The Forgotten Films of Fatty Arbuckle (1 Viewer)

[Jay Pennington]

Certainly not all. He made quite a few films for the Vitaphone studio in New York, for instance.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

And tons for Keystone and his own studio, Comique. All of which are public domain.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Arbuckle's problem is that the Virginia Rappe affair occurred Labor Day 1921....and he very seldom appeared onscreen after that. Note that 1921 conveniently is just before the 1923 cutoff for copyright, meaning virtually all of Arbuckle-starring films are in PD status and it takes a special effort to restore and present such films knowing they may be copied mercilessly by the less scrupulous.

 

[Tory]

Does anyone know if his, I believe, 6 final starring role talkie short films survived? I heard words about them in the commentary, but I reckon they either aren't PD and/or are seemingly totally lost.

 

[BrianRi]

All 6 of Arbuckle's sound shorts are readily available on VHS. I bought a tape from an internet site called A-1 Video that has 5 of them.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

True, but it also conveniently means that Arbuckle's films aren't controlled by a studio like Paramount, who'd sit on them and do absolutely nothing with them, like all the existing silents they currently control. So, entities such as the good people at Laughsmith can gather prints from archives and collectors and make that special effort and put them out for the fans to enjoy.

I wish all of Paramount's silents were owned by Warner Brothers instead.

 

[CameronMcC]

this one has gone OOP. grab them while you can

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Mr. Laughsmith himself, Paul Gierucki, posted over at the Silent Comedians board that, though their releases are currently out-of-print, they will be coming back into print, and better than ever. He didn't say exactly when, however.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Has he offered any further details on the Arbuckle books that have been listed as forthcoming on their website for several years?

 

[CameronMcC]

good to hear it will be coming back.