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Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations

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The recent books on Arbuckle have centered on his scandal (much needed though, to refute the horrible myths). This book focuses on the art, modus operandi, and the birth of the cinema Keaton. Mr. Neibaur not only gives us the facts of Arbuckle's superior Comique Comedies and his abilities as a filmaker, but he infuses this book with a love and respect for the art form of silent comedy. Mr. Neibaur also documents the historically neglected inputs from fellow Comiquians Al St. John and Alice Lake. The Arbuckle Comique Comedies from 1917-1920 are among the best of all silent comedy and provided the hot-house for future filmaker Keaton to bud, and how Arbuckle, through Keaton, influenced film comedy to this day. Well written and researched with much contemporary material, Mr. Neibaur will have you hooked after the first couple of pages. This book is a huge step in the rehabilitation of Roscoe Arbuckle and an important document on the cinema genesis of Buster Keaton, and I highly recommend it.

For years, discussions of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle mostly centered around the unfortunate scandal that ruined his career rather than his career itself. Based on a relative handful of circulating films, Arbuckle was deemed an amusing silent-era comedian who was never ranked alongside giants like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Recently, however, a number of Arbuckle's best comedies have been restored and made available for public viewing, and guess what? It turns out that good old Fatty (a nickname he disliked) was actually one of the greatest comedic performers of the silver screen, from ANY era.

James L. Neibaur's ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS goes a long way in reassessing Arbuckle's undervalued reputation, and finally gives the rotund funster his well-deserved due. Though this volume deals specifically with the short comedies that Keaton served as an apprentice to Arbuckle, the master, it also examines Arbuckle's career in its entirety, offering a wealth of facts and informative, trenchant observations.

If you think you're already familiar with Arbuckle's work, this book will make you seek out these films once more and perhaps solidify and/or rethink your opinions. If you've never seen Arbuckle at his peak, then this book will serve as the perfect guide to some of the funniest silent comedies ever made. Either way, ARBUCKLE AND KEATON is a real treat, and is highly recommended.

Just in time for the 90th anniversary of the historic collaboration between silent-comedy giants Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, film historian James L. Neibaur offers the marvelous McFarland & Co. paperback ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS. This superbly researched and richly detailed volume is a valuable and vital addition to the libraries of comedy fans in particular and movie lovers in general.

Although the basic career outlines of both Arbuckle and Keaton are virtually common knowledge to most comedy aficionados, Neibaur brings a bright new perspective and a wealth of fresh historical material regarding his subject(s). The fourteen two-reel comedies produced by the Comique Film Corporation between 1917 and 1919, starring veteran movie funster Fatty Arbuckle with cinematic novice Buster Keaton in support, are analyzed in the order of production and release, permitting the viewer to witness not only what McFarland describes as the "collaborative chemistry" between Fatty and Buster, but also the creative growth and evolution of the two men during this prolific and rewarding period in their careers.

Too often, the story of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies is told from the perspective of Keaton's staunchest supporters, heralding Buster's development from featured player to star while minimizing the contributions of Arbuckle--which is not only unfair, given that Fatty was a major box-office attraction of the period, an accomplished director, and the sole raison d'etre for the films in the first place, but also historically inaccurate. While Neibaur acknowledges that Arbuckle initially preferred wild, unbridled slapstick catering to what he regarded as the "twelve-year-old mentality" of the average filmgoer, and that Keaton was convinced even this early in his career that the audience was capable of grasping more subtle and intelligent comedy concepts, the author shows how both men complemented one another and benefited from collaboration on an equal basis.

In the earliest of the fourteen comedies, Arbuckle was already demonstrating a firm grasp of filmmaking technique and consistent comedy characterization, but he was still doggedly adhering to the tried-and-true "gags for gags' sake" formula of his earlier Keystone films, frequently throwing plot and logic out the window in the pursuit of nonstop laughter. With the benefit of Keaton's input--which Neibaur meticulously traces and pinpoints from one film to the next--the final entries in the Arbuckle-Keaton series were, in Neibaur's words, "critically applauded for offering less in the way of knockabout slapstick and concentrating more on thoughtful gags stemming from character and situation."

At the same time, Keaton was receiving valuable on-the-job training in support of Arbuckle, in preparation for his own ultimate stardom. Though his comic timing and physical prowess are remarkable to behold in the earliest collaborations, it must be admitted that he is less a character than an outline of a character. Working in close quarters with a charismatic (and generous) performer like Arbuckle enabled Keaton to grow and mature as performer, matriculating from merely another vaudevillian with a clever bag of tricks to a wholly believable human being. Also, Neibaur notes that Keaton's legendary "great stone face" was the end product of extensive trial and error throughout the Arbuckle films, in which Buster experimented with a vast array of broad facial expressions before finally settling upon the minimalism that worked best for him. (The familiar story of how Keaton discovered in childhood that he got bigger laughs by not smiling on stage is repeated herein: However, the author clarifies that it was Buster's painstaking apprenticeship with Arbuckle that led him to conclude that he could continue getting big laughs by not smiling in the radically different medium of film).

