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The Forgotten Films
of Roscoe ‘Fatty’
Arbuckle
(1913-1932)

Contents: Fatty Joins the Force (1913), A Flirt’s Mistake (1914), The Knockout (1914), The Rounders (1914), Leading Lizzie Astray (1914), Mabel and Fatty’s Wash Day (1915), Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life (1915), Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915), Fatty’s New Role (1915), Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life (1915), Fatty’s Reckless Fling (1915), Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance (1915), That Little Band of Gold (1915), Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915), When Love Took Wings (1915), Wished on Mabel (1915), Mabel’s Wilful Way (1915), Fatty’s Plucky Pup (1915), Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915), He Did and He Didn’t (1916) [two versions], The Waiters’ Ball (1916), Coney Island (1917), Love (1919), Leap Year (1922), Character Studies (1923), Curses (1925), The Movies (1925), My Stars (1926), Fool’s Luck (1926) and Bridge Wives (1932).

This DVD collection contains 32 comedies directed by and starring Roscoe Arbuckle, and also feature Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Ford Sterling, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Jackie Coogan, Al St. John, Mack Swain, Edgar Kennedy, Charley Chase, Monty Banks, Lloyd Hamilton and Lupino Lane.

With the majority of these films being presented from 16mm reduction prints of fair to very-good visual quality we can't expect top results. Many of the films are seen with hot highlights that may blast out facial details and with closed-up shadows that swallow background picture details.

That said, this is by far the most comprehensive collection of Roscoe Arbuckle films ever assembled and remains an oft-consulted reference item.

— Carl Bennett

Mackinac Media
2005 DVD edition

The Forgotten Films of Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (1913-1932), black & white and color-toned black & white, 625 minutes total, not rated, including Fatty Joins the Force (1913), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, A Flirt’s Mistake (1914), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, The Knockout (1914), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, The Rounders (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Leading Lizzie Astray (1914), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Mabel and Fatty’s Wash Day (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life (1915), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, Fatty and Mabel At the San Diego Exposition (1915), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s New Role (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life (1915), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Reckless Fling (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, That Little Band of Gold (1915), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, When Love Took Wings (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Wished on Mabel (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Mabel’s Wilful Way (1915), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Plucky Pup (1915), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915), black & white, 28 minutes, not rated, He Did and He Didn’t (1916), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated, He Did and He Didn’t (1916), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 21 minutes, not rated, The Waiters’ Ball (1916), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated, Coney Island (1917), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated, Love (1919), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, Leap Year (1922), color-toned black & white, 56 minutes, not rated, Character Studies (1923), color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Curses (1925), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, The Movies (1925), color-tinted black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, My Stars (1926), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Fool’s Luck (1926), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, and Bridge Wives (1932), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Mackinac Media, MM0006D, UPC 6-89076-96352-7.
Four single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; 36-page insert booklet; double-wide four-disc DVD keepcase; $49.95.
Release date: 24 May 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD collection has been mastered from collector and archival 16mm reduction prints, 8mm reduction prints (Curses) and 35mm prints (Love exclusively), sometimes from the only known surviving print. The films feature restored intertitles, and several include previously lost or alternate footage. The results are fair to very-good with a typical amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, frame jitters, and other print flaws persistently present.

The film are presented with newly-created music scores by Philip Carli, David Drazin, Ben Model, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Rodney Sauer and Donald Sosin.

Supplemental material includes audio commentary of selected films including Character Studies, A Flirt’s Mistake, Leading Lizzie Astray, Leap Year, The Waiters’ Ball and Wished on Mabel; an image gallery of Arbuckle cartoons drawn by Tom Bertino (16 images); and a 36-page insert booklet with film notes, images and notes on the musical accompaniment.

For our comparative reviews of some of the individual films in the collection, see our Character Studies on home video, Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life on home video, Fatty’s Faithful Fido on home video, He Did and He Didn’t on home video, The Knockout on home video, Leap Year on home video and The Rounders on home video pages.