The Electric House

A Buster Keaton short co-directed with Edward F. Cline. Keaton plays a botanist who, through a mix-up, is hired to electrify a wealthy man's house. He installs a series of automated gadgets—an escalator staircase, a self-setting dinner table, a motorized pool table—that all go hilariously wrong. The film is a showcase for Keaton's engineering ingenuity, with each mechanical contraption designed to fail in the most spectacular way possible. The escalator sequence, where Keaton is repeatedly carried up and dumped back down the stairs, is one of his most celebrated mechanical gags. The film is in the public domain.