FATTY JOINS THE FORCE (Theatrical Release USA 1913)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.7|5.0 Starsììì

Fatty Joins the Force—interesting short film—needs more run time to ripen the incidents that happen because they happen too fast in this film to fully get the entertainment impact. The incidents that specifically need slowing are: two men fighting and the kids making fun of Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle as a policeman. These scenes are poorly timed and create a type of confusion as it seems they have been artificially set up. It would been better to place time between those events so that there is at least an afternoon, night, or even the next day time to space out the conflicts. This film is not what one might expect of a Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle film.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

 Storyline

Fatty achieves a position on the police force but finds it isn’t such a good position after all.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director George Nichols for directing effort. Thank you to Producer Mack Sennett for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Fatty (Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle), Arresting Cop (Charles Avery), Boy (Lou Breslow), Bald Cop (Harry DeRoy), Nursemaid (Minta Durfee), Fatty’s Sweetheart (Dot Farley), Fighter (Billy Gilbert), Cop (William Hauber), Cop (Bert Hunn), Arresting Cop (George Jeske), Jealous Cop (Edgar Kennedy), Cop (Hank Mann), Police Commissioner (George Nichols), Cop (Mack Swain), and Pie Thrower (Jack White).

 

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Maybe. This film is what it is. If you want to see Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle in a better film, watch The Cook. 

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers