Fatty's New Role

This time out Fatty is a amiable tramp and of course it's not difficult to make him look the part. He sleeps in a barn and tries to get himself a free breakfast and drink at Schnitz's Bar but gets thrown out. He's long gone but when the 'friends' of the owner read in the paper that a man has been causing havoc in bars after being thrown out, they play a jape on him that would land them in a secret CIA jail nowadays. They cook up a fake terrorist plot suggesting that his bar will be visited by a bomb at three o'clock.

Needless to say Fatty returns arrives back at three o'clock with a little money and chaos ensues. Talk about changing times! This is a film that not only couldn't be made today, if it was tried it would get the term 'plot device' banned. It certainly wouldn't be seen as comedy, but an anti-American attempt to throw scorn on the country's record on handling domestic terror threats.

As a film it isn't bad and is actually enjoyable for its lack of pace. The usual suspects are all here, with their outrageous facial hair: Mack Swain as Ambrose Schnitz, the bar owner, Edgar Kennedy, Slim Summerville and many of the rentacops of the era like Al St John. None of them get to kick anyone else's ass, literally or figuratively, and that seems like a real treat. I'm just sorry I missed Luke the Dog, as he was apparently in there somewhere, and he would have been my favourite actor in the film.

Fatty's New Role (1915)

*** (out of 4)

At times hilarious comedy from Keystone has a hobo (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) going into a bar to try and get some of its free food but the owner (Mack Swain) kicks him out. To play a prank on the owner, a few people there tell him that the hobo was actually a madman who has been bombing places that kick him out. FATTY'S NEW ROLE is certainly right as we get to see Arbuckle in a whole new light and I thought he did a wonderful job with the transformation. Playing a drunken bum was actually a great role for the comedian as he gets off to a great start as he wakes up with some chickens and he really delivers throughout the film. His performance is certainly the main reason to watch this and especially towards the end when he goes back into the bar and doesn't realize why everyone leaves him there alone. Swain also does a very good job in his part of the owner who fears that his place is going to be bombed any moment. The entire subject has a somewhat dark tone to it but I think this leads to some very big laughs. This here certainly shows Arbuckle at the top of his skills.

When hobo Roscoe Arbuckle is found to be lacking coin, he's thrown out of Mack Swain's bar. Some of his customers play a joke on Swain, writing him a note that a bomb will show up at three. Later, when Arbuckle shows up again with some money, Swain mistakes the cheese he's carrying for a bomb.

It's a set-up for Arbuckle to do some of his gags in his usual delightful manner. Chaplin would set them up to show off his grace; Keaton would build them up into huge, realistic-looking sets. Arbuckle just did the gag and moved on to the next one. All three methods have their points.

While the plot of Fatty supposedly having a bomb coming back to a bar after being rejected earlier because he wanted free lunch may not strike one as funny today in this time and age, I still thought the results were still humorous whenever bar owner Mack Swain thought anything, like a football or a dropped plant, was an explosive hitting at or near his place. Mr. Arbuckle here is a bit different from his usual character and costume in that he has 5 o'clock shadow and is dressed like a bum (or tramp for those British reading who use the B-word to mean butt). As usual, he's quite funny with the way he mixes drinks and takes one from a small glass and then one from a bigger one. But it's Swain who provides most of the hilarity with his reactions. So it's largely for him that I recommended this Mack Sennett/Keystone comedy short.

In experimenting with a new screen persona for Roscoe Arbuckle, this movie produces some mildly amusing results. Arbuckle had more than enough talent to play any number of character types, so he does a solid job here as well. But the character is not as likable or as interesting as were most of his other roles in the era. The main interest in this movie now may be its ironic and rather self-referential title.

Arbuckle plays a drunken vagrant who unwittingly becomes part of an elaborate practical joke that some bar patrons pull off on a saloonkeeper. Arbuckle gets some good moments of solo pantomime, and Mack Swain as the saloonkeeper has some amusing reactions to events. Otherwise, the actual story doesn't have all that much to offer.

It's watchable, and it is one more demonstration of Arbuckle's versatility, but he made many other movies that offer much more than this one does in terms of entertainment value.