Roscoe Reviewed
So I sauntered on over to the Vista last night, all by my lonesome, to check out the Rosco Arbuckle retrospective presented by the Silver Lake FF. Seemed like a no-miss for me.
My favorite Movie Theater playing films by a local figure that I’ve read and written plenty about, but to tell you the truth, have never seen any of his movies.
The crowd wasn’t large, by any means. But it was a fair showing, filling maybe 1/3 to ½ of the auditorium. Before the films, a historian took the mic to give us some background on Fatty. I have to say she was boring as sin, just not terribly good at public speech it seemed. The only thing I got out of it, was reassurance that Jerry Stahl’s part fiction/ part fact book of his life kept to the facts pretty well.
The films were viewed from a projected DVD player. A little disappointing to not see a true film print, but hey the even was free, what can you expect. The sound, for the first 5 minutes had an insufferable buzz and at times the DVD froze or skipped. Again, not terribly ideal. At one point, some jackass must have pushed the wrong button somewhere for the curtain closed on the screen. Argh!!!
Disregarding all the Snafu’s of the night, I have this to say about the films:
The Rounders: This was a one reeler featuring Fatty and Charlie Chaplin playing two well to do drunks who conspire to steal cash from their respective wives to continue their binge. If for no other reason, its fantastic to see both of these champions play off of each other in what seems like total comedic intuition. The end of the short finds the two drowning in what looks to be the Echo Park Lake.
The Waiters’ Ball / Fatty’s Tintype Tangle: These two reelers seem to define Roscoe and his gang’s standards in report and reoccurring gags. A flapjack flipping gag occurs in both. Also, in both films, Fatty licks his fingers in what seems to be his equivalent of Chaplains cane twirl. In Tintype Tangle, towards the end, Fatty does an insane stunt where he runs and bounces upon a power-line at least 40feet off the ground. This is when the films of this era really shine for me, unbelievable stunts that just couldn’t be faked. That, and when the site gags are perfectly choreographed. Much of what I saw this night had a rather chaotic feel to it, with glimpses of choreography.
All three of these films were made during Arbuckle’s stint at Keystone.
My Stars: This movie was created after Fatty’s black-listing in Hollywood. At this point he was forced to only produce/direct the films under a pseudonym and could not appear in person. I have to say, out of all the films, this is where Fatty really shines for me. This film has a rather lucid and structured story line with truly hilarious captions. The gags aren’t quite as chaotic and help the story along. This thing must have been the inspiration for Rocky and Bullwinkle. The wordplay and pacing couldn’t be closer. Too bad the image quality isn’t better or I could actually see myself watching this one repeatedly.
All in all, I’m not sure if I was convinced of Fatty being equal to the likes of Charlie or Buster, but the nights viewing have definitely prevoked me to want to see more.
After the show, a party was held at El Cid. It being a weeknight and I being rather tired, I nixed the party. A quick side note, El Cid (it was reiterated) is the last existing part of D.W. Griffiths studio during the shooting of Intolerance.
My favorite Movie Theater playing films by a local figure that I’ve read and written plenty about, but to tell you the truth, have never seen any of his movies.
The crowd wasn’t large, by any means. But it was a fair showing, filling maybe 1/3 to ½ of the auditorium. Before the films, a historian took the mic to give us some background on Fatty. I have to say she was boring as sin, just not terribly good at public speech it seemed. The only thing I got out of it, was reassurance that Jerry Stahl’s part fiction/ part fact book of his life kept to the facts pretty well.
The films were viewed from a projected DVD player. A little disappointing to not see a true film print, but hey the even was free, what can you expect. The sound, for the first 5 minutes had an insufferable buzz and at times the DVD froze or skipped. Again, not terribly ideal. At one point, some jackass must have pushed the wrong button somewhere for the curtain closed on the screen. Argh!!!
Disregarding all the Snafu’s of the night, I have this to say about the films:
The Rounders: This was a one reeler featuring Fatty and Charlie Chaplin playing two well to do drunks who conspire to steal cash from their respective wives to continue their binge. If for no other reason, its fantastic to see both of these champions play off of each other in what seems like total comedic intuition. The end of the short finds the two drowning in what looks to be the Echo Park Lake.
The Waiters’ Ball / Fatty’s Tintype Tangle: These two reelers seem to define Roscoe and his gang’s standards in report and reoccurring gags. A flapjack flipping gag occurs in both. Also, in both films, Fatty licks his fingers in what seems to be his equivalent of Chaplains cane twirl. In Tintype Tangle, towards the end, Fatty does an insane stunt where he runs and bounces upon a power-line at least 40feet off the ground. This is when the films of this era really shine for me, unbelievable stunts that just couldn’t be faked. That, and when the site gags are perfectly choreographed. Much of what I saw this night had a rather chaotic feel to it, with glimpses of choreography.
All three of these films were made during Arbuckle’s stint at Keystone.
My Stars: This movie was created after Fatty’s black-listing in Hollywood. At this point he was forced to only produce/direct the films under a pseudonym and could not appear in person. I have to say, out of all the films, this is where Fatty really shines for me. This film has a rather lucid and structured story line with truly hilarious captions. The gags aren’t quite as chaotic and help the story along. This thing must have been the inspiration for Rocky and Bullwinkle. The wordplay and pacing couldn’t be closer. Too bad the image quality isn’t better or I could actually see myself watching this one repeatedly.
All in all, I’m not sure if I was convinced of Fatty being equal to the likes of Charlie or Buster, but the nights viewing have definitely prevoked me to want to see more.
After the show, a party was held at El Cid. It being a weeknight and I being rather tired, I nixed the party. A quick side note, El Cid (it was reiterated) is the last existing part of D.W. Griffiths studio during the shooting of Intolerance.
posted by lakeside at 1:39 PM
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