Love

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.

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.

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.

Love (1919)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good comedy has a poor farmer (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) wanting to marry his neighbor (Winifred Westover) but her father (Frank Hayes) demands that she marry another guy (Al St. John) who has more money. Fatty is pretty much kicked out of the house but he plans his revenge, which includes getting the woman he loves. This two-reeler has quite a few laughs from start to finish but there are a few jokes that don't work. The opening gag with Fatty's "cheap" car is very good but then we get a long running gag of the father being dropped down a well. Not only do we see him drop once but it keeps happening over and over and after a while you're really not finding funny anymore. I thought the film started to drag a little here but things quickly picked up. One of the highlights is when the three men find themselves in the backyard having a broom fight where they just keep hitting each other in the butt. Another fine sequence happens when Fatty drops some soap into the food that the family is about the eat. The film is pretty predictable from beginning to end as we've seen this type of film before in early films from Fatty. As for Fatty, he has that comic timing that people have come to love and he could do this type of role in his sleep. Al St. John made a career out of playing Fatty's rival and he too is in good form here. Hayes gets a lot of laughs as the cranky father but it's Westover who really steals the film with her beauty.

I've just watched the 13 Arbuckle-Keaton shorts that were done just before this film. It is astonishing to watch how the films of Arbuckle grew during the Keaton period and astonishing to watch how Keaton's engineering of gags was developed so much further here in this film. This rivals Keaton's "Neighbors" and other early shorts for the elaborate development of the gags. It is also comparable to the Arbuckle-Keaton film "Oh Doctor" for the risque undertones.

Several people complained about the "Well" gags going on too long. On the contrary, I think they are are masterpiece of "topping," where each gag tops the previous one and increases in ridiculousness.

This film is evidence that Arbuckle belongs in stature with Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd in the evaluation of great artists of the medium. The false accusations and moral witchhunt that killed his career is equivalent to the false accusations and moral witchhunt that killed the career of Bill Cosby, the greatest television comedian of our times.