Return Visit
The Haunted House
Not surprised to see that the titular haunted house portion gets less love than the rest of the film (myself not excluded). I attribute that to it being an early example of a reference not aging particularly well, since it seems to assume some knowledge of the stage renditions of Faust at the time (I've only seen Murnau's 1926 film rendition).But! After forcing myself to dwell on it a bit, I find that this may be yet another case of Keaton being thoughtful and deeply nerdy about film.The highlight of this film is in the bank, where a perpetual glue-based incident churns through gobs of cash, to the point where my son exclaimed, "They must have lost so much money making this movie!" A reasonable thought, given film's ability to collapse illusion into reality. "Suspension of disbelief," as it's said.But! It's unlikely that any of that money was actually lost, right? Given a certain level of visual fidelity, backed by the actors performing the appropriate desire for it, you just… buy it. Even when the film itself introduces the concept of counterfeit money right up front, potentially priming the audience to consider the dissonance therein. Or, perhaps, lulling them further into the illusion.And so we consider the haunted house full of counterfeit ghosts. Just as with the money, Keaton seems to be suggesting that the supernatural can be made real with film. The use of Faust ties it to Keaton's own history on the stage and his evolution onto the screen. He's saying: here, it's real. He proves the power of film by displaying impossible tricks, like the gluing together of body parts into a living, breathing man (glue, again!).All this to say, The Haunted House may be the ultimate precursor to Sherlock Jr., as the closest of his shorts to hitting the same themes and framing. Think: Buster is knocked out and enters the story of Faust himself, just as he falls asleep and enters a film in Sherlock Jr.!
Nov 2, 2026 · Rewatched
