Love

Here's good news for fans of Roscoe Arbuckle: a recently recovered, newly restored two-reel comedy from his heyday is now available on DVD. This film, simply titled "Love," is included in the 4-disc box set called The Forgotten Films of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, and for my money it's one of the definite stand-outs of the set.

This short was originally released as part of Arbuckle's Comique series of 1917-19. Fans know that most of these films featured the young Buster Keaton in various supporting roles, but Love was made while Buster was still overseas in the Army, so the role that most likely would have been his has been assigned Monty Banks, a charming comic who later starred in a series of his own. As for the plot, Roscoe is once more pitted against icky Al St. John for the hand of a young lady, this time played by a strikingly attractive actress named Winifred Westover, who later married cowboy star William S. Hart. Winnie's father is played by a strikingly UN-attractive character actor named Frank Hayes, who looked like a gargoyle. Once again, Hayes has been cast as a surly farmer who tries to force his daughter to marry Al St. John -- a guy no woman would ever willingly marry, in these comedies -- because he has more property than poor but lovable Roscoe. After an attempted elopement fails, Roscoe nonetheless comes up with a stratagem to prevail and win the girl.

Love features several elaborately staged acrobatic sequences that display a lot more ingenuity and advance planning than the obviously improvised knockabout of Keystone days. The botched elopement is a highlight, but to my taste the routine involving Hayes falling into a well over and over is repeated a little past the limit of funniness. (In college days I knew a drama professor, and when his aspiring playwright students repeated themselves he'd say: "I think you've visited that particular well once too often." Those words are especially apt to describe this scene.) One of the funniest bits is also one of the simplest, i.e. when Roscoe, rejected as a suitor by his girl's father, plays out his anguish in deliberately over-the-top, melodramatic fashion. He's hilarious, and demonstrates real acting skill. This is also the case during an extended scene played in drag. Drag sequences turn up in many of Arbuckle's films, but here, surprisingly enough, Roscoe is not only funny but downright poignant.

Arbuckle's development as a performer and director is clear when one watches this film back to back with When Love Took Wings, made at Keystone in 1915 and also featuring Al St. John and Frank Hayes in roles very similar to the ones they play here: Love is a more polished and satisfying comedy in every way. The very familiarity of the plot motifs and gags make this film feel like a Roscoe's Greatest Hits album, a package of tried-and-true routines he'd worked and reworked for years, but now executed with more finesse than during his apprenticeship.

The pamphlet that accompanies the discs in the recent box set includes an essay on the restoration of Love that makes fascinating reading for buffs. It's explained that the film we see today was painstakingly pieced together from two fragmented prints held in far-flung archives, one in Italy and one in the Netherlands. After all that work it would have been a let-down if the movie itself had been poor to begin with, but happily this comedy is a notable addition to the Arbuckle canon, and a real treat for fans. The restoration crew deserves a hearty round of applause for a job well done.

Fatty is in love with Winnie (Winfred Westover to whom Kirsten Dunst bears amazing resemblance) and is about to propose her. Then his biggest rival Al (Al St. John) arrives with a letter from his father to Winnie's father, in which he offers half his land to him if he allows his daughter to marry Al. Of course the deal is closed and Fatty has to put all his wits to work to overcome all the obstacles between him and his great love.

The film was long forgotten and was even considered lost, but thanks to the fragments found in the Danish and Italian film archives 'Love' can be now seen in restored condition. And that would have been great bitty if that movie had stayed lost, as it is one of the Arbuckle's best. Made without his frequent collaborator at that time, Buster Keaton, who still served in the army, the film still includes some fantastically staged elaborate acrobatic stunts. Also the film includes one of the best Arbuckle in drag moments.

Definitely must see film for all Roscoe Arbuckle's fans.

Any resemblance between this Fatty Arbuckle short and Greta Garbo's first incarnation in Anna Karenina which was entitled Love for the silent screen exists only in a mind that's really strange. Fatty goes through quite a lot to win the woman of his dreams.

Known today mostly for the scandal that brought him down, Roscoe Arbuckle was a pretty funny fellow and very agile for a man of his bulk as this short subject Love will demonstrate. It's a typical Arbuckle short so I'm told with Fatty as the poor honest farmhand looking to win the hand of his lady love in this case Winifred Westover.

Two other comics of note appear in Love. Al St.John who later in sound made a career of playing old timer sidekicks in westerns and Monty Banks who was better known as the husband of British entertainer Gracie Fields. St. John is Fatty's rival for Westover and the favorite of her father Frank Hayes.

Fatty goes through a variety of things including a plunge down a well which bears no small resemblance to Alice plunging down the rabbit hole and later he gets into drag to disrupt the wedding ceremony of Westover and St.John.

All very funny and we should thank the Deity that at least some of the art of Fatty Arbuckle has been preserved.

It's very fortunate that this Roscoe Arbuckle feature has been rescued and carefully restored, because it is a very funny and enjoyable feature from one of the finest screen comics of the era. Much of the story consists of familiar material, but it adds some good variety as well, and it has a brisk pace and many good quality slapstick gags. Just seeing Arbuckle, Al St. John, Monte Banks, and Frank Hayes romping around and chasing each other provides numerous laughs and smiles.

The story has a setup that Arbuckle used numerous times, with Roscoe's character in love with a girl whose father (played by Hayes) prefers a rival played by St. John. Banks is added to the mix as a farmhand who joins in the romantic tangle as something of a wild card. At various times the characters whack each other with brooms, fall down wells, get into trouble with ladders, and find themselves in numerous other predicaments.

One thing that really makes this one work is the camaraderie among the characters as they scheme against each other and occasionally shift alliances with one another. The cast works together very well. Also, the timing, aside from a couple of awkward moments in setting up some of the more far-fetched gags, is expert. The combination makes the good comedy ideas very funny, and it makes even the familiar ones amusing.

The notes that come with the Laughsmith/Mackinac Media collection of Arbuckle features give a detailed description of the painstaking and time-consuming process by which this feature was finally re-assembled and restored. All of those involved in the project can take satisfaction in having provided a very welcome surprise for everyone who enjoys silent comedies.

This film is part of the four DVD set of the "Forgotten Films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle" from Mackinac Media. While less of his old comedy shorts remain that those of Chaplin (who lived much longer and preserved his films whereas Arbuckle died very young a man despised by the public), the nice people at Mackinac did an exceptional job tracking down his films, restoring them to almost new condition in many cases, and in this case, piecing together a film from various sources to bring to life a movie previously thought to be lost! Unfortunately, an important part of the plot has been seen quite a few times before in Arbuckle films--the appearance of neighbor Al St. John with a letter from his father proposing that Al marry the farmer's daughter. And, in this case as in most other cases when this story element was used, the father agrees for the daughter! So, it's up to Fatty to save the girl and win her heart. This film isn't exactly new material, but is handled so nicely that it still merits an 8--a cute and well made comedy short.