Buzzin' Around

A ROSCOE `FATTY' ARBUCKLE Comedy Short

A farm boy invents a solution that prevents china from breaking. He eagerly heads off to the Big City to show off his discovery. But when a swarm of bees start BUZZIN' AROUND his jalopy, all manner of chaos begins to break loose...

Roscoe Arbuckle (he hated the nickname of `Fatty') was one of the silent era's most beloved comics. At the apex of his fame he rivaled even Chaplin in popularity. But in 1921, Roscoe became the victim of Hollywood's first great scandal. Accused of raping & causing the death of a young harlot starlet in San Francisco, he was forced to endure the hideous ordeal of 3 criminal trials. Even though the final jury fully exonerated him, he was hounded by the media, and his career was all but destroyed.

But Roscoe was not completely finished in films. Sympathetic friends arranged for him to appear in 2 cameos, and from 1925 to 1932, under a pseudonym, he directed 28 comedy shorts. Finally in 1932 he signed with Vitaphone to appear in 6 shorts, under his real name. BUZZIN' AROUND, released in February 1933, was the last of these. It was to be his final film appearance.

In June of 1933, because of the success of the shorts, Roscoe signed with Warners to begin starring in feature films. His long years in the Hollywood Wilderness over, Roscoe was delighted. Tragically, he died in his sleep of a massive heart attack a few hours after signing the contract. He was only 46 years old.

Fortunately, since it was to be his cinematic farewell, BUZZIN' AROUND is quite a funny film. Played like a silent short with sound & dialogue, Roscoe is in his element. Amazingly graceful for a man of his size, he provides solid laughs, along with his sidekick Al St. John & Pete the Dog, from the OUR GANG films. Although amusing, it is an ultimately sad experience to watch, leaving the viewer wondering what was lost to the movies because death, tragedy & scandal intervened.

Thankfully Hollywood forgave Arbuckle in time that he was able to make 6 talking shorts before passing away. I gave this short a 9. It is not hilariously funny for a modern audience but probably as good or better than any other shorts of it's day and does have it's moments. You can tell his ordeals have taken their toll on him as a man, but Arbuckle still had the knack of being funny. The scene where the doctor examines him after swallowing a bee is very funny indeed. One reviewer here mentioned that Arbuckle was a long time heroin addict by the time this film was released. I have read about everything there is on Arbuckle and have never heard that from any other source and do not believe it for a second. Arbuckles alcoholism was well known but that hardly made him a heroin addict. I would like to know where the reviewer got that info.

Roscoe Arbuckle has invented a liquid that, when painted on pottery, makes it bounce instead of breaking. He's on his way into town to show it off to manufacturers. However, Al St. John has accidentally switched a jar of hard cider for the invention, and a nest of angry wasps has fallen into Roscoe's car on the way in.

It's a funny and old-fashioned comedy, full of slapstick and sight gags, and sound gags too. More than that, it was a way back for Arbuckle, who had been banned from appearing in the movies after he had been acquitted of murdering Virginia Rappe. Yes, that's right, acquitted, with an apology from the jury. For more than ten years he had worked as a comedy director under a false name. Now Warner Brothers was giving him a chance to appear in front of the camera again in six shorts.

Its pretty amazing to watch the old physical comedy deals.

Some seem to stand the test of time, namely they make me laugh, and I'm a sucker for the pratfall. But this is neither charming nor remotely funny.

I searched this out because it was Fatty's last picture, a dozen years after the scandal.

He was by this time several decades a heroin addict it seems, and still clinging to an endearing, agile fat character.

This short has two halves: an encounter with a beehive and subsequently swallowing a bee, followed by the unrelated destruction of a chinashop.

The events are all designed from well established formulas so what really mattered was the tone of the thing. That tone is set and maintained by the comic nature of the reality created: a funny car, funny pants and walk and so on.

Fatty was able in prior years to create some of that magic; here he simply echoes it, relying on his frequent costar and some gags that have little to do with him.

He was already effectively gone when this was made, showing up only to lend a familiar face at 46.

This is considered the best of his last period. It lacks the manic pace of even moderate Keaton or Chaplin and is at about the level of tiredness as much of Abbot and Costello.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This is a very mediocre film at best. And, considering this is one of the last films by the legendary Fatty Arbuckle, that's pretty sad. In his heyday (before the scandal that torpedoed his career), Arbuckle's comedies were among the best of the silent era--showing great imagination and finesse. However, all the originality and charm of his old films is barely noticeable here--even if he is teamed up with his old supporting comedian, Al St. John (Arbuckle's real-life nephew). This is because some gags are just not funny (the way too long and poorly done bee bit) and others are just recycled from other films (such as Arbuckle's following a policeman in order to keep the tough guy from slugging him). The end result just looks very tired and a mere shadow of his former glory. Like the old saying goes, "you can never go back". Too bad--as I really wanted to like this comeback film.