The Silent Cinema: Fatty Joins the Force (1913)

Directed by George Nichols. Roscoe Arbuckle, Charles Avery, Lou Breslow, Minta Durfee, Dot Farley, Edgar Kennedy, Harry DeRoy. Released November 12, 1913. Running time: 12 minutes

Sometimes the most enjoyable cinematic experiences are random screenings of impulsive choices. In this case, a DVD of public domain comedies netted an encounter with “Fatty Joins The Force,” a 1913 Keystone one-reeler

There is an art to the bombastic slapstick of the early Keystone comedies, an excitement in seeing the bulging eyes, flailing arms and wild pratfalls. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was a master of this form, later became a filmmaker with his own creative vision and, still later, an actor who engaged in effective subtle nuance.

“Fatty Joins the Force” features Arbuckle as a brave citizen who is honored for heroism after rescuing the police commissioner’s daughter from drowning. His reward is a job on the police force. Arbuckle reacts to this with brilliantly blatant gestures, moving his hands about his body to convey that he’ll look quite dapper in a policeman’s uniform. And, once donning the uniform, he exhibits a lofty pride, until he discovers the downside to a job in law enforcement.

He first breaks up what he believes to be a fistfight, getting between the two fighters who both knock him out. He then discovers they are merely two prizefighters who are practicing, and aren't actually in conflict at all. Later he is sitting on a park bench when some nearby hooligans throw pieces of watermelon at him, and then another runs up and pushes a pie into his face. When he goes for a swim in the river, these same hooligans steal his clothes. They are found by a passerby, taken to the police station, and it is determined that Fatty has drowned. Meanwhile, a scantily clad Fatty is running around frantically trying to find his uniform, and is reported as a rampaging madman. He is eventually arrested and put behind bars.

Wildly uneven and filled with outrageous gags, “Fatty Joins the Force” nevertheless has a distinctive arc. Fatty goes from ordinary citizen, to hero, to cop, to victim, and finally prisoner all within a running time of about twelve minutes. Director George Nichols frames the action perfectly, keeping Arbuckle in the center of the frame except when cutting away to the supporting action. It is a rudimentary study in early filmmaking, and the wild slapstick, which must have wowed audiences a century ago, continues to register as frenetically hilarious today.

The Keystones are often dismissed as primitive, but while they do represent cinema’s infancy, even something as far back as “Fatty Joins the Force” offers an underlying basic structure and a spirit that is identifiable and impressive. Arbuckle consistently presents Fatty as an innocent who stumbles into success and failure inadvertently. The film is nearly all pantomime. There are few title cards, as the visuals tell the story.

The slapstick prowess exhibited by Arbuckle is remarkable. At one point he tilts sideways and spins several times before falling to the ground. His imposing presence would belie that he could be any kind of victim, but for most of the film’s running time, he is comically bullied.

Some assessments have considered this comedy to be too dark, especially when correlating the ending to Arbuckle’s real life woes in the early 1920s. But, taken on its own merit and in its own context, “Fatty Joins the Force” is quintessential early Keystone and significant early Arbuckle.