"The Knockout" (1914, Avery) "The Knockout" is more of a Fatty Arbuckle film than a Charlie Chaplin film as Charlie appears as an interfering boxing referee in a segment of the film. With a fair amount of action and a hilarious fight scene to start it off, and introduce us to Arbuckle's character Pug, this is a better than average 1914 film but still a bit tedious after the boxing match. Apparently, firing guns into the air and at people was cause for hilarity. Pug even runs around struggling to work double fisted with pistols and boxing gloves still on. One dis-jointed from reality marker in the shooting sequence is that everybody reacts to getting hit like someone just hit them with a paintball or a rubber bullet. The film's highlights inevitably involve Arbuckle's great physical comedy aided and abetted by his physique as well as Charlie who is great as the referee who keeps stumbling into the fighters during the first round and joins the match in the second round much to the delight of the audience (both on screen and off!). Drop-kicks, rock throwing, shooting, boxing
c'mon, what's missing? Not a bad effort and much better than some of the other Keystone 1914 films.
20 Reviews
Good old-fashioned mayhem
wmorrow592 March 2002
The folks at Keystone might just as well have called this film "The Knockabout" for that's what they offer us: two reels of rowdy, fast-paced, and curiously amiable violence. Bricks are thrown, faces are punched, guns are fired, and cops are dragged across asphalt at high speed, but when the final scene arrives everyone looks okay, just a little winded. Viewers might feel a little winded, too, for despite its advanced age this movie amounts to something of a cinematic assault. MTV didn't invent rapid cutting, nor did Jackie Chan invent choreographic fighting; you'll find both in The Knockout, admittedly in rough and unsophisticated form, courtesy of Roscoe Arbuckle -- who, according to some sources, directed this film in addition to playing the lead.
The plot gets under way as we find two tattered hobos, looking for food. One of the tramps decides to impersonate the boxer Cyclone Flynn, who is scheduled to fight a bout that afternoon. Since the promoter hasn't met Flynn, he believes the tramp's false claim and gives him an advance on the proceeds. Meanwhile, Roscoe (called "Pug" here) defends his girlfriend from the unwanted attentions of a masher so successfully that he's persuaded to turn pro and take on Cyclone Flynn himself. After various complications Pug faces the real Flynn in the ring. The bout turns into a wild brawl and the police are summoned as Pug, now armed with two pistols, attempts to kill Flynn. Flynn ultimately escapes with his life across the rooftops and through an elegant party. Cops pursue Pug to a pier, and assorted personnel sail through the air into the ocean.
Decades after this film was made Roscoe Arbuckle retains his boyish charm as a screen comic. He gets quite a workout in this short. Gags as such are few, but there's a nice moment when Roscoe prepares to remove his trousers, becomes aware of the "viewers," and directs the camera's gaze upward, only undressing when he is safely out of camera range! (He would repeat this gag in his comedy Coney Island, three years later.) Minta Durfee, who was married to Arbuckle when this film was made, is a pleasant leading lady and looks fetching in the male drag she wears in the latter portion of the film, but, in my opinion, lacks the warmth Mabel Normand brought to similar roles. The rest of the supporting cast represents something of a Keystone Who's Who of 1914: Hank Mann as the tramp, Edgar Kennedy -- with hair -- as Cyclone Flynn, Al St. John as the masher, and Mack Swain (so memorable as the delusional prospector in Chaplin's The Gold Rush) as the gambler, mugging furiously as he watches the big fight. If you look quickly you can spot producer Mack Sennett in a brief bit, in the street in front of the arena. And of course, you can't miss Charlie Chaplin as the referee.
As Chaplin's popularity eclipsed Arbuckle's this film was re-released and advertised as a Chaplin vehicle, which is misleading, for Charlie is present for only a few minutes during the chaotic boxing match. Still, the sequence is the comic high point, as Arbuckle, Chaplin, Mack Swain, and Edgar Kennedy, all on screen simultaneously in a medium long shot, compete for the viewer's attention. But it's no contest: Chaplin's frantic attempts to avoid the boxers' punches draws our attention and steals the scene. Just to make sure our attention doesn't wander, Charlie vigorously mimes wooziness, falls, drags himself across the ring by the ropes, and pauses to count the stars he sees, whirling around his head. Arbuckle has to fire pistols to recapture the focus. If we view this sequence as a Battle of the Keystone Comics, it's plain that, a mere six months after his screen debut, and still only 25 years-old, Chaplin was now the undisputed Champion of screen comedians.
The plot gets under way as we find two tattered hobos, looking for food. One of the tramps decides to impersonate the boxer Cyclone Flynn, who is scheduled to fight a bout that afternoon. Since the promoter hasn't met Flynn, he believes the tramp's false claim and gives him an advance on the proceeds. Meanwhile, Roscoe (called "Pug" here) defends his girlfriend from the unwanted attentions of a masher so successfully that he's persuaded to turn pro and take on Cyclone Flynn himself. After various complications Pug faces the real Flynn in the ring. The bout turns into a wild brawl and the police are summoned as Pug, now armed with two pistols, attempts to kill Flynn. Flynn ultimately escapes with his life across the rooftops and through an elegant party. Cops pursue Pug to a pier, and assorted personnel sail through the air into the ocean.
