Author Topic: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall  (Read 6304 times)

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2018, 01:07:51 AM »
Out West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYpAnwrCakY

The Western is a movie genre as old as movies.  The first Westerns were made in the 1890s.  So it is no surprise that Arbuckle, Keaton and  Natalie Talmadge (the future Mrs. Keaton) had a number of western cliches to make gags of.  But instead of just making a Scary Movie, full of references, they created a full story, chock full of gags, at least half of which really work.

Arbuckle hides away in the water compartment on a train, from which he is unceremoniously thrown off after stealing some food.  He lands in the "Last Chance Saloon", with Keaton as proprietor, just in time to do some fancy shooting to save the day from Will Bill Hiccup, a lusty outlaw with his gang. Hiccup and Arbuckle don't see eye-to-eye about how to woo the lone Salvation Army maiden, but the gentle Arbuckle wins the day.

So many gags, both visual and verbal, but for the most part the verbal gags fall flat (with a couple exceptions).  The stunning part of this film are how many of the physical gags that work, either as humor or as feats of acrobatics.  Arbuckle falls off a train, rolls down a long hill, Keaton falls again and again and keeps bouncing back up. Al St. John (Hiccup) has bottle after bottle smashed on his head, which is as funny as it is stunning.  The stamina of these comedic actors is just amazing.

Keaton is still in a supporting role, but he is certainly a stand out for the comedy, with his timing impeccable.  The racism in the film is quite disturbing, deeply mocking a black man for being black and accusing Native Americans of being cannibals.  In Chicago, some of the violence was censored, today it would be all the scenes containing non-white roles.

Beside that, this film is funny and keeps one's attention, with very little dead time.

4/5

Additional note: This is Arbuckle and Keaton's first filming in the west (California), with most of the earlier films taking place in New York.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 01:11:24 AM by oldkid »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2018, 01:24:48 AM »
Following along

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #12 on: July 22, 2018, 01:48:41 AM »
The Bell Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0LMpMlFZ8c
(an extra ten minutes of ealier footage is included after the 21 minute mark)

Arbuckle and Keaton are bell boys in a rural town hotel.  They work hard, especially for pretty girls, bell hopping, mopping, shaving and preparing rooms, while the manager checks customers in and runs the horsed trolley from the train station to the hotel and back. Both Keaton and Arbuckle have their eyes on a manicurist (Alice Lake, frequent Arbuckle co star), for whom they compete. There are various hijinks on a horse-powered elevator, a bank heist and a falling hat.

This film isn't as focused or as funny as Out West, although some of the larger gags really hit, like the shaving gag and the falling hat.  The key word for this film is choreography.  Arbuckle and Keaton have worked long enough that they are now creating routines together, requiring mutual discipline and skill. They are a fantastic duo, and Keaton's role is only slightly less than the lead's.

Still, overall, I won't remember this one as well over time. In fact, I saw this a couple years ago and I don't remember it at all. :(

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #13 on: July 22, 2018, 02:03:30 PM »


That Not Thought By the Sole Black Performer in 1918’s "Out West" Starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton

If I weep amidst this lynching
I am sure the audience, filled
With Pathos, would forget for a
Moment their daily stresses and
Reflexive laugher to sense my
Plight, the destruction of my life,
My people and—without a doubt--
The Civil Rights Movement is born.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2018, 08:54:15 PM »
Good Night Nurse!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM_BgOKLSc

Fatty is a drunk hanging on the street in the pouring rain. A woman (Keaton) flies by in the rain and Fatty can't decide if he wants to save her or punish her for getting in his way.  Another drunk comes by, and a cop, and a musical gypsy troop (in blackface).  Fatty mails the drunk home and invites the gypsy troop to his home.  Where his wife is waiting, upset.  She decides to get Fatty an operation that will end his alcoholism.  When he sees the numerous injuries in the sanitarium she brings him to, he tries to opt out, bringing a crazy woman with him (Alice Lake), but the surgeon (also Keaton) prevents him.

In many of these opening shorts, I'm torn about Keaton's performances.  Good Night Nurse! is an excellent example.  His physical prowess in the early scene, where he is blown about by the wind is stunning. But as the surgeon, he is boring, Chaplinesque, without Chaplin's specific charms. Arbuckle gives him excellent stunts, which he excels at, but neither one has figured out what Keaton's strength as a comedian are.

The scenes in the sanitarium are: dull, dull, dull, mayhem-- rinse and repeat.  The mayhem is out of nowhere and well choreographed, but the movie as a whole doesn't hold together.

2.5/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #15 on: July 23, 2018, 11:44:17 PM »
Back Stage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8mP5umswg

Fatty is a stage hand at a local theatre, with Keaton and St. John also.  They are preparing for next night's troupe, allowing for some magnificent gags.  Molly Malone is the meek assistant of a "Strong Man" who is forcing her to do all the work.  The stage hands are upset at this and decide to take the Strong Man down by electrocuting him. The troupe leaves so Molly decides to help the stage hands present their own play that night, which turns horribly wrong.

This is the first of Arbuckle's films that I can truly call fantastic, if short of great.  The comedy is deep, but there is also a deeply dramatic, even stunning, moment.  Some of the layered gags hark to Keaton's later works, including the "falling wall".  The Strong Man offers real danger to the otherwise lighthearted, clever romp.

I suspect much of the improvement is because Jean Havez is the writer.  It seems that there is an additional layer of cleverness, and he creates contexts where two gags can occur at the same time, a sorely needed innovation.

On the one hand, the meta-reflection of performance is always good, on the other, this film pokes at the pretentiousness of theatre performers, while the film stars can present themselves as everyday people.

4/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Buster Keaton's Prat Fall
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2018, 12:20:47 AM »
The Garage (aka The Fire Chief)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffeV4nkieKM

Arbuckle and Keaton are assistants in a garage and volunteers in the local fire department.  There is the plotline of washing and providing cars.  The plotline of saving the garage manager's daughter from a dandy.  And the plotline of saving the daughter from a fire in the garage.

Although written by Havez, like Back Stage, this comedy isn't in as sure hands.  Some of the gags misfire because of poor timing. There is an attempt of providing drama through the fire, but there are no real stakes placed.  A couple solid laughs, but not what I would call a good entertainment.

This is the final on-screen collaboration between Keaton and Arbuckle, as after this Keaton begins directing his own shorts.  I am sorry for Arbuckle's unfortunate blacklisting, for he was a true talent, but it is great that Keaton is out from Arbuckle's shadow, for cinematic comedy is better for it

3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky