Wished on Mabel

Wished on Mabel is a pleasant ensemble piece set entirely in a park. It features two of Keystone's most popular stars, Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle, though neither one dominates the proceedings. They play a pair of happy young lovers, enjoying a day outside with Mabel's mother. Early on they're harassed by a persistent bumblebee (which results in a memorably funny close-up of Mabel looking cross-eyed as the bee lights on her nose), but otherwise everything is peachy, at least at first. Complications set in when a watch is stolen from Mabel's mother; confusion escalates and the watch changes hands several times before the matter is resolved.

The ensemble work in this film is a treat for silent comedy buffs: the thief who swipes the watch is played by Joe Bordeaux, a supporting player who appeared in many of Arbuckle's comedies but seldom so prominently featured as he is here. Bordeaux is pursued by perennial cop Edgar Kennedy, best remembered as a latter-day foil for Laurel & Hardy, still quite young and athletic in 1915 and not so bald as he would become. It's Kennedy the Cop who sets this little saga in motion, indirectly anyhow, by rousting the sleeping Bordeaux from a park bench (so that he can stretch out himself, naturally), prompting the watch-grabbing crime spree. Along the way we get a quick look at Glen Cavender, who would go on to play the chief Union spy in Buster Keaton's The General, among many other roles.

Viewers unfamiliar with Keystone comedies may be surprised at how quickly the characters resort to violence: Kennedy the Cop swings his billy club with abandon, not only at Bordeaux but at an innocent bystander, while Mabel rebuffs Bordeaux's mild advances with several swift punches. Still, this comedy is less violent than others the stars made at the time, and the tone is generally light-hearted. Both Roscoe and Mabel did more memorable work elsewhere, but it's a pleasure to see them looking so sprightly and happy as they do here. Wished on Mabel is a pleasant romp, not hilarious but less frantic than some of the other Keystones, and certainly worthwhile for silent comedy fans.

Wished on Mabel (1915)

** (out of 4)

Fatty takes his girlfriend Mabel and her mother to the park where they are preyed on by a thief. This one here has a few more gags including some eye poking, which probably influenced The Stooges.

Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Another laugh less team up with Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand. Fatty goes to the fair where his eye for other women doesn't sit too well with his wife. Not enough slapstick leads to zero laughs.

Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Laughless comedy has Fatty and his neighbor (Mabel Norman) doing laudrey and falling for one another, which doesn't sit well with her abusive boyfriend.

Mabel Normand only directed a dozen or so films (shorts), but "Wished on Mabel" shows that there was something there.

The film itself is only 12 minutes long and is one of a series of Mabel shorts.

Viewing of this film was rather accidental as it was on a channel 45 program "Shorts Incorporated", which itself showed during 45's "Horror Incorporated" which was showing "Svengali" with John Berrymore and a preview of 1932's "White Zombie".

There does not appear to be any other easier way to view the film and a DVD of the Mabel series may at least be an interesting idea.

This Mabel film is a silent job well done because it is a simple story that is really funny concerning the history of a watch as it passes from owner, to thief, to bystander (finding on the ground), to the original owner's daughter, back to the thief trying to say to was his. The police come and more hilarity persues. Granted there are funnier things out there, but for a silent B/W short of only 12 minutes of length, it is time well spent.

Rating: 6

This is a pretty good short comedy that gets the most of some simple material, and which also features Mabel Normand and 'Fatty' Arbuckle together. While the story is nothing much, it is mildly creative, and this is a good example of the way that the better of the silent era film-makers were able to get just enough out of a simple idea instead of pushing it too far, as is so often the case with present-day "comedies".

Here, the whole story revolves around a watch as it changes hands during the course of the action. It's silly yet enjoyable, with a decent pace. Mabel's charm helps considerably, and she also does a pretty good job directing. Arbuckle's energy also helps, although he has a surprisingly unsympathetic character who rather enjoys playing tricks at the expense of others. Arbuckle's light-hearted approach makes the character seem more positive than he deserved to be.

Overall, while hardly anything special, "Wished on Mabel" is entertaining enough, and it is a bit better than the average comedy of its time.