The High Sign

The High Sign (1921)

What A Predicament!

Buster is thrown off a train near an amusement park. There he gets a job in a shooting gallery run by the Blinking Buzzards mob. Ordered to kill a businessman, he winds up protecting the man and his daughter by outfitting their home with trick devices.

Date of release
1921-04-18
TMDB
7.1 / 10 (131)
Runtime
21m
Genres
Crime, Comedy
Director
Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline

Casting

Interesting facts

The High Sign is a 1921 two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton, and written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. Its runtime is 21 minutes. Although One Week (1920) was Keaton's first independent film short released, The High Sign was the first one made. Disappointed with the result, Keaton shelved it and the film was not released until the following year. The title refers to the secret hand signal used by the film's underworld gang.

Production

The High Sign was Keaton's first independent production. In contrast to the "violent slapstick" of the films he had made with Fatty Arbuckle, this short film evinces the "dry and quiet comedy style" which would become Keaton's trademark.

The climactic chase scenes inside the house take place on a split-level, cutaway set with revolving wall panels, trap doors, and hidden corridors in all the rooms. Filming took place at the studios of the Comique Film Corporation recently vacated by Arbuckle. Keaton also began working with Arbuckle's former cinematographer Elgin Lessley and technical director Fred Gabourie, who remained with him until he signed with MGM in 1929.

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