The Bell Boy

In my opinion The Bell Boy is the most enjoyable of all the "Comique" productions starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. I'll go farther than that: I think it's one of the best Arbuckle films from any period, and ranks just a notch or two below Keaton's top solo shorts from the 1920s. This is a delightful comedy, free-wheeling and fun, packed with clever routines that display both Buster's and Roscoe's talents to good advantage. Their characters are likable, violence is kept to a minimum, and even Al St. John comes off well. (Luckily, and unlike some of the other Comique shorts, The Bell Boy survives in good condition with decent picture quality and no obvious missing pieces.) It's clear that Buster himself held this effort in high regard, for he continued to reprise its gags throughout his career. In the '30s he reworked entire sections of this film in Love Nest on Wheels, a sound short for Educational that also marked a reunion with Al St. John. And in TV and movie appearances as late as the 1960s, Buster was still polishing invisible panes of glass and mopping the floor from a sitting position, gags that can be traced back to The Bell Boy.

Our setting is the Elk's Head Hotel, which boasts "third-rate service at first-class prices." Roscoe and Buster are bell boys, and Al is the desk clerk. When new manicurist Alice Lake arrives a competition for her attention erupts between the guys, but there's little suspense about the outcome, for she openly prefers Roscoe from the start. Meanwhile, there's plenty of time for goofing around. The most original and unexpected sequence involves a bearded, demonic-looking guest who seeks a shave at the hotel's barber shop. This scene might surprise some viewers when the guest, who initially seems so menacing, proves to be a mincing swish -- watch for Roscoe's quick "fairy" pantomime when the guy isn't looking -- but this sort of risqué humor was not uncommon in the silent era. Things get a little surreal when Roscoe serves as barber, and briskly transforms his customer into the living image of 1) General Grant, 2) Abraham Lincoln, and 3) Kaiser Wilhelm. This comedy has the heady atmosphere of a live-action cartoon, where anything can happen, and the characters seem to be made of unbreakable plastic.

Before you know it we're back in the lobby, where Buster engages in some knockabout with a top-hatted hotel guest (played by his father Joe), and then all the lead players take part in an exquisitely well choreographed routine involving the hotel's faulty elevator, a plank, and a mounted elk head on the wall which winks lewdly at Alice. For most of the film's running time the players are blessedly unencumbered by any sort of plot, and are free to use the hotel setting to stage one great set-piece after another. Towards the end there's a half-hearted attempt to work up a plot about bank robbers, but it's really just a springboard for a wildly staged fight and a frantic chase that ends things on an exhilarating note.

The Bell Boy is available on DVD from both Kino and Image Entertainment. The source material appears to be identical for each of these versions, but the wording of the title cards differs somewhat. More significantly, the musical score supplied by The Alloy Orchestra in the Kino release is so incongruous it practically ruins the movie: it's too raucous in some scenes and inappropriately spooky-sounding in others, and generally calls too much attention to itself. This is precisely what silent film music is NOT supposed to do! But the piano score by Neil Brand heard in the Image release supports the material nicely, so I'd recommend seeking out that version. In any event, this movie is an absolute must for fans of Arbuckle & Keaton, and also an ideal selection for anyone unfamiliar with silent comedy, a newcomer who would like to experience the real thing, demonstrated by experts.

'Fatty' and Buster are both in fine form in this short feature. It has a couple slow stretches, and many of the scenes are only loosely connected, but it more than makes up for that with some great sequences. The duo of great comics are working as bellboys in a hotel, and they get involved in quite a few scrapes in just half an hour. There are a couple of great gadgets in the hotel that remind you of some of Keaton's later short features, and they get a lot of mileage from them. Watch also for a funny scene where 'Fatty' fills in as a barber. This is old-fashioned manic slapstick, quite unrefined, but if you're a fan of Arbuckle and/or Keaton, it's great stuff.

There were parts of this movie I absolutely loved. The hotel elevator sequences were pretty original and funny--especially when poor Buster got his head stuck--it hurt just watching it! Plus, the amazing trolley sequence at the end of the film was amazing to watch. However, at the same time, the film relied too much on run-of-the-mill slapstick and lacked much of a story. In other words, there was, at times, too much slapping and falling. Also, because Fatty Arbuckle was at the time THE star of the film, many times Buster Keaton just looked lost and his talents were somewhat wasted.

Finally, this was from a video from KINO FILMS called ARBUCKLE AND KEATON Volume 1. The music from this short was particularly bad--just too loud and fast-paced. After a few minutes, I turned the sound off because it was just too distracting.

This silent comedy short in which Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton play hotel bellboys and Al St. John plays the hotel desk clerk was the funniest of theirs I've seen yet. Plenty of hilarious gags of falling and slipping and missed targets not to mention getting a head stuck in an elevator and Buster getting into a fight with a top-hatted man who happens to be his dad, Joseph! There's also a girl and a bank robbery involved. That bank, by the way, is called "Last National Bank". Since I have to put a few more lines if I actually want this to be submitted, I'll just say how much Mr. Keaton has really come into his own as an accomplished movie comedian under the tutelage of Mr. Arbuckle and sown the seeds of his own solo career. Oh, and like many of these early appearances, he smiles and laughs which is so in contrast of his reputation as The Great Stone Face! So on that note, I heartily recommend The Bell Boy. P.S. The version I watched was on the Image Entertainment "The Best Arbuckle-Keaton Collection" DVD.

"The Bell Boy" features Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton as bellhops in a hotel. Their jobs get complicated by a series of mishaps. It's nothing profound, but I laughed all through it, especially the scenes with the device on the clothesline.

This is only the second Fatty Arbuckle movie that I've seen after "A Reckless Romeo". These shorts aimed to make people laugh and they succeeded. It's particularly good that they launched Buster Keaton's career. Nice, silly stuff. No masterpiece, but enjoyable.