The Electric House

The Electric House is a 1922 American short comedy film starring and co-directed by Buster Keaton. The film runs for 22 minutes.

Plot

The film starts with a mix up of degrees at college graduation. The dean announces he needs a technician to electrify his house. One of Keaton's classmates studied in electrical engineering and presents his degree to the dean, but is denied when he shows him a diploma that shows cosmetics and manicuring. Keaton is called upon and shows his degree, originally supposed to be for botany, now showing one of electrical engineering, and he is given the job. While Keaton protests at first, but when he sees the Dean's beautiful daughter he relents and accepts the job.

The family heads out on vacation and gives Keaton a week to outfit their home with all the newest technology, and the only thing he is given is a book called Basic Manual of Electricity from the Dean's daughter. However he manages to do it and adds technology to all different parts of the house. When the family returns, Keaton shows them the new devices such as a moving staircase, a train that carries food, automatic sliding doors, and more of the like. Hijinks occur while Keaton showcases everything, but the family is still satisfied with the work he has done.

The family hosts a dinner party to show their new house off to all of their friends. At the same time though, the actual electrical engineering major sneaks into the house to sabotage Keaton's work. The electric machines go haywire as the engineer messes with the system. Food gets launched at the guests, doors open and close randomly, and Keaton is thrown out of a window into a pool. By the end of the film Keaton manages to get the electrical engineer out the control room and chases him through the house. The two both end up in the pool and get sucked through the drain and end up at the end of a sewer pipe together as the film ends.

The Homeowner lands in his pool after being launched from his window.

Keaton gets caught on a contraption on the floor and is quickly brought to the next room.

Production

The Electric House marks the last appearance of actress Virginia Fox in a Buster Keaton film. She announced her resignation upon the project's completion, citing her weariness at being used essentially as a prop. She was noted as saying, "If I was hanging from an elk's head and they said, 'Hold it,' - I held it, even if they went to lunch." There was no bad blood in the long run though, as later in life she would go so far as to say that her favorite movies to work on were always Buster Keaton comedies.

The version of the film that was released is not actually the original production of The Electric House. Production and filming originally began filming in 1920, however it was stopped when Keaton suffered a broken ankle while filming a scene on the electric staircase. The project was shelved entirely after that, and would later be reworked entirely for what would become the 1922 film that would be released to the public. There are no copies of the original 1920 film that are known to exist.

Cast

• Buster Keaton as Buster
• Virginia Fox as Girl (uncredited)
• Joe Keaton as Extra (uncredited)
• Louise Keaton as Extra (uncredited)
• Myra Keaton as Extra (uncredited)
• Joe Roberts as Homeowner (uncredited)