Arbuckle and Keaton, Vol. 2

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

This disc contains five two-reel silent comedies directed by Fatty Arbuckle and co-starring the great Buster Keaton. The films included on this disc are Back Stage, Good Night Nurse!, Coney Island, The Rough House, and The Garage. Each film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. English soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. There are neither subtitles nor closed captions on this release, but there is no need for either. Film enthusiasts will certainly want to see this disc, even if Kino has failed to add supplemental materials of any consequence. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
       Al St. John
       Al St. John - Stagehand
       Alice Lake
       Agnes Neilson
       Glen Cavender
       Jimmy Bryant

• Director:

  Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

• Producer:

  Joseph M. Schenck

• Screenwriter:

  Jean Havez, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

• Screen Story:

  Joe Roach

• Cinematographer:

  Elgin Lessley, Frank D. Williams, George Peters

• Editor:

  Herbert Warren

REVIEW:

• The Rough House is a good film with which to introduce viewers to silent film star Fatty Arbuckle. While Rough is not one of Arbuckle's greatest films, it is an amusing little trifle, and one that find the comic in a good form that modern viewers can relate to; indeed, there's more than a little of such later overweight comedians as John Candy and Chris Farley in Arbuckle's work. Like many silent comedies, Rough is made up of a series of set pieces that are fairly loosely strung together. As such, its success depends upon how good the gags are. Rough lacks many truly outrageous laughs, but it does tend to provide a steady stream of chuckles and smiles. The opening has some of the film's finest moments, as we watch Arbuckle respond in the most nonchalant of ways to the fact that his bed is on fire. A foreshadowing of Charlie Chaplin's famous potatoes-on-a-fork dance follows soon after, as does some truly amusing "lousy cook" moments. Arbuckle is in fine form throughout, and gets fine assistance from Buster Keaton and Al St. John, although Keaton is not given the chance to show his own special brand of comedy here. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi