slaytonf Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The last great undiscovered silent comedian. Hard as it may be to believe, his films have a style distinct from the other three. You'd think with all that genius, they'd take up the available creative space. He certainly merits a rediscovery like them. Don't know why it hasn't happened. Perhaps he doesn't have a large enough body of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagman66 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 There is a new Arbuckle Anthology DVD collection in the works. But it has already been in the works for a couple years now. Hopefully we will see something soon. This was to include his long unseen features from 1920. The titles are eluding me at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 slaytonf wrote: << Perhaps he doesn't have a large enough body of work. >> Oh, he had the body of work and fortunately the prosecutors were the one that didn't had large enough the Body of Evidence. Edited by: hamradio on Jan 6, 2014 8:02 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 I guess it's inevitable that his trial and acquittal will come up in any discussion of Mr. Arbuckle, but it would be a nice change if the focus was kept on his work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbefree25 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Don't know why it hasn't happened. Are you seriously asking that question? I guess you don't know what he did. Obscurity is too good for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-arbuckle-restoration-project They are looking for surviving films and the restoration process is agonizingly slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Sorry I couldn't resist replying to your last part of the OP about his "large body of work." Another movie simply came to mind. Thought you were injecting humor, lol! Like celebrity trails of today, that scandal will always haunt him. I agree with the acquittal. Watched those shorts and loved him mistaking the Rajah for a woman in "A Flirt's Mistake" (1914) Why was he in high heels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 >hamradio: >"large body of work." Another movie simply came to mind. Thought you were injecting humor, lol! I'm afraid it was my choice of words. Talk about a hanging curveball. As for the rajah's shoes, perhaps 'twas to o'ertop the camels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Well, disregarding his whole scandal, slayton, I have to say after watching a few of his films last night, I personally can see why he's not as well remembered or as highly regarded as those three greats you alluded to in your opening post. And that's because I personally didn't think he was all that funny. as I found his acting/comedy style skewed much too much toward mugging for the camera with that pudgy face of his, and a face which I found lacked much character at all, and unlike those faces of Messrs. Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd...and which were faces that could besides projecting comedic turns could also project much more effectively the occasional "pathos" of a situation their characters would often find themselves involved within. (...I have to admit however that for a rather large man he WAS pretty light on his feet, and some of the more physical aspects to his comedies were fairly well done) Edited by: Dargo2 on Jan 6, 2014 10:56 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Last night's movies were not his better work. They were all from Keystone, which specialized in the type of comedy you describe. Even Chaplin did some mugging in his day. If memory serves me, next week's selections will be better. What I look forward to is his work for Paramount and his own company. I would greatly like to see TCM do a retrospective of his films as they did for Keaton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Well in that case, slayton, I'll keep an open-mind here and watch the next batch of his films they'll broadcast. (...I'll let ya know what I think then) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonasEB Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Yeah, with the early Keystone stuff he's mired in the house style just like Chaplin was when he was there. When he gets creative control over his films the quality increases exponentially. "Fatty & Mabel Adrift" and "He Did and He Didn't" are among the best Keystone films and the best comedy shorts of the 1910s, so it's a shame TCM didn't include them again for these Arbuckle nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrroberts Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I watched the first few films on Sunday night. It will be interesting to see some more of his later films, to see how his work progressed. Watching the first few shorts I can see where Chris Farley got his inspiration (consciously or just by accident). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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