He Did and He Didn't

He Did and He Didn't (1916)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely black comedy about an overweight doctor (Fatty Arbuckle) who eats too much and then dreams that his wife (Mabel Normand) is cheating on him. If you go through the films of Fatty Arbuckle then you're going to notice that he usually played soft, good guys but when he was given a chance to do something else he usually really delivered. This could be playing a hobo, a drunk or the rather crazy character here. I think this film works so well simply because it's something you're not used to seeing him do. There were a few funny scenes throughout but when it's not working in regards to laughs it still remains interesting just because of how dark it is and how it goes about trying to get laughs (murder, abuse and other dark targets).

The first thing we have to say is, 'What happened?' Roscoe is still Roscoe,but toned down and not that funny. Mabel however is totally transformed. She is now a serious dramatic actress, and carries through the part very well. The problem is that she is now one of a thousand actresses, who did this type of work on a daily basis. She had become, as Charlie Chaplin later said, 'commonplace'. Good as the film is, her audiences were probably appalled - where was the Keystone Girl? Furthermore, what was everyone's favorite ingenue doing getting amorous with a man in her bedroom, while wearing a nightie? The very thought! From a mass-market point of view, films like this would have drained the very essence from Mabel, and ended her career. Fortunately, good sense prevailed, and Mabel was able to eventually produce funny, but dramatic, films under the good direction of the great Dick Jones. I can give 8 for the film, but only 4 for Mabel's performance - so 6 it is.

This clever and amusing short comedy features engaging performances from Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand, with some good slapstick and entertaining story ideas. Al St. John also appears, in the kind of hyper-energy roughneck role that was typical of his earlier years.

Arbuckle and Normand play a doctor and his wife, and as usual they seem very natural in the role, showing the mutual affection and occasional peevishness that immediately tell us all about their marriage. They are joined by an old friend of the wife's (William Jefferson), and later they tangle with St. John's character.

The plot is purely lightweight, but it has some clever turns, it makes good use of the settings, and it provides Arbuckle and Normand with some good material, both in their interactions with each other and by themselves. The overall effect is a light but quite entertaining feature.

This is one of the remarkable short comedies that Arbuckle turned out at the end of his contract at Keystone while he was in New Jersey, far from Sennett's grasp: quite possibly the best. Elaborate, realistic sets, varieties of characterizations -- here he plays an irascible doctor who is jealous of wife Mabel's old boyfriend --and the darkest lighting in a comedy until BRINGING UP BABY combine to produce a comedy far from Keystone's frenetic mold.

Add in Arbuckle's casual gags and the result is an excellent comedy that is still highly watchable -- except, of course, when you are trying to make sense of real-life nephew Al St. John's awful mugging and high-speed rowdyism. Still, the man can take a fall.

Once again a jealousy motif is used to set up a fast moving comedy involving a husband and wife (FATTY ARBUCKLE and MABEL NORMAND) and a visitor from her past who spends the night under their roof.

Fatty is the suspicious husband when he catches the two of them flirting in the parlor and from then on the plot takes on a few other turns involving robbery, guns and mayhem when burglars enter the scene.

Not the usual elements found in a typical Fatty Arbuckle short, and he does well as the doctor who harbors strong suspicions about his wife's behavior with her old boyfriend.

A clever ending adds a little more zest to the whole story.

Summing up: Passes the time pleasantly and it's fun to watch the well-timed physical comedy.