Lots of things tickled me about this Roscoe Arbuckle / Buster Keaton short, their fifth together in just six months. It has three men (Arbuckle, Keaton, and Al St. John) all after the same woman (Alice Mann) and vying for her attention at various sites in Coney Island. Arbuckle's character is (again!) quite a rapscallion given that he's already married, and behaves like a juvenile around his wife (Agnes Neilson), so much so that in their first thing I thought he was supposed to be her son. It's certainly not high comedy as there are lots of kicks to the butt, the silliness of the keystone cops, and jumping in the air while bending the legs before running off quickly. It's also deprecating in ways to big people, women, and in its original form, African Americans (see the since-excised original ending). On the other hand, it wasn't egregious (especially for 1917), and the venue itself along with Buster Keaton's continued emergence into the limelight really won me over.
Highlights:
Highlights:
- The brilliant footage of the original Luna Park at night, which had opened in 1903.
- Arbuckle getting the fortune "There ain't no such animal" out of the "When Will I Marry and Have a Happy Home" coin-operated machine.
- Seeing the antics on the ride "The Witching Waves," which had small cars moving around on a wavy road, and Arbuckle and Mann going down the water chute together, the camera on their excited faces before they're pitched into the water. Arbuckle's hat floats, followed shortly by his behind coming to the surface. A fish bites him and he begins spanking it, meanwhile, Buster rescues the girl. Later, he swims like a dolphin.
- Buster laughing contrary to his later "Stone Face" persona when he accidentally hits Arbuckle in the face with a mallet for the "Dial Striker" strength tester. Naturally, Arbuckle responds by hitting him over the head so hard he rings the bell and gets a cigar.
- Arbuckle measuring a woman's backside and then his own prior to stealing her bathing suit, then breaking the fourth wall by directing the cameraman to shoot higher while he's changing into it. Once in drag he's told to go into the women's changing area by some men showering, then gets steamed up when he sees a woman's leg in hose from the knee down.
- Meanwhile you have Alice Mann rocking her daring (for the time) bathing suit, and Buster in a lifeguard outfit. Buster also casually does a backflip outside the bath house, my favorite moment and the first time his athleticism was seen in film. It was sweet to see him get the girl at the end too.
- Luke the dog! Always a good boy.