The book offers an insightful critical assessment of each film, with special attention given the brilliant and remarkably sophisticated parody melodrama MOONSHINE. And though he rightly cherishes these films as being just as "alive" and entertaining today as they were when first released, Neibaur also does a fine job placing the fourteen comedies in their proper historical context, most often by quoting rare contemporary print reviews that haven't seen the light of day for nearly nine decades. Mention must also be made of the author's skillful assessment of the appalling racial humor in one of the lesser films, OUT WEST. Where some writers would issue a blanket condemnation of the Arbuckle-Keatons on the basis of this one offensive film, while others would bend over backward trying to apologize for the most egregious gags as merely "products of their time", Neibaur takes a refreshingly brand-new approach to one of the touchiest issues facing 21st-century film historians.

The chapter I enjoyed most focused on the handful of two-reelers made by Arbuckle during the period in which Keaton was absent from the studio, serving in the Army. Although only two of these films are currently extant--and those have only been rediscovered in the past decade--Neibaur is able to persuasively argue that films at hand not only prove that Arbuckle was putting the lessons learned in his collaborations with Keaton to good use, but also that "Arbuckle's own abilities were the reason for the success of these two reelers", and that they can now be seen as a "transition" in the comedian's comic vision.

The thumbnail descriptions of Arbuckle and Keaton's careers before and after their collaboration offer much that is new and fascinating, including interviews with coworkers Lionel Stander (who appeared Arbuckle's final Vitaphone talkie short, 1933's IN THE DOUGH) and Lorna Gray (Keaton's leading lady in his first Columbia two-reeler, 1939's PEST FROM THE WEST). Especially noteworthy is Neibaur's take on the spectacular scandal that destroyed Arbuckle's career: Not only does the author observe that the comedian's starring features remained popular in Europe even though they'd been banned in puritanical America, but he also provides a fair-and-balanced compendium of facts and opinions demonstrating that the "whole truth" concerning Arbuckle's involvement (or lack of same) in the death of Virginia Rappe is a matter that is still--and always will be--shrouded in mystery and muddied by wildly contradictory first-hand accounts.

Finally, Neibaur pays brief but affectionate tribute to a pair of often-underrated contributors to the popularity of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies: Fatty's talented nephew Al St. John, who of course went on to a rewarding "second stardom" as a B-western comical sidekick, and pert leading lady Alice Lake, whose subsequent life and career is here treated in far more depth than I've ever seen previously.

In short--BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Neibaur's "Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations" is a nearly flawless book on Roscoe Arbuckle's silent film comedies of 1917-1920, which also happen to be Buster Keaton's earliest films. All 14 films discussed are studied in depth, including a look at Arbuckle's films sans Keaton while Buster was in the Army in 1918-19, plus interesting details on Roscoe's nephew and comic foil, Al St. John as well as his leading lady Alice Lake.

What is really refreshing about Neibaur's book is that he gives the vastly underrated Roscoe Arbuckle his WELL deserved due as a film comedy master, but never at the expense of the genius that is Buster Keaton.

If you are a Keaton and/or Arbuckle fan, your book collection is incomplete without this staple. It supersedes all previous work on the Comique years. And it's a good read!

David B. Pearson
"Arbucklemania"

I enjoyed reading about these great films and comedians that I love and I did learn a few new things. Having said that, I felt there was a lot of redundancy and the 200 pages could have easily been a 150 page book with nothing left unsaid. Then there are the numerous typographical errors... far too many for this work to have come from an educator (or any professional).

James L. Neibaur's "reviews" of the Arbuckle/Keaton collaborations are contemptibly simple-minded and incredibly inconsistent. Did this book's editor even look at the manuscript before publication? Two early examples--among countless others--of the author's mediocre mind at work: 1) On page 37, he writes "the first half of [THE ROUGH HOUSE] is screamingly funny, while the second is merely amusing, albeit admittedly interesting." Observe how he qualifies his enthusiasm. Then, after failing convincingly to justify these impressions with relevant supporting details, he gushes on page 44: "THE ROUGH HOUSE is one of the wildest, funniest, and most impressive of all the Comique comedies. It uses more ideas and styles effectively, and shows continued improvement in its humor and in Arbuckle's direction." 2) On pages 46 and 47, Neibaur states "HIS WEDDING NIGHT is probably one of the weaker two reelers in the Comique series..." A few sentences later, he miraculously adds: "[HIS WEDDING NIGHT] features Roscoe Arbuckle at the height of his creative powers." Intelligent readers will remain unimpressed by such sloppiness--however inadvertent. The author's approach to reviewing the Arbuckle/Keaton films is as inept as Keaton's "Clarence Plunkett's" approach to making a stew in the Columbia short NOTHING BUT PLEASURE: throw in random ingredients without rhyme or reason and somehow something tasty will result. The two comedians deserve a book treatment that is logically consistent and intelligently supported. I cannot recommend this book to any self-respecting reader or admirer of Arbuckle and/or Keaton. No way.