The Life of the Party

"He gave up his seat on the trolley to three women."

Yes, he was known as "Fatty" and his roles often played on or against his size and weight. But he really was an actor, even if he didn't always get a chance to prove it.

"Life of the Party," probably an unfortunate title considering the event that ended his acting career, gave him such a chance.

It was a sort-of comedy about politics and corruption -- which pretty much go together like "horse and carriage" and "love and marriage" -- but with lots of dramatic and sometimes adult situations.

Arbuckle was a large man but with lots of physical abilities, some even say "acrobatic." He used everything in "Life of the Party," including some serious facial expressions, to create quite believably a young would-be reformer lawyer -- would-be reformer because of the hoped-for love of the proverbial good woman.

None of his fellow cast members is known today except Roscoe Karns, an excellent character actor of especially the 1930s, but all were superbly worth watching.

"Life of the Party" is not complete, being fleshed out with some stills -- it is one of the famous "lost films" -- but is quite enjoyable, very well done, and a film I hope you get to see, perhaps when it's presented again on TCM as it was Sunday night, 18 October 2015.