The Rough House

This short film marks Buster Keaton's directorial debut. Also "Fatty" managed to be actually funny for some time with the scene where he wakes up in the burning bed. Most of the film is not funny, violent and in the end gets really boring.

A few amusing moments, a lot of tedious ones. Seems par for the course for an Arbuckle short.

Fatty Arbuckle isn't very funny and Keaton is barely in it. There are a lot of falls and lots of "humorous" violence but none of its really funny.

This one actually made me laugh a few times, and some of the stunts are pretty wild. Loved the reverse "setting the table" shot.

Keaton gets a writer/director credit, but this still feels every bit the typical Fatty Arbuckle vehicle, with non-stop gags and slapstick and just the barest pretense of a plot. There are amusing moments (Fatty's nonchalant reaction to his burning bed, a little moment when he "sees stars", etc.) but it's all a bit too hectic and unrelenting to make you care much.

This shows that good slapstick needs a good setup and is more than just pratfalls and other random physical comedy.

In which we see moments of police brutality interspersed between the always-funny (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) food fights. I kind of got a little lost in the middle of this, and didn't find the hijinks particularly interesting.