RetroClips

The falling building front weighed about two tons, and the attic window was sized to clear Keaton's body by only a few inches on either side -- the crew reportedly couldn't bear to watch, and Keaton insisted on doing the stunt himself, marking his exact spot on the ground beforehand. There was no trick photography: one camera, one take, and a genuinely lethal margin for error if the wind had pushed the facade even slightly off its rig. It's routinely cited as the single most dangerous shot of the silent era, and stunt coordinators still study it today.