The Butcher Boy (1917)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

Writers:

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (story)
Joseph Anthony Roach (story)

Release Date:

23 April 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

Customers and clerks frolic in a general store. Roscoe walks out of the freezer wearing a fur coat, then does some clever cleaver tossing...

Plot Keywords:

Molasses | General Store | Treadmill | Drag | Dinner

Cast

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle	...	Fatty / Saccharine (as 'Fatty' Arbuckle)
Buster Keaton	...	Buster
Al St. John	...	Alum
Josephine Stevens	...	Almondine
Arthur Earle	...	The Manager
Joe Bordeaux	...	Accomplice (as Joe Bordeau)
Luke the Dog

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Colony Studios, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Comique Film Company

Trivia:

First movie for Buster Keaton.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Great Stone Face (1968)

Keaton's first!

The Butcher Boy was Buster Keaton's first steps into the world of cinema. And for this reason alone, the film has made its own niche in cinematic history. Although it stars Fatty Arbuckle, Fatty was unusually generous in allowing Buster a considerable amount of film time, considering how new Buster was to the medium. The Butcher Boy opens up at a butcher shop where Fatty, the butcher, deals with a number of customers in his own unique way. One, of which, happens to be Buster. The 21 year old Buster interacts with the veteran Arbuckle like someone who has been doing this all his life (a tribute to his vaudeville training). From the butcher shop the scene shifts to an all girl school in which Fatty, trying to sneak a visit with his girlfriend, disguises himself as a girl (dressing in drag seems to be a recurring theme in Fatty's films). His rival for the girl, Al St. John, does the same thing and utilizes Buster to assist him in an attempted kidnapping of the object of his affection. The plot, as with just about every comedic short of that era, has the feel of being made up on the spot. And although the film is void of any real belly laughs there are a few moments that might illicit a chuckle or two. However, the film stands best as simply a curiosity, and will always be remembered not so much as another Arbuckle film, but rather as the film that began the impressive film career of one of the true geniuses of comedy, Buster Keaton.