Leap Year

In itself, this is an enjoyable light comedy with a lot of energy. It also represented something of a change of pace from Roscoe Arbuckle, both in attempting to expand his style of comedy into a full-length feature, and in emphasizing comedy ideas involving relationships and situations over and above pure slapstick. It's quite unfortunate that his career was ruined even before this could be released, and in particular this shows the kinds of possibilities that could have been in his future.

The story premise is not a lot different in style from the setup to many of Arbuckle's one- and two-reel features, just a little more complex. Arbuckle plays nephew to Lucien Litttlefield's grouchy uncle character, and Arbuckle's character is involved in all kinds of romantic difficulties; he's unable to work things out with the woman he really loves, and he's pursued by a number of others whom he doesn't love. All of these entanglements are set up in a light, fluffy way, and this part makes for pleasant comedy in itself.

In a shorter movie, the setup would most likely have been followed by a lot of slapstick and then a quick resolution, and indeed Roscoe and the cast could have done this without difficulty, since Arbuckle was an expert in working with that kind of format. But here, the story takes it in a more complicated and interesting direction, with the main character's predicament getting more complicated all the time, even as he resorts to various ruses. The last portion features a pleasantly manic unraveling of the tangled web that has developed, and it includes some witty ideas along with the slapstick.

This may not seem all that impressive now, because in the mid- to late 1920s the other silent comedy greats learned to master the full-length format, leading to many movies that are still among the all-time best comedies. Given the chance, Arbuckle could well have created his own comic gems over time. "Leap Year" is only good, not great, but it would have been a solid first step.

Jeremiah Piper (Lucien Littlefield) is a grumpy old rich misogynist. His nephew Stanley Piper(Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) is the apparent heir. He falls for his uncle's nurse Phyllis Brown (Mary Thurman). His uncle warned her about Stanley, but he intends to disprove the playboy accusation. It doesn't help that he gets pursued by various women.

I haven't seen that many Fatty Arbuckle films. I know that his career ended by some sort of unsavory scandal. He was supposedly a peer to the greatest silent film era comedians. He's basically a big guy who does a bit of physical comedy. At best, he's sort of like a Chris Farley without the innocence. The silent film era doesn't allow him to truly speak. He has a bit of physicality. I don't think that I laughed once for this movie.

I watched Leap Year last night on TCM, expecting to see evidence of lost brilliance, since Arbuckle has been touted as a comic genius of the silent years. I was very disappointed. Notwithstanding his status in 1920, his performance in Leap Year simply does not age well. While much has been written about the impact the scandal had on Arbuckle's film career, it may be that his career probably would have died anyway. Let's be honest, jumping up and down and grimacing in front of the camera is about all he did in Leap Year (though he did have some nice acrobatics). Arbuckle is not a peer of Chaplin or Keaton. The scene where he "swims to Japan" is forgettable - there is nothing special there. In fact, the long shots suggest that perhaps he did not do his own diving. For a long time I wondered what was lost when Paramount destroyed "Gasoline Gus" and some of the other features they had in the "can" when the Arbuckle scandal broke. If Leap Year is any indication, I don't think that silent film fans are missing anything.

Though this film is not his best work, still it's a shame that the scandal around Roscoe Arbuckle prevented Leap Year from being shown in America. It occurs to me that if this had been given a theatrical release it would have been eligible for an Oscar in the early Eighties.

I don't think it's that good, but I am reminded so much of Jackie Gleason when I watch Fatty Arbuckle. In this one Arbuckle is a silent version of Gleason's famous playboy Reggie Van Gleason. He's the nephew and heir of eccentric Lucien Littlefield and Arbuckle just seems to get tangled up with women just trying to be helpful.

One who he's not trying to be helpful to is Winnifred Greenwood who's the hatchet faced wife of cheating Clarence Geldart. She's almost as funny as poor Fatty.

Leap Year is worth taking that extra day and checking out the art of Roscoe Arbuckle.

This 4-DVD set has been a long time in coming and should go a long way in helping to restore Roscoe Arbuckle to his rightful place in the history of film comedy. One of its most rewarding aspects is the tracing of Arbuckle's development as a comic genius and having the opportunity to see the antics of some of the lesser known people he surrounded himself with. The collaborations with Mabel Normand and Al St John have been around for years but you almost never get to see Minta Durfee (Arbuckle's first wife and lifelong friend) or Edgar Kennedy (when he had hair) before his Hal Roach days. It's great to have the early Keystone comedies in decent prints (paper prints from the Library Of Congress) although the formula does wear thin after awhile.

Of special interest are discs 3 and 4 devoted to Arbuckle after Keystone and to his directing efforts after the 1921 scandal which wrongly resulted in his being banned from the screen as a performer. This material is very rare and features comics Lloyd Hamilton and Lupino Lane as well as a special treat from Douglas Fairbanks called CHARACTER STUDIES which features Carter DeHaven and a surprise postscandal appearance by Arbuckle. There is also an over the top sound film with Al St John (before he became a B Western sidekick) called BRIDGE WIVES which must be seen to be believed.

This brings me to the three minor issues I have with this otherwise sterling set. It would have nice to have one of the late Arbuckle sound shorts included so that we could hear Roscoe talk as well as see one of his last onscreen appearances. Why are there two versions of HE DID AND HE DIDN'T (only the tinting differs) when there could have been one more comedy added? It would also have been nice to have more commentary to give background on these films as they unfold. Out of 30 films only 7 have this feature.

But these are minor complaints with one of the best packaged silent sets in recent memory. The film presentations are fine, the musical accompaniment ideal, the commentary good, and the choice of material is great (Fatty's only surviving feature film LEAP YEAR is especially valuable to have and see). This release also comes with a comprehensive 35 page booklet on Arbuckle and the restoration work that needed to be done. Anyone who has any interest in silent film comedy should acquire this collection as soon as possible to be put up on the shelf with their Chaplin and Keaton sets. At long last Roscoe Arbuckle is finally getting his due and it's about time...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.