Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

One Week (1920)

Buster Keaton and his new bride are gifted a kit home and Buster builds it with predictable results. The film features the first of Buster’s daredevil gags with a falling wall and an open window (modeled after a similar gag in an earlier 1919 Arbuckle/Keaton film Back Stage), which led to the same gag in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).

This first release from Buster as a solo comedian was actually preceeded by the production of The High Sign (1921), which was held from release in an to attempt to present an even better film for his freshman effort.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed, compiled and performed by Frank Bockius, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Günter Buchwald, Antonio Coppola, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sauer, Dennis Scott, Donald Sosin, and Sandra Wong. Some films feature two optional music soundtracks.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance; an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg; and analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

Currently, this is our recommended home video edition of this film for North American collectors.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes an introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg; audio commentary on six films by Joseph McBride; a recently-discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage; alternate endings for Coney Island and My Wife’s Relations; a video essay by critic David Cairns; a discussion of Keaton’s style by actor Pierre Étaix; an audio recording of Keaton at a 1962 party; and a 184-page booklet with a roundtable discussion with critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Dan Sallitt, an essay and with detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance; an essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries; an excerpt from Life with Buster Keaton (1951) in cluding a reenactment by Keaton of Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Salomé dance,” first performed in The Cook and the words of Buster Keaton.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 on home video page.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player to view this edition.

This Region B Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

This remastered Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered from the best 35mm print materials available. Not all of the source prints are of 35mm quality, however. Some prints are of only good quality as the surviving material is either contrasty and blurred from multiple print duplications or preserved from 16mm reduction prints.

For material that is quite scuffed or otherwise of distracting state, Kino offers viewer-selectable versions that have been digitally cleaned by computer processing.

Supplemental material includes 15 visual essays featuring contributions from Jack Dragga, Ken Gordon, David Kalat, Bruce Lawton, Steve Massa, Ben Model, David B. Pearson, R. Emmet Sweeney and Patricia Eliot Tobias, a series of alternate and deleted shots from Keaton shorts, a presentation of exerpts from comedy films influenced by Keaton, and Keaton cameos in short films of the late 1920s.

This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition has been discontinued and is . . .

The film is accompanied by a custom music score.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton Collection boxset on home video page.

This is a great way to affordably acquire Buster’s films on Blu-ray Discs.

This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition has been discontinued and is . . .

The films are accompanied by music scores composed, compiled and performed by Frank Bockius, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Günter Buchwald, Antonio Coppola, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sauer, Dennis Scott, Donald Sosin, and Sandra Wong. Some films feature two optional music soundtracks.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance; an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg; and analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended DVD home video edition of this film.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .

This remastered DVD collection has been mastered from the best 35mm print materials available. Not all of the source prints are of 35mm quality, however. Some prints are of only good quality as the surviving material is either contrasty and blurred from multiple print duplications or preserved from 16mm reduction prints.

For material that is quite scuffed or otherwise of distracting state, Kino offers viewer-selectable versions that have been digitally cleaned by computer processing.

Supplemental material includes 15 visual essays featuring contributions from Jack Dragga, Ken Gordon, David Kalat, Bruce Lawton, Steve Massa, Ben Model, David B. Pearson, R. Emmet Sweeney and Patricia Eliot Tobias, a series of alternate and deleted shots from Keaton shorts, a presentation of exerpts from comedy films influenced by Keaton, and Keaton cameos in short films of the late 1920s.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD edition of the brilliant One Week (1920), has been produced by David Shepard. The windowboxed video transfer utilizes a very-good to excellent 35mm source print.

The film is accompanied by an older music score performed on theater organ by Gaylord Carter.

For information on the other Keaton releases in this collection, see our The High Sign on home video page and The Saphead on home video page.

This edition of Buster Keaton’s first solo short film will please viewers with its quality picture image and pleasant musical accompaniment.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

The film is accompanied by a custom music score by The Alloy Orchestra and is the principal reason to own this collection (if you like their music).

As noted above, better-looking editions have subsequently been issued on Blu-ray Disc and DVD and this disc is not recommended. This edition was later reissued on manufactured-on-demand DVD-R disc and both the DVD and DVD-R editions are now out-of-print.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video, Hollywood’s Attic, RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault.

If you own a copy of this disc please consider loaning it to us to review for documentation purposes. We pay postage both ways.

NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business and this DVD-R edition is . . .