Blu Ray Review: Fatty Arbuckle's first feature newly restored

“The Round Up,” was the first feature film starring Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle under his new contract and a beautiful new 4K restoration by CineMuseum is now available from Kit Parker Films with a score by Donald Sosin.

Arbuckle had been a star of short comedies since the early teens, soon writing and directing his own subjects. While he basically believed that bombastic slapstick was more effective than rigid subtlety, Arbuckle also had a keen understanding of comic nuance; his character was well drawn and resonated with moviegoers. When Arbuckle left short subjects to make more prestigious feature films, he left behind the knockabout comedy that established him. He was first cast in the western film “The Round Up.”

Based on the 1907 Broadway play that had starred the unrelated Macklyn Arbuckle, this is a straight western drama with George Melford’s direction using location scenery to frame the action. On this purely visual level, the film is already comfortably effective. However, if we approach this feature regarding its significance to Roscoe Arbuckle’s filmography, our perspective is somewhat more enhanced.

Being that this was Arbuckle’s first film away from slapstick shorts, curious audiences attended in large numbers. Rather than be disappointed at seeing a subtler performance within the context of a serious western, moviegoers instead appreciated seeing Arbuckle in a much different role. While other write-ups have alluded to Roscoe playing a dramatic role with comic touches, his character of “Slim” is really a comic role, just not a bombastic one. The nuanced elements that enhanced Arbuckle’s performance in his brilliant series of short comedies are discernible here. There are several mannerisms and reactions that are vintage “Fatty.” That he is able to utilizes these traits in a more subdued character is a testament to his skill and versatility as an actor.

There is a great deal of historical interest in “The Round Up,” Along with being Arbuckle’s first feature after leaving his short comedy unit, it is also the first of many westerns to be shot at the Lone Pine studios. It offers one of the final performances of actress Jane Wolf, who would leave films that same year to join up with occultist Aleister Crowley. It also includes Wallace Beery in a villainous role. Beery, already a screen veteran by this time, would achieve even greater fame in sound films like “The Champ” (1931), “Grand Hotel” (1932) and “Treasure Island” (1934). George Kuwa, the screen’s first Charlie Chan, has a small role. Buster Keaton, who inherited Arbuckle’s short comedy unit as Roscoe moved to features, has an unbilled cameo.

“The Round Up” would likely be a rather average silent western if not for Arbuckle’s performance. He stands out among the cast, but perhaps this is at least partly because, at this point, we are specifically watching it for him. His comic subtlety is fascinating to see, as he comfortably blends into the proceedings while maintaining elements of the screen character he’d developed years earlier. Much as been made of his final line “nobody loves a fat man,” which his character says before the movie fades out at the end.

From this point in his career, Roscoe Arbuckle continued to explore the possibilities that feature films afforded him, and it is unfortunate that we have access to so few of them. But this adds further significance to the fact that we do have “The Round Up.”

This CineMuseum archival edition from Kit Parker Films is a bluray/DVD combo pack and also features two 1913 Arbuckle short comedies: A Bandit and Peeping Pete with scores by Dennis Scott. The 4K digital transfer is from the 35mm master preserved by Paramount Archives and the Library of Congress.

It is available at this link: ROUND UP