His Wedding Night

His Wedding Night (1917)

** (out of 4)

Fatty once again has to fight for the woman he wants to marry. Going through these films in order I've noticed that each one basically has the same storyline and always has a food fight. This is getting a tad bit boring but Buster Keaton has a small role and brings some laughs.

Oh Doctor (1917)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Dr. Fatty gets in trouble when a woman he flirts with turns out to be a thief with his wife's jewelry on her mind. The best aspect is Buster Keaton playing Fatty's son and being constantly abused by daddy.

Out West (1918)

*** (out of 4)

Spoof of the western genre has Fatty Arbuckle landing in a small town being over run by thugs. Buster Keaton plays the timid sheriff. There are minor laughs throughout the film but it really works due to its wonderful charm and the fact that the spoofs work for westerns even made within the past few decades. There's some off colored racial humor, which might insult some.

In something of a thematic follow-up to The Butcher Boy from just a few months prior, Fatty Arbuckle plays a drug store clerk with a thing for the owner's daughter. Despite the sweetness of his immediate wedding proposal and the usual array of silly antics and messy customer confrontations, Arbuckle's character explores some strangely dark corners in this one. Price-fixing the gasoline and taking swigs from the pump may be one thing, a disconcerting throwaway gag, but swapping perfume samples for chloroform is another, especially when he uses the opportunity to make advances on the kayoed shoppers. It's weird and out of place, a dirty turn for what's, otherwise, a very light-hearted romp around the soda fountain. Buster Keaton is kicking around the store, too, as a harried delivery boy recruited to model gowns for the bride-to-be, but he's a less active participant than usual and the comedy suffers for his absence. The best scene, pictured in most promotional materials, involves Arbuckle's ill-fated attempts to somehow get a live mule up on his shoulders. Strange but mostly amusing.

'Fatty' Arbuckle works in the drugstore where he serves the drinks and also services the gasoline pump. He is about to marry Alice, the daughter of the drugstore owner. Al St. John, again, stars as Fatty's rival. When he gets pushed aside by Alice he decides to kidnap Alice. Unfortunately they kidnap delivery boy (Buster Keaton) who were just showing off the wedding dress to Alice.

Nothing too original, clever or inventive - Fatty again fights over a woman with his rival Al St. John. Buster Keaton's role is literally just being thrown around by others.

Most interesting moment in the movie was a scene, where Arbuckle's character (who were supposed to be sympathetic and heroic) drugged the female customers in the store to make out with them. Something that definitely couldn't pass nowadays.

Compared to the previous short I watched that starred Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle with Buster Keaton in support, His Wedding Night isn't all that funny though there are a few good laughs like when Roscoe changes the gas from 26 cents to $1.OO when a limousine arrives or when there's a food fight between him and his rival Al St. John for a girl's hand. Things really pick up when Buster arrives with the wedding gown as he first does a hilarious flip when he stops his bike and then-after trying the gown and keeping it on-he gets kidnapped by St. John and a couple of henchmen! There's also a mischievous scene when Arbuckle steals a kiss from a female customer while she's fainted from chloroform that Roscoe put in a perfume bottle that I was amused by. Otherwise, besides some boring spots there's also some racist humor on a couple of people of color that marred some of the enjoyment. Still, for all that, His Wedding Night was pretty enjoyable and I say this one's worth a look.

A strictly routine Arbuckle comedy in which most of the laughs are to be found following the belated entry of a young Buster Keaton, who is mistaken for store assistant Roscoe's bride-to-be. Modern-day viewers will no doubt find some racist gags and a scene in which Roscoe deliberately chloroforms a young woman so that he can kiss her as she sleeps offensive.