- Actors: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Joe Bordeaux, Jimmy Bryant, Alice Lake
- Directors: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Buster Keaton
- Writers: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Jean C. Havez, Joseph Anthony Roach
- Producers: Andy Coryell, Brittany Valente
- Format: NTSC, Import
- Language: English
- Number of tapes: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Kino Video
- VHS Release Date: April 10 2001
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005ALOB
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Silent comedy (and especially Buster Keaton) buffs will thrill to this second volume of five revelatory shorts by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. "Back Stage," "Coney Island," "The Rough House," "The Garage," and "Good Night Nurse!" were made between 1918 and 1920 at the height of Arbuckle's popularity before scandal tragically cut short his career and forever unjustly tarnished his name. They represent a vital missing chapter in film comedy history. In addition to rescuing Arbuckle from obscurity, they also provide a fascinating nascent glimpse of Keaton. These are his first films, and one can see the seeds of his flowering genius. Arbuckle got his start with Keystone Studio founder Mack Sennett, the original King of Comedy, for whom he made more than 200 shorts in five years. These breakneck, gag-filled reels in which characters run amok show his influence. "Good Night Nurse!" is one of Arbuckle's best, a fever dream in which he finds himself at the mercy of sanitarium doctor Keaton (brandishing a cleaver and drenched with blood). Fans of the "Great Stone Face" will be surprised to see him smiling and laughing as he flirts with Fatty, rather fetchingly disguised in a nurse's uniform. Also of note is a fleeting gag in "The Rough House," in which Roscoe sticks two forks into a pair of dinner rolls and enacts a dance that imitates his former Sennett costar, Charlie Chaplin, who would later expand this routine for his masterpiece, "The Gold Rush." Arbuckle and Keaton's partnership ended on a high note with "The Garage," their last and one of their best collaborations. --Donald Liebenson
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Better of the two volumes,
By Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arbuckle & Keaton (DVD)
This is the better of the two collections of Fatty and Buster.Although most of thee films are two-relers with one reel worth of good material, much of this is good for a laugh (if a bit brutal). You'll howl at the bit in "The Rough House" where Fatty nonchalantly trieds to put out a fire (that he straterd while smoking in bed)with a smal cup of water. I Love it! "Back Stage" (a possible relation to the 1923 Our Gang comedy of the same name, as some gags and the overall subject matter are similar) is great with the wild dancing of Jack Coogan (Jackie's dad) and a howl-larius scene where Buster and Al St. John wildly fight the stage bully. "Coney Island", despite the story that goes off into wild directions, is priceless for its footage of sections of the amusement park that no longer exist. A great representation of silent comedy overall. The Fat man cometh.
4.0 out of 5 stars
I have to dock it one star because...,
By
This review is from: Arbuckle & Keaton (DVD)
The appearance of these films on home video is long overdue - but why did Kino have to saddle them with the awful attemted scores of the Alloy Orchestra? I would have to call it audio graffiti, they really have no sense of the mood or rhythm of any given film they're working with - the only way I can sit through the disc is to mute the audio and watch it truly silent. Kino, please dump the Alloy Orchestra and get real musicians like Philip Carli and the Mont Alto Orchestra to render sympathetic scores to your silent film releases
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Fat Man is Back Again,
By Chip Kaufmann (Asheville, N.C. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arbuckle & Keaton 2 (VHS Tape)
With this second volume, Kino International continues their salute to the sadly forgotten and largely misunderstood silent comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. This set of five comedies contains three of the best in the series plus the final short that Arbuckle and Keaton made together. BACK STAGE gives us a glimpse of the rural theaters of the past. It shows off Fatty and Buster to good advantage and features several gags that Keaton would recycle in his short, THE PLAYHOUSE. It also gives us the rare opportunity to see John Coogan (Jackie's father) do his famous dance routine. GOOD NIGHT NURSE has a memorable opening of Arbuckle in the rain trying to light a cigarette. This story of undergoing the cure in a sanitarium features a spirited performance from his long time co-star Alice Lake. We also get to see an expressive Buster Keaton, though not as expressive as he is in CONEY ISLAND. This short shows what made Arbuckle so popular before the scandal that ruined his career. His charm, his expressions, his acrobatics and his best "in drag" performance are all captured for posterity along with the Coney Island of 1918. Arbuckle's nephew, Al St. John (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jim Carrey), is given one of his best roles. Also check out Buster's backward flip. THE ROUGH HOUSE has Fatty doing the dinner roll routine that Chaplin would use in THE GOLD RUSH and contains a number of violent sight gags. THE GARAGE was the last in the series and features Buster as the main focus. As in Volume One of the series, the transfers are for the most part far superior to previous releases (with the exception of THE GARAGE) and are complemented by the Alloy Orchestra's commissioned scores. It's great to have these available at last for all to see.
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