Rounding
off Buster Keaton’s early films with Fatty Arbuckle, these knockabout comedies
aren’t the best Arbuckle-Keaton shorts (in my opinion,) but there’s always fun
stuff to be had. And honestly, it’s just
interesting to see Buster doing silent slapstick in films that aren’t his.
The
Rough House (1917)
It’s
just tons of fighting, with and
without food, over all sorts of things.
Oh, and fire. Not much plot to
describe, so I’ll hit on noteworthy gags.
Fatty tries to put out a fire with a teacup, and fun camera trickery
lets him roll a full service out of a table cloth. And, for a Fatty Did It First, he does the
dancing bread-roll routine later popularized by Chaplin (and, much later, Benny & Joon.) Buster is
a hardworking bit player, playing a few small roles and taking lots of hard
licks.
Best
Buster Bit: While playing a cop, Buster and his cohorts
get knocked down when they run into a guy on their way out of the station. The others pick themselves up and dash off,
but the 5’5” Buster sticks around to straight-up kick the guy in the face – from a dead stop, I might add.
Oh
Doctor! (1917)
Fatty
plays a (married) doctor who gets in trouble when he falls for another woman
with a no-good boyfriend. Buster,
hilariously, in Fatty’s son – hilarious because he plays him as a legitimate tyke, in short pants and
everything. Although, since Buster spent
his childhood mimicking his dad, maybe it’s fitting that he played a child in
adulthood.
Best
Buster Bit: Fatty pushes Buster into a table, over which he
somersaults backwards and lands in a chair.
When the camera cuts back to him from Fatty no more than a few seconds later,
he’s casually lounging with his legs crossed, his feet on the table, and a book
in hand.
Good
Night, Nurse! (1918)
Fatty
is sent to a hospital to be cured of his drinking. His doctor, Buster plays, instills confidence
as he roams about in a blood-spattered coat while brandishing a meat cleaver. Fatty’s attempts to bust out include
disguising himself as a nurse, for whom Buster naturally falls.
Best
Buster Bit: Buster’s shy flirtations with “Nurse” Fatty
are fantastic, especially when Fatty gets overenthusiastic with the playful
nudging and sends him literally head-over-heels.
The
Hayseed (1919)
This
one’s fairly aimless. Fatty and Buster
work at a general store, and as usual, Fatty is competing with another guy over
a girl. He does, however, come up with one of the more creative ways I’ve seen
for measuring a girl’s ring finger.
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