"The Bell Boy" is an American black-and-white silent film from 1918, so this one will have its 100th anniversary already next year, and maybe it already did depending on when you read this review. It was written and directed by Roscoe Arbuckle and he also plays a central character like so many other times. There are several other big names in here from the silent film era, most of all Buster Keaton who collaborated with Arbuckle on several occasions. Add to that Al St. John and you basically have the equivalent to a modern movie starring Pitt, Depp and DiCaprio perhaps. And it is only a short film that runs for slightly over half an hour in the original, bur around 25 minutes in the DVD version. It's all about the comedy really, a great deal of slapstick, lots of chaotic mayhem etc. Of course, the "horrors" I am referring to in the title are just horrors for the staff because of the mess created by the central characters and not really scary or even supernatural creatures. That was Méliès' thing back then perhaps, but not the Americans'. Overall, the film struggles from several perspectives that were common problems back then, too much over the top, not enough intertitles. The historic references (Lincoln e.g.) felt rushed in and really random and pointless. It's only worth seeing for the very biggest fans of the silent era. I cannot agree that this should be considered one of Fatty's most known and most lauded. I give it a thumbs-down.
Review of The Bell Boy
