Been away for a wee while, otherwise occupied with a house move- now I need to ease myself back in with my Main Guys. Though in truth this wasn't a great choice- fundamentally it's a solo vehicle for Arbuckle: Buster's role is on a par with Al St John's and neither of them get up to anything too remarkable (there is just a sense though that they seem to be battling it out to perform the most outlandish jump or fall- it would be interesting to know if there was genuine rivalry between the two of them at this stage to be Fatty's number one back-up guy, or if that's just revisionist thinking).
This is a pretty poor film, but with one saving grace (perhaps more than one, but one especially notable saving grace). Is there anything better anywhere than Arbuckle lazily, nonchalantly trying to put out a bedroom fire with a cup of water? This scene is irresistible, and I can watch it again and again. His expressions, his utterly carefree walk to and from the bedroom- it's beautiful stuff. Notable too I think is the soup-serving scene- his interactions with implements and diners are fascinating. Not particularly funny perhaps, but there's something about the scene, some indefinable sense of magic, that makes you want to pause it, slow it down, savour it frame by frame. He is operating on a higher plane, playing to a higher audience than his other cast members here, and just as with some of Chaplin's early Keystones, it is as if the little portion of the moving image that he is occupying hs taken on a powerful, almost spiritual, resonance of its own.
There's no great plot here- Arbuckle is a tenant in a guest house? Maybe even a henpecked husband? It aint clear. St John is a cook. Fatty ends up as a waiter. Buster is a delivery boy. They all kiss the maid. Yeah, it's all very confused- throw in a couple of thieves and some crazy Kops, and you really are, for the most part, just dealing with a raucous frenetic Keystone affair. Just watch out for the little bits of magic.
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