Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

classicsoncall Buster Keaton finds himself in the middle of a family feud in this story, or at least his character Willie McKay does. The Hatfield and McCoys are replaced in the picture by the Canfield and McKays, and Willie unwittingly becomes involved by developing a soft spot for his train traveling partner, Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge). Once again, Keaton's comic genius is on display with the situations he creates and the energy he puts into doing his own stunts and pratfalls. The 'log over the waterfall' sequence had to be one of the most daring and innovative types of scenes ever filmed back in the 1920's, and Willie's 'save' of Virginia as she's about to go over the falls is a masterstroke of timing and camera work. I also got a big kick out of the scene in which a Blue Ridge Mountain hillbilly pelted stones at the west-bound train with the conductor retaliating by throwing pieces of firewood lumber back at him. That was a crafty way of stocking the fireplace back home with virtually none of the work!The best however is probably the rail switch that separates the train cars from the locomotive and how they bob and weave their way down the track before hooking up again. I don't know if Keaton had a penchant for trains, but one figures prominently here just as in one of his greatest feature length films, "The General". Fortunately, Keaton's McKay is able to make peace with the Canfield clan by the end of the story, closing out with yet another effective sight gag. As the Canfield father and sons lay down their weapons, Willie manages to set down close to a dozen of his own!

framptonhollis Buster Keaton perfectly showcases his ability to twist genres in this all time comedy class, as he turns the premise of a Hitchcockian thriller into a riotous romp that is both clever and silly. Filled with some of Keaton's finest stunts, and some surprisingly intense (but also hilarious) climactic action/chase scenes, "Our Hospitality" is a simple and sweet joyride. It is a film made with love and care, as Keaton shows his passion for filmmaking with some of his breathtaking and memorable stunts. It takes real dedication to write, direct, and star in your own film-on top of doing dangerous stunts that depend entirely on timing. This is why Buster Keaton is one of my idols, he did some much hard work and still managed to make some damn great movies!

Bill Slocum "Our Hospitality" isn't Buster Keaton's greatest film, but shows a young pioneer on his way.As Willie McKay, Buster inherits a family estate down South circa 1830. To stake his claim, Willie must survive two things: 1. A ride on the "iron monster" which chugs ungently across hilly terrain. 2. The "hospitality" of the rival Canfield clan who wants to send an unwary Willie to the boneyard with the rest of the McKays.Watching Buster riding a train down South immediately conjures up thoughts of his later "The General," and there are plenty of other signposts for Buster fans. After finding himself unable to wear his foppish top hat in a coach with a low ceiling, Buster shifts to more practical headgear: his trademark porkpie, which remains with him thereafter. He's even joined this one time by his real-life wife Natalie Talmadge, who plays a young woman smitten with Willie to both their perils.I was prepared to not like Talmadge, as she didn't have much of a career in movies other than making misery of Buster's private and professional life later on. But she's quite affecting here. Keaton and co-director Joseph Blystone do a lot to draw out a naturally reticent quality in Talmadge; she and Buster work well together…at least here.The opening section features a very serious, overplayed dramatic "prologue" that isn't really needed and puts things on the wrong footing tone-wise. Buster gets a lot of mileage from his clattering train prop, but overuses the same gags. A big stunt at the end involving a waterfall, while jawdropping, lacks the comic underpinnings typically found with Keaton. It could be something out of "Perils Of Pauline."Most critically, the pacing is off. There are many good gags and funny bits of business, but the set-ups take too long. I'm still amused watching the third straight slow-loading flintlock gag in as many minutes, and that's something, but you so often get more from Buster.Keaton's genius shines through in many places, though, particularly at the Canfield house where he is the unwelcome guest of his would-be killers. They operate under a strict code of honor that won't let them shoot a guest (though the same code apparently says nothing about shooting an unwary victim in the back). Watching Willie work every angle he can think of to stay a guest is Keaton in prime form, whether presenting a series of really bad dog tricks or dressing as a woman.And there are some stunts as funny as they are awesome, like one where Willie is actually "rescued" by one of the Canfields on a steep cliff, and the two men wind up tied to one another as killer and prey. The period comedy is good, too; like an early shot of Broadway and 42nd Street in Manhattan's cowtown days, when Willie sits a bicycle watching a lone wagon pass by: "This is getting' to be a dangerous crossin'!"There's enough of that to make "Our Hospitality" good fun, and the stunt work, however off tonally, remains amazing even today. If it's not as great as other Buster comedies, it's Buster's own fault for making his later work so much better than this.

