Now that I have seen a few of each of their films, I am prepared to say that I prefer Buster Keaton over Charlie Chaplin. There may be cinephiles among you that might disagree with me.  After all, when it comes to the Silent Era, it is Chaplin whose name probably comes most readily to mind.  I have nothing against his work.  I enjoyed The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931) as much as any of his other pictures.  On the whole, and I am judging this based solely on two examples, I have gotten more laughs from watching Keaton.  It is not just that his comedy is a tad more physical, but the jokes hit that proverbial funny bone for me with greater frequency.  Thus, I give you the second of his films I have seen, Our Hospitality (1923).

There might be some familiarity with Our Hospitality even if you have never seen it.  If you know about the famous Appalachian feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families, then this plot should come as no surprise.  There is one difference from the start, and that is the names.  Mother McKay (Jean Dumas) is at her family’s modest backwoods home tending her son, one-year-old Willie McKay (Buster Keaton Jr.), when her husband, John McKay (Edward Coxen), comes in from a rain storm.  Dad brings news that his mortal enemy, James Canfield (Tom London), is in town.  This nineteenth century feud, the cause of which no one remembers, had gone on long enough in the eyes of Canfield patriarch Joseph Canfield (Joe Roberts).  Looking at a sign on the wall reminding him of the Bible passage to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” he implores James to stay his hand.  Heedless, James goes out in the rain and meets John just as the latter is emerging from his door.  They fire simultaneously, killing each other.  Joseph arrives to carry his son home, resolved that the vendetta against the McKays should continue.  As John dies in her arms, Mother McKay decides to take Willie to grew up away from this deadly fighting.  Twenty years pass and mom passes away, leaving a grown-up Willie (Buster Keaton) with his Aunt Mary (Kitty Bradbury).  Upon coming home to his guardian, she hands him a letter she has received addressed to him.  It is to inform Willie that he has inherited the McKay “estate.”  He is eager to go to claim what he assumes will be a mansion, but Aunt Mary takes this opportunity to tell her nephew about the rivalry with the Canfields.  Nonetheless, he is eager to see his property and leaves on the next train south.  At the last moment, he is joined in the same seat by Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge), though he is not aware of her ancestry when they meet.  They share a slow, if bumpy and hilariously eventful train ride to their destination, followed by Willie’s pet dog running unnoticed along the tracks.  During their journey, he dotes on her, behaving like a gentleman and winning her affections.  When they get to town, Joseph is there to greet his daughter while Willie sets off immediately to locate his inheritance.  As he strolls through town, one of the first persons with whom he inquires happens to be Clayton Canfield (Ralph Bushman), Joseph’s eldest son.  Once more, Willie remains unaware of this person’s identity, though reveals to Clayton the purpose of his visit.  As such, Clayton begins trying to obtain a pistol to immediately murder Willie, but the new guy in town comedically avoids all attempts on his life.  Instead, Willie manages to make it to his new house, accepting a dinner invitation from Virginia along the way.  When he gets to his new place, he finds a rundown shack and decides he wants nothing to do with it.  Instead, he heads for the Canfield residence.  By this point, Clayton has informed Joseph, and Clayton’s brother, Lee Canfield (Craig Ward), that their sworn enemy has returned.  You can then imagine their delight when Willie conveniently comes calling.  Though they want to act immediately, Joseph tells his sons that they are honor bound not to harm a guest while he is in their house.  The same courtesy does not extend, however, to when Willie steps one foot out the door.  It takes dodging a few more assassination attempts, as well as asking a servant as to the owners of this home, for him to realize the danger of the situation.  It becomes apparent that the safest place for him is inside the house, and he contrives to do everything he can to extend his visit.  Luckily, he is saved by a rain storm and forced to stay the night.  The following morning, the male Canfields still have their murderous intent.  Additionally, they are not so keen about the obvious budding romance between Virginia and Willie.  When she learns about his surname, she is initially shocked, too.  It is about this time that Willie manages to escape by donning a dress.  Unfortunately, his exit is noticed by Clayton, and from there the chase is on.  There are a series of unlikely, but still funny, set-pieces inserted into this sequence, and I will not detail all of them.  Instead, I encourage you to watch it to get the full effect.  The main one to know about is when Lee and Willie contrive to be tied to one another by a rope.  This is eventually snapped by the train, but Willie falls in the water in the process.  A distraught Virginia, who has been trying to stop her family from killing the man she loves, sees him being swept down the river in the rapids.  She gets into a boat to follow, but only manages to also be tossed into the drink.  He manages to catch her before she plummets to her death by going over a waterfall.  They are found by the Parson (Monte Collins), and taken back to the Canfield estate.  Joseph and his sons return there to walk in on Virginia and Willie kissing.  They are locking lips because the Parson has just married them.  Joseph is shocked, but relents, putting aside his pistols and shaking hands.  Willie returns the gesture, but only after discarding a brace of firearms himself.

I suppose the obvious place to go with a Catholic analysis of Our Hospitality is the aforementioned sign in the Canfield home admonishing them to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  It comes from Mark 12:30-31, and is the second half of what Jesus tells us is the summation of the Law and Faith.  The first is to love God with everything in you.  If you can do the first, the second should come naturally.  This is the only reference to Christianity in the movie, outside of the Parson, even though he does not do anything specifically religious.  The wedding he apparently performs is not pictured.  One could say he acts in the neighborly fashion that Jesus outlines in the Scripture mentioned above, though that is a brief moment.  Instead, the person I would like to focus on is Joseph.  If you were to see this movie, you might forget his early desire to put the feud aside.  After all, he readily arms himself when he hears about Willie.  At the same time, Joseph invokes a “code of honor” with his more blood thirsty sons that gives Willie protection, if only within the walls of the house.  Elsewhere, in Luke 12:29, Jesus is asked who constitutes a “neighbor.”  He replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  It is about two people who should be enemies.  One of them is hurt, but the other takes in the injured person and provides for him.  This is not exactly analogous to what you see in the film, but neither does Joseph turn Willie out in the storm.  Joseph is also the first person to lower his weapon upon learning of the marriage, doing so after seeing the sign one more time.  I will grant you that this is supposed to be a farce, and it is a good one at that.  All thesame, Joseph does provide a decent example of how we should treat others, minus the murderous intent, of course.

I recommend seeing Our Hospitality.  It, along with The General (1926), are the only two Keaton productions I have seen, but I have enjoyed them.  He also seemed to have an affinity for trains, at least in these examples.  Indeed, I looked up the conveyance used in Our Hospitality and found it to be remarkably accurate.  These factors just add to its watchability.