The
last Arbuckle-Keaton short is a pretty good one. It has some major Bustery tendencies, always
a good thing in my book, and the cinematic partnership pulls out most of the
stops for its last hurrah. Really fun.
Fatty
and Buster are working at a combination garage/fire station. Naturally, whether they’re working with other
people’s cars, the garage’s, or the fire hose, they cause plenty of havoc. Meanwhile, a very determined but overly-slick
suitor is trying to woo the boss’s daughter (Molly Malone,) and he could prove
to cause a little havoc of his own.
What
little plot there is is very
meandering, but it’s the type of short that’s funny enough that it hardly
matters. The gags come fast and furious
(even if the cars do not) in a variety of shapes and sizes, with Fatty and
Buster’s clowning always at the center of things. There are lots of mechanical gags to be found
here – natural, given the setting – and you can definitely feel Buster’s
influence. I like the turntable used for
the car wash (and of course, it’s only a matter of time until Buster and Fatty
get stuck on it while it’s moving,) and the ready-for-action system they have
rigged up in case of a fire alert is a ton of fun. There’s also a really impressive shot of a
car falling apart piece by piece. It’s
like the famous car gag from Three Ages,
but slower, and in both cases, I really don’t know how they did it.
That’s
not the only gag that feels like Buster all over. At the start of the short, Fatty does Buster’s
cleaning-the-imaginary-pane-of-glass routine, and there’s a sequence of
out-of-control grease-flinging that really reminds me of The Blacksmith; Fatty and Buster gradually (and mostly
unintentionally) rendering the dandy’s white suit filthy is particularly
reminiscent of how Buster gets oil all over the white horse in that short. Buster getting on the wrong side of a police
officer due to an unfortunate mishap is also very familiar. In fact, the cop situation in Daydreams similarly begins because
Buster is inappropriately clothed in the street and goes through much the same
struggles to obtain a pair of pants. (In
this case, though, the Fatty-Buster version is funnier. I love
Buster using the paper kilt he tore off of a poster, and Fatty is a great help
during the unfortunate circumstance.
Their movements here are expertly timed, especially Fatty lifting Buster
so he can put his pants on while they’re still walking.)
The
final sequence, with the fire, is really top-notch. I’ve previously mentioned Buster’s impressive
fire-pole moves, and the whole bit with the leaky hose is great, both from
Buster’s end of trying to use it and Fatty’s end of trying to plug the leak. No surprise, there’s a nice daring rescue,
although this one comes with a few good twists.
Also, it’s a little thing, but I laugh so hard at Fatty and Buster
racing back to the fire station when they realize they’ve put on the wrong
helmets – so absurd, so perfect.
All in
all, a great finale for a great partnership.
Warnings
Slapstick
violence and a little drinking.
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