The story of The Electric House has Buster Keaton as
a recent college graduate. At graduation he and his rival get into a scuffle.
Their diplomas get mixed up along with a girl’s diploma. A millionaire comes to
the graduation and he asks to see their diplomas because he is looking for
someone to come and make his house electric. Buster has a degree in Botany but
when he goes up to the millionaire his diploma is that of his rivals who is an
electrician. Naturally Buster is chosen to come to make the millionaire’s house
electric.
Buster has until the millionaire and his family return
from Europe. When they come home their house is certainly electrified. The
stairs have been turned into an escalator which is way too fast and shoots the
millionaire right out of the top floor window into the pool in the backyard.
Buster also shoots out of the window and into the pool. After the two men get
out of the pool Buster shows the millionaire that the pool can drain completely
and then refill itself with a lever. The bathtub in one room comes out of the
bathroom right next to the bed with the touch of a button. With another button
the bed folds up. In the kitchen the dishes wash and dry themselves when placed
on a conveyor belt.
The millionaire has some investors come by his house to
see what has been done with it. At the same time the school rival is outside plotting
his revenge. He finds the room where all the switches are. He turns the dial up
on the speed of the stairs. Soon he has the whole house in a chaotic mess.
Buster finds his rival and sends him out of the control room by making the
sprinkler system go off. They both go on the stairs and fly out the window. The
millionaire gets caught in their scuffle and flies into the pool with them.
The millionaire is thoroughly upset with Buster for what
has happened and tells him he is through. Buster decides he cannot go on with
life so he ties a rope around a rock that he then ties around his neck. The
millionaire’s daughter immediately drains the pool and then he fills it back
up. When she drains the pool again Buster is nowhere to be seen. Turns out he
flowed down the drain the pool was connected to and came out the end of the
drain and landed right next to his rival.
The Electric House
was interesting because it had technology I can imagine people today would want
in their house especially the dishwasher on the conveyor belt. It was not one
of the best Buster Keaton films I have watched but as with almost all his films
it was entertaining. The Electric House
is only twenty-two minutes (which was good for my ADHD riddled brain) most
likely due to some missing scenes. You can watch The Electric House on YouTube.
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