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This Keystone comedy takes a very familiar theme of its era and revises it slightly, making for an offbeat story with some amusing moments. The first part is nothing special, but the comic chase that comes later makes the movie worth seeing. Roscoe Arbuckle, Al St. John, and Frank Hayes head up the cast, and they do a good job when the material allows them to.

The story setup has a romantic rivalry amongst three different suitors (Arbuckle, St. John, and Joe Bordeaux) for the hand of a daughter whose father (played by Hayes) is taking an active role in choosing her mate for her. For a brief time the suitors shift alliances against one another, and then Arbuckle and the woman go off on their own in an airplane, pursued by the others in a variety of conveyances. The antique plane gives it an old-fashioned feel, although of course in its time it represented the future of technology.

There actually may have been material for more screen time here, and it seems to have been made with the free-wheeling improvisational style that characterizes so many Keystone features of the era. The airplane sequences were clearly meant to be the showcase, with the rest of the plot being used mostly to set up the air scenes. The setup has only a few good moments, and the ending, while attempting to vary the usual formula a bit, falls rather flat. Overall, it's probably about average for its time and genre.

When Love Took Wings (1915)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fatty and two other men must battle to win the hand of a young woman who they all love. There aren't too many laughs here but the film moves at a very fast pace and manages to stay entertaining throughout. Frank Hayes steals the show as the father who isn't afraid to throw a few punches to protect his daughter. there's a nice twist at the end, which will take anyone by surprise.

Film can be found on The Forgotten Films of Fatty Arbuckle, which contains four discs worth of material including items directed by Arbuckle after he was blacklisted from Hollywood.

Roscoe Arbuckle plays the lead in this picture, which is rather a good one of the kind. Some interesting aeroplane scenes appear in the course of the production, but love takes wings when Roscoe finds out that his lady love is baldheaded, and wears a curly wig to hide this defect. - The Moving Picture World, April 24, 1915