The Forgotten Films Of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: B- Films: B
One of
the great early disasters in Hollywood is the career-destroying scandal that
befell Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. It
ruined him, tarnished Hollywood, made excuses for censorship and rediscovery of
his talents never happened in all the Classic Hollywood revivals that followed
decades later. Laughsmith and Mackinac have
issued the ambitious 4-DVD set The
Forgotten Films Of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in an attempt to correct that.
He made
200 films, some of which he directed and 32 of them are featured here. Co stars included Charlie Chaplin, Edgar
Kennedy, Mabel Normand and some very talented lost talents from the time. His early success was so major that he
influenced and Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and even Chaplin, but many of his
films are so lost and gone. This set of
films from 1913 to 1932 shows the energy and joy Arbuckle brought to the
screen, a screen whose camera loved him.
The joy and comedy remain in tact long after the scandal and absence of
his place in world cinema. This set does
a great job of bringing back the groundbreaking genius at his best.
The 1.33
X 1 image varies throughout, but the films look good for their age thanks to
various preservation and restoration efforts.
Tinting can be annoying, though.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best between music for the
silent films and the early sound shorts included, but both are as good as can
be expected with Dolby compression. The
audio commentaries are new recordings and obviously sound better by
default. Extras include a tribute Music
Video, outstanding 36-page booklet with several essays and other illustrations
(like posters) further delving into the great pre-scandal success of Arbuckle,
a bunch of audio commentaries that are archival and Arbuckle artwork. Cheers to Paul E. Gierucki’s opening essay
about film restoration, preservation and neglect.
After
tons of basic cheap, lame and flat releases of Arbuckle’s work, we finally get
a serious volume on his work outside of scholarly film and biography
books. Well done!
- Nicholas Sheffo
Read more
about Arbuckle and the first era of silent comedy at www.roscoearbuckle.com and www.silent-movies.org
