Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead)
Mabel Normand (lead)
Al St. John (lead)
Keystone (production)
Something completely different for Roscoe and Mabel - though Al St. John maintains his normal swinging-from-the-chandeliers persona.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead)
Minta Durfee (lead)
Al St. John (lead)
Joe Bordeaux (lead)
Keystone (production)
Highlights:
Charles Chaplin (director/lead/writer)
William C. Foster (cinematographer)
Roland Totheroh (cinematographer)
Vincent Bryan (writer)
Maverick Terrell (writer)
Eric Campbell (lead)
Edna Purviance (lead)
Lloyd Bacon (lead)
Albert Austin (lead)
Charlotte Mineau (lead)
Leo White (lead)
James T. Kelley (lead)
Mutual (production)
Trying to avoid capture by a store detective, The Tramp switches identities with a floorwalker - unaware he is a double-crossing embezzler on the lam.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead)
Elgin Lessley (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Kate Price (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Corinne Parquet (lead)
Joe Bordeaux (lead)
Keystone (production)
The premise of 1914's Fatty's Magic Pants/Fatty's Suitless Day is ported to a hash house, where the cook and the waiter are in fierce rivalry for the fickle affections of the cashier, both trying to be the one chosen to go with her to The Waiters Ball. Along the way, the restaurant is used as a stage to showcase Roscoe's kitchen acrobatics and a variety of fast-paced comic skits.
This gem feels like a milestone in Arbuckle's growth from the often limited and flimsy material of Keystone to the wild and unhinged inventiveness of Comique. Most of the best elements of Comique-style comedy are here - even though Buster hasn't arrived yet. There's more craziness than the eye can keep up with, so the more this is viewed, the better it gets.
Metatheatrics rating (Number of smiles, winks, and other asides to the audience): 13 (Roscoe 6, Al, 6, Kate Price 1)
NOTE: Restoration posted on Internet Archive is visually better, but reconstruction posted on YouTube has additional scenes.
Frank Griffin (director)
Louise Fazenda (lead)
Charles Murray (lead)
Mary Thurman (lead)
Wayland Trask (lead)
Harry Booker (lead)
Edgar Kennedy (lead)
Al St. John (lead)
Keystone (production)
A surprise from Keystone: an actual story, that's even impressively tight. Surely must be lifted from somewhere. Add in a car chase, Italian bombers du jour, and a diving horse and you've got a bona-fide Keystone.
Charles Chaplin (director/lead/writer)
William C. Foster (cinematographer)
Roland Totheroh (cinematographer)
Vincent Bryan (writer)
Maverick Terrell (writer)
Eric Campbell (lead)
Edna Purviance (lead)
Lloyd Bacon (lead)
Albert Austin (lead)
Charlotte Mineau (lead)
Leo White (lead)
James T. Kelley (lead)
John Rand (lead)
Mutual (production)
With so many hilarious gags (and some are just small movements), that come at you so rapidly, repeat viewings is a must.
Max Linder (director/lead/writer)
Martha Mansfield (lead)
Mathilde Comont (lead)
Essanay (production)
Max is forced to get a job as a cabbie (in the final 7 minutes of this 20-minute film). His third US-made film, this seems to be missing the opening scene in the restaurant, that's described at maxlinder.de/maxinataxi.htm. What's here is more slapstick and action, less story and character.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Josephine Stevens (lead)
Luke the Dog (lead)
Comique (production)
Featuring:
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
Joseph Anthony Roach (writer)
Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Comique (production)
A childish upper-class alcoholic husband who passes out drunk in a bathtub (evoking an uneasy laugh, as it is not unrealistic and is a cause of death: remember Whitney Houston?), and who wants children from a wife that sleeps with her mother, provides an imaginative flashback of an imaginary event, with strangely incongruent details. But as his family watches the actual event in a newsreel, the actual event is reenacted in the present. So we have a film that shows how film is a technology that can replace our imaginative lives with virtualized actualities. But when we choose to enter its realm of virtualized actualities, we may find it not only conflicts with our idealized world, but also revives and reinforces the conflicts inherent in our actualized world. Pretty scary slapstick...
William S. Hart (director/lead)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
Lambert Hillyer (writer)
Margery Wilson (lead)
Yes, once again Hart plays a cowboy who is changed when he falls for a woman. But, from that point, this story rides off on a different trail. For starters, he's the big boss instead of an outlaw - a meanspirited bully. And, even though the cowboy sees only goodness in the woman, viewers may wonder what is really behind her amused looks and questionable judgment. In short, this stretches away from the predictable film fables, offering more of the depth and ambiguity encountered in everyday life.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Josephine Stevens (lead)
Comique (production)
Highlights:
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
Joseph Anthony Roach (writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Alice Mann (lead)
Josephine Stevens (lead)
Comique (production)
Fatty's behind the counter juggling utensils again, un hunh.
And a'courting the boss' daughter again, un hunh, un hunh.
And fighting off rival Al again, un hunh, un hunh, un hunh.
And drugging then sexually assaulting women again, un...wait - that was a different comedian...
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Luke the Dog (lead)
Comique (production)
The boys get a taste of their own philandering medicine when they all flip over a hardcore player (Buster flips backward). The result, of course, is endless slapstick battles - and the first time the kid in the crew gets the gal.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Natalie Talmadge (writer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Joe Keaton (lead)
Comique (production)
A parody of the conventions of Wild West movies - clearly a slapdash attempt to capitalize on the box-office success of 1974's Blazing Saddles.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
Joseph Anthony Roach (writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Elgin Lessley (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Joe Keaton (lead)
Comique (production)
The title could have been plural, as the first half features Roscoe and Buster as a pair of bellboys, mostly pulling off gags as a duo. Al has his share of fun time, but usually not sharing the screen with the other two. But in the second half, the three Rough Boys ditch their uniforms and roles to come together as a team for some serious wrecking. Highlights:
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Charles Dudley (lead)
Comique (production)
The shortest Comique - and quite unlike any other. With its flimsy story, it seems to be more of a parody. But it's not clear what is being parodied. So the “lost” reference results in lost laughs.
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (director/lead/writer)
George Peters (cinematographer)
Al St. John (lead)
Buster Keaton (lead)
Alice Lake (lead)
Comique (production)
A fast-paced gagathon that's ultra high-energy - even by Comique's manic norm. Highlights:
head city
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