pyrocitor For a cinema icon so often associated merely with his perilous stunts, the cinematic and even comedic capabilities of Buster Keaton as a director are often forgotten or marginalized. With such a legendary obsessive drive to understand and master the mechanics of film, to bypass the sophistication and dedication invested by Keaton in each of his features as mere forgettable entertainment proves on retrospect a downright insulting misconception. As such, viewing efforts such as Our Hospitality prove particularly noteworthy, if only to reinforce recognition of Keaton as an incredibly capable and shrewd filmmaker as well as daring and nimble performer - the film in question demonstrates both aspects of the indomitable man at a nearly unmatched level of uniform excellence. Apart from strictly being only his second feature length film (credited as co-directed by John G. Blythestone), Our Hospitality marks a crucial advancement in cinematic sophistication for Keaton as a director. Resisting the temptation to simply coast by on simple sketch comedy, Keaton often eschews physical humour in favour of the sort of wry satire he pioneered in his D.W. Griffith parody Three Ages. Our Hospitality serves not only to demonstrate the ludicrous futility and pointlessness of interfamilial feuds, but expands into an overall satire of colonial etiquette and values, the crux of the film being an extended sequence where, when Keaton's character is accidentally invited into the house of the family patriarch out for his blood, the patriarch and his two sons must refrain from killing him until he leaves the house out of a bizarrely paradoxical code of honour.However, despite the advancements in comedic sophistication, Keaton is unafraid to play to his demographic, and there remains an abundance of sufficient physical comedy and superb pratfalling to appease even the most hard to please fans of silent slapstick. Nor does Keaton skimp on the acrobatic daring and astonishing which established him as a cinema icon, as the film bursts to white-knuckled life during its climactic river and cliffside chase, visibly risking his life tottering over cliff edges and through torrential rapids until finally building up to a perilous climax with the timeless "waterfall swing" stunt which has etched itself into the collective cinematic unconscious. The tension of the sequence is amped up to nearly intolerable quantities through the knowledge of how unreasonably dangerous the sequence must have been for its leading man, striking a viscerally tangible chord with the viewer and driving itself home as all the more chillingly effective. Similarly, Keaton also demonstrates a rare moment of dramatic skill amidst the silliness and satire, as the film's prologue, explaining the continuation of the family feud, is a micro-masterpiece of suspense film-making: a fearsome gunfight in the pouring rain, visibility limited to brief flashes of lightning makes for an uncommonly harrowing and tense start, adding additional poignancy and context to the story unfolding after it. Keaton's comedic cunning is magnificently punctuated by his evolving technical prowess, his innovative use of cinematography and editing (cutting between long shots and close ups to amplify the emotion of the scene) giving the film a far more modern veneer than almost any other films of the silent era. Similarly, the lavish period costumes, sets and props are wonderfully realized, giving the film a lusciously professional sheen, making the irrelevant slapstick all the more delightfully out of place. If a single complaint had to be extracted, it would be a slight lack of Keaton's usual conciseness and deliberate paring down to the crucial components, as certain sequences feel overly drawn out and overlong, stretching one note jokes past their feasible comedic limits (the voyage by train, foreshadowing and in some instances outdoing similar gags in Keaton's later masterpiece The General, while at worst still mildly amusing, falls prey to this aforementioned complaint). Keaton himself gives a delightful performance, easily crafting a character far beyond the parameters of his astonishing physical feats, and making his hapless, awkward but well intentioned Willie McKay a dumbfounded hero with a heart of gold for the ages, the definitive Keaton character whom he would continue to expand upon through later efforts. While the extensive physical pranks and acrobatic feats remain a staple, it is in the quieter, more subtle character moments that the true heart of Willie emerges, whether not knowing where to put his hands while under appraisal by a murderous father while openly smitten with his daughter, or resourcefully making a makeshift boat and paddle out of a sinking train car and coal shovel. Such moments demonstrate Keaton's truly gifted capabilities as a performer, and from start to finish, watching him is an irresistible pleasure. Keaton also proves apt at selecting talented supporting casts, as the almost unbearably lovely Natalie Talmadge adds an energetic immediacy to her otherwise rather standard love interest role as boorish patriarch Canfield's daughter, the force of her performance making the Romeo and Juliet style family feuding romance far more engaging. Joe Roberts proves suitably menacing yet deceptively dignified as tenaciously bloodthirsty Canfield, and Ralph Bushman and Craig Ward are impressively proud and aggressive as his two sons. However, particularly noteworthy is the presence of Keaton's own infant son, Buster Keaton Jr., who demonstrates astonishing acting capabilities for one so young (perhaps spurred on by his director father's own antics), delivering impressively on the comedic and tragically dramatic fronts during the intense opening sequence. For the notoriously cynical Keaton, Our Hospitality proves one of the most emotional efforts of his body of work, and arguably one of his most uproariously effective. Chock full of thrills, genuine tension, laughs (both broad and knowingly satirical) and real heart, the film demonstrates Keaton's remarkable knowledge and understanding of the cinematic form, and a truly abiding classic of the silent era. -9.5/10