Coney Island

Okay, so I'm actively starting to dislike 'Fatty' Arbuckle and seeing him in a short just ends up lowering my rating.

As usual, Arbuckle is like a black cancerous growth on Keaton's genius. The only salvageable parts are those where Arbuckle is undetectable, thankfully there's enough of that to make it worth a watch. Especially in comparison to other Arbuckle/Keaton shorts.

Great backflip Buster!

Good Keaton spills/pratfalls but the acting is nowhere near his best - it's pretty awful at times. Dated comedy to be found here [I don't think I'll ever not find Arbuckle stupid and annoying].

The opening has some wonderful shots of Coney Island, and there are some decent gags throughout, but Fatty dressing up as a woman isn't funny (though he does pull it off quite well) and that's pretty much all there is to the second half.

I think I might be getting sick of Fatty Arbuckle.

The first half or so gives us lots of Coney Island attractions to look at, and they look pretty fun and different (especially the Witching Waves--not half as safe as modern bumper cars, but way more fun). The comedy on the other hand, is mostly just generic slapstick, with Roscoe in a dress yet again for the latter part of the picture.

I like this brand of very physical slapstick fluff, and Keaton and St. John are great. The basic plot of Fatty ditching his wife to find a hot young thing is pretty detestable, though. And it's hard to get past the girl happily attending any stranger who pulls her arm and flashes 25 cents. Different era, I guess.

Keaton is laughing here, once, at around 22.00

That almost-roller-coaster looked fun, and it was perhaps the best part of this mostly-formulaic get-away-from-the-wife short. The oddest scene was the police officer, trying to get someone's attention, firing shots at him. Thankfully, everyone seems to shoot like stormtroopers so no danger.

In this short comedy it's easy to see how art of film changed from the beginings to 1917. At first it was usual just to shoot parades, lunaparks or beaches. Fifteen years later those places serve just as a setting for action. Film itself is a very average slapstick from Roscoe Arbuckle team.

Lively physical comedy more quaint than it is funny. Fatty cross-dresses. And yes, Buster does a spontaneous backflip.