Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

Release Date:

14 January 1915 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

It's wash day. Mabel works hard while her husband sleeps in. Next door, Fatty works hard while his wife bosses him about and dresses up to go out...

Plot Keywords:

Purse | One Reeler | Park Bench | Washing | Marital Strife

Cast

Mabel Normand	...	Mabel
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle	...	Fatty
Harry McCoy	...	Mabel's Nagging Husband
Alice Davenport	...	Fatty's Nagging Wife

Runtime:

13 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Keystone Film Company

Elaboratrng the Model

This looks like a typical flirting-in-the-park one-reeler from Keystone in this era, but this early Arbuckle-directed film shows a bit more care in plot construction than was usually taken: we are given a sense of connection and sympathy of Roscoe and Mabel, next-door neighbors, hard workers who are put upon by their spouses. Mabel's is lazy, Roscoe's gets to abuse him physically.

The gag construction is a bit thin. We are still in the world of Keystone in which speed and damage are all that are required to make it work. However, the prints are good and we get to see a little real acting by the leads. I doubt this will win any converts to Roscoe's fan club, but it isn't very long and is well done for the sub-genre.