In 1936, Charlie Chaplin released his classic "Modern Times", in which, among other things, he poked fun at unnecessary mechanical gadgets, such as the hilarious 'eating machine'. Well, back in 1922, Buster Keaton had released his comparable satire of marginally useful new gadgets for houses, which seemed useful at first, but then showed their downside when not used properly........In the beginning, Buster is shown graduating from college, having majored in botany, but, with a mix-up in the distribution of diplomas, his said he majored in electrical engineering. It happened that the dean(Joe Roberts) announced that he wanted someone to electrify his house. Buster volunteered and was accepted, after the real graduate in electrical engineering was rejected, because his diploma said he graduated in manicuring. Buster found a manual on electrical wiring, and went to work while the dean and his daughter(played by Virginia Fox) went on a 2 week vacation. He came up with some interesting inventions, most controlled by pushing buttons. I won't enumerate these gadgets, as I want you to discover them yourself. When the real electrical engineer(played by Steve Murphy) somehow sneaked into the house, found the control room, and started switching wires and pulling switches, often the gadgets went haywire, providing humor. To me, this film is as entertaining as Keaton's much acclaimed "Week One", released 2 years earlier.
Review of The Electric House
