Neighbors

Neighbors (1920) is Buster Keaton's silent comedy short you can watch online on iFILM. Eighteen minutes that twist Romeo and Juliet into a slapstick feud between two poor tenement families split by a backyard fence.

A boy and a girl are in love; their households across the courtyard can't stand each other. Courtship happens through a gap in the fence, clotheslines double as transport, and the climactic three-story human-ladder stunt is performed for real, no safety net in sight. Keaton co-directed with Edward F. Cline and stars himself, alongside Virginia Fox and his own father, Joe Keaton.

This is early Keaton at his leanest: no sentiment, pure stunt logic, the body used as a prop. For anyone curious about the roots of physical comedy and silent-era invention, it's a sharp little watch. Stream Neighbors (1920) online on iFILM.