finally, before lung cancer took him at age 70, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his classic films were being rediscovered. Now, well past his centenary, Buster Keaton is routinely recognized & appreciated as one of cinema's true authentic geniuses. And he knew how to make people laugh...

The High Sign (1921) : Brief Review -

Buster Keaton - The Genius Architect designs the House of Comedy. Haven't heard of Gangster comedy much for the time like 1921 and as I always expect Keaton to surprise me, The High Sign does that unheard thing. A drifter at an amusement park finds himself both the bodyguard and hit man of a man targeted by a criminal gang. I was laughing hard when i read that intertitle, "Guarding one man and killing him at the same is some job." Lol, what a gaming idea it was. I was sold there only but then Keaton had his outstanding architectural skills to show in the climax to blow me away. In just 20 minutes, Buster Keaton sets a platform for the storyline and then builds a house of miraculous escape and traps that will surely win you over. That gangster sign of cross hands became a symbol later and has been used in many series and films. The title actually refers to the secret hand signal used by the underworld gang in the film and i didn't know it before so it was a good fresh punch for me. With his comic timing and Acrobatics, Buster Keaton is the only hero of the film, it is not a story or direction or anything but just him. That entire 5 minutes sequence in the end is like experiencing a circus on silver screen. He goes from one door then comes from other, he falls down and then again climbs up then makes others fall intentionally. There is lot to say about the architecture of the house of comedy but it can't be described in words, it has to be experienced to enjoy and then cherish it forever. The supporting cast looks good but has got very limited space to get noticed. Edward Cline and Keaton's duo gets along fine as always and there's nothing to be bashed. Like I said, The High Sign is all about Buster Keaton and nobody else and he alone makes it a Must Watch. Overall, a Classic Comedy of structural brilliance.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Our Hero came from nowhere - he wasn't going anywhere and got kicked off somewhere. With this sentence starts the very eventful short film of Buster Keaton who this times stars as a guy who first gets hired in the shooting range. With his clever cheating that shows him the masterful shooting, he manages to get recruited as a bodyguard for a rich man, Mr. August Nickelnurser, and also a hitman for a group of gangsters, who plan to murder the same Nickelnurser.

One can't stop being amazed how inventive was Buster Keaton when staging a physical comedy. Of course some of the stuff was repetitive, but he always managed to find some new ways how to use old gags and jokes. And how many subtle gags he managed to put between huge stunts. 'The High Sign' is no exception. Blink an eye and you might miss some very genius moments.

One of Buster Keaton's early productions casts him as a pawn between a homeowner and a gang. Although it takes "The High Sign" a while to get going, the whole sequence in the house is one of the funniest ever put onscreen. Knowing that they did all this without CGI or anything like that makes it all the more impressive.

It just goes to show how comedy doesn't need high budgets or over-the-top stories to be funny. What it takes is talent, and Buster Keaton was the king of that. It's too bad that his career faltered after the advent of talkies, and by the end he was reduced to the swill that was "Beach Blanket Bingo". Well, at least nowadays we can watch his short masterpieces on the internet. You definitely should catch this one. You can find it on Wikipedia.

Have a high appreciation for comedy and try to at least appreciate every kind of it. Some of my favourites actually, whether animated or not and film and television, are comedies. The witty and sophisticated types especially, also the physical sight gag driven ones. The broad types can work too, depending on how the execution is. With exceptions of course, am less of a fan of the crude type, which tend to veer on mean-spirited distaste.

Buster Keaton was and still is a big influence for the genre and cinema overall, and one of the greats. Anybody who has yet to see any of his work really should do so, one won't see anything quite like him or his work. Make sure though it's his silent films, shorts and feature, the transition to sound didn't/doesn't do him justice. His comic timing, his physical dexterity, his charm, how fearless he was in such ahead-of-the-time bold set pieces, his unique and unrivalled ability in making deadpan interesting and remarkably expressive all made for a genius of his craft.

Admittedly he did go on to even better things than 'The High Sign', where the material was even funnier, the physical comedy more imaginative and dangerous, the production values more technically advanced (some of his best, like 'The General', were achievements in this regard) and Keaton's "Great Stone Face" acting style more refined and distinctive. That sounds like this reviewer dislikes it. Not at all, actually loved it a lot and admire it greatly, just said all of this in comparison to his later work.

For his first independent film, the high quality for so early on is pretty staggering. The plot is very slight (even for a Keaton film) and a bit of a slow starter, others have said to forget it and as harsh as that sounds that's good advice.

So much in 'The High Sign' works brilliantly though. It looks good, not ground-breaking but it is hardly cheap and holds up quite well. Although there are funnier Keaton efforts, where the gags are more in quantity and even better than very amusing, there isn't a misfire in the humour and personally had a smile on my face the whole time. It's all beautifully timed and there is a real charm here too. The last portion is where 'The High Sign' is at its best, both hilarious and inventive and elevates the film significantly.

Keaton's physical comedy leaves one in awe, both in the stunts themselves and how Keaton executes them, with such perfect timing and dexterity seldom seen today in comedy. Deadpan has never been more expressive or nuanced than with Keaton, he was a true original in this regard and that can be seen here.

Altogether, highly impressive. 9/10