The Bell Boy

"The Bell Boy" features Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton as bellhops in a hotel. Their jobs get complicated by a series of mishaps. It's nothing profound, but I laughed all through it, especially the scenes with the device on the clothesline.

This is only the second Fatty Arbuckle movie that I've seen after "A Reckless Romeo". These shorts aimed to make people laugh and they succeeded. It's particularly good that they launched Buster Keaton's career. Nice, silly stuff. No masterpiece, but enjoyable.

'The Bell Boy' is one of the best (if not the best) Arbuckle/Keaton collaboration. Arbuckle and Keaton star as bellboys in the lavish hotel with the first rate prices and third rate service. Whenever these two show up there's bound to be trouble. 'The Bell Boy' is not overloaded with slapstick, instead this one has much more subtle humor (signs like 'Painless Shaving, Our Specialty') and more action. The bank robbery scene is great example of well staged physical comedy with wonderful acrobatic elements (Buster Keaton finally got to be in his own element).

'The Bell Boy' is not very typical Arbuckle slapstick but rather humorous action comedy that is recommended to every Buster Keaton fan (and 'Fatty' Arbuckle fans as well).

There were parts of this movie I absolutely loved. The hotel elevator sequences were pretty original and funny--especially when poor Buster got his head stuck--it hurt just watching it! Plus, the amazing trolley sequence at the end of the film was amazing to watch. However, at the same time, the film relied too much on run-of-the-mill slapstick and lacked much of a story. In other words, there was, at times, too much slapping and falling. Also, because Fatty Arbuckle was at the time THE star of the film, many times Buster Keaton just looked lost and his talents were somewhat wasted.

Finally, this was from a video from KINO FILMS called ARBUCKLE AND KEATON Volume 1. The music from this short was particularly bad--just too loud and fast-paced. After a few minutes, I turned the sound off because it was just too distracting.

This is a film I would show to novices as an introduction to silent film. Yes, it has little plot, a few topical jokes that might need explaining, and a few bits that modern audiences might find slow (though hardly any of those). But there's nothing old-fashioned about Arbuckle, Keaton & St. John's jaw-dropping slapstick energy. (This is the first time I appreciated Al St. John, by the way.) I can understand how some people hate the Alloy Orchestra, but they really do get the zany spirit of this movie. I watched it 3 times in a row, and can't wait to buy the DVD so I can see it again.

I really don't see why IMDb is making me add more lines to my beautifully succinct review--I could describe my favorite bits, but why? You'll enjoy them much more if you discover them yourself.

Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton are bellhops at the Elk's Head Hotel. Buster's father Joe is also working at the hotel. As it says at the beginning, Third-rate service at first-class prices.

This is almost pure slapstick. A number of physical gags and a few straight jokes. Both Buster and his father Joe show their physical abilities. Almost all the gags work well and I laughed. That is almost. One scene went on too long and I didn't find funny. Another scene was funny for the first part of the gag but quickly became predictable.

This does show why Fatty Arbuckle was a star. It also shows that Buster Keaton had the potential that lead to his stardom. While a very good silent comedy, it just wasn't great.