Decades after this film was made Roscoe Arbuckle retains his boyish charm as a screen comic. He gets quite a workout in this short. Gags as such are few, but there's a nice moment when Roscoe prepares to remove his trousers, becomes aware of the "viewers," and directs the camera's gaze upward, only undressing when he is safely out of camera range! (He would repeat this gag in his comedy Coney Island, three years later.) Minta Durfee, who was married to Arbuckle when this film was made, is a pleasant leading lady and looks fetching in the male drag she wears in the latter portion of the film, but, in my opinion, lacks the warmth Mabel Normand brought to similar roles. The rest of the supporting cast represents something of a Keystone Who's Who of 1914: Hank Mann as the tramp, Edgar Kennedy -- with hair -- as Cyclone Flynn, Al St. John as the masher, and Mack Swain (so memorable as the delusional prospector in Chaplin's The Gold Rush) as the gambler, mugging furiously as he watches the big fight. If you look quickly you can spot producer Mack Sennett in a brief bit, in the street in front of the arena. And of course, you can't miss Charlie Chaplin as the referee.
As Chaplin's popularity eclipsed Arbuckle's this film was re-released and advertised as a Chaplin vehicle, which is misleading, for Charlie is present for only a few minutes during the chaotic boxing match. Still, the sequence is the comic high point, as Arbuckle, Chaplin, Mack Swain, and Edgar Kennedy, all on screen simultaneously in a medium long shot, compete for the viewer's attention. But it's no contest: Chaplin's frantic attempts to avoid the boxers' punches draws our attention and steals the scene. Just to make sure our attention doesn't wander, Charlie vigorously mimes wooziness, falls, drags himself across the ring by the ropes, and pauses to count the stars he sees, whirling around his head. Arbuckle has to fire pistols to recapture the focus. If we view this sequence as a Battle of the Keystone Comics, it's plain that, a mere six months after his screen debut, and still only 25 years-old, Chaplin was now the undisputed Champion of screen comedians.
Fatty and Charlie--beware there are MULTIPLE versions of this film!
planktonrules23 May 2006
This is a Fatty Arbuckle short in which there is a special appearance of Charlie Chaplin late in the film as a fight referee. Both comedians were in the beginning of their film careers and because of this they still hadn't really developed their characters. So, in many ways this looks nothing like a later film by either--Chaplin is not the Little Tramp and the often sweet characters Arbuckle plays is not evident here. Instead, a lot of action occurs on screen with little regard, at times, for plot or humor. You can really tell that the director just yelled "action" and told the guys to improvise. However, unlike SOME early Keystone efforts there is at least some plot and a few interesting moments, hence the score of 4. It's not good, but compared to what these two were making in 1914, it's better than average.
UPDATED AS OF 7/06: I just saw this short again, but this time the movie was dramatically different--with maybe ten more minutes of movie that gave it more coherence and watchability. This was the version from Mackinac Media in their "Forgotten films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle" collection. This isn't a total surprise, as in the early days of comedies, there usually existed several different prints and they were often cut and pasted to suit the needs of the theaters--an awful but common practice. I have seen this with several of Chaplin's shorts as well--and the versions were so different that they were like two different films. It is a terrible disservice to the memory of the actors and everyone else involved with the movie. As I mentioned above, this movie has a lot more plot in this version and if quite likable. Heck, Al St. John, who was an important part of the film, wasn't even in the first version I saw!!! What a shame.
UPDATED AS OF 7/06: I just saw this short again, but this time the movie was dramatically different--with maybe ten more minutes of movie that gave it more coherence and watchability. This was the version from Mackinac Media in their "Forgotten films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle" collection. This isn't a total surprise, as in the early days of comedies, there usually existed several different prints and they were often cut and pasted to suit the needs of the theaters--an awful but common practice. I have seen this with several of Chaplin's shorts as well--and the versions were so different that they were like two different films. It is a terrible disservice to the memory of the actors and everyone else involved with the movie. As I mentioned above, this movie has a lot more plot in this version and if quite likable. Heck, Al St. John, who was an important part of the film, wasn't even in the first version I saw!!! What a shame.
Chaplin Moves in on Keystone
Michael_Elliott6 September 2012
The Knockout (1914)
*** (out of 4)
Nice short from Keystone has Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle having to defend his girlfriend but he soon gets double crossed into entering the boxing ring with a professional champion. THE KNOCKOUT really isn't a good movie as there are so many things wrong with it but at the same time you have to give the film credit for its final five-minutes as well as the importance that Charles Chaplin brought to it. It seems like the first fifteen-minutes were fairly uneventful except for a rather funny fight that Arbuckle gets into defending his woman. From this point on we see a bunch of nothing and for the most part there's really nothing interesting happening up to the fight. Once the fight happens is when the film really picks up and a lot of the credit has to go to Chaplin who plays the referee who doesn't seem to know what he's doing. It's funny to watch this thing because you can see the old-fashioned Keystone ways pretty much going out the window in favor to the type of comedy that Chaplin would be doing from this point on. This here is also worth watching for the performance of Arbuckle who is extremely fast on his feet for such a big man and he really gets to show his comic grace.
*** (out of 4)
Nice short from Keystone has Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle having to defend his girlfriend but he soon gets double crossed into entering the boxing ring with a professional champion. THE KNOCKOUT really isn't a good movie as there are so many things wrong with it but at the same time you have to give the film credit for its final five-minutes as well as the importance that Charles Chaplin brought to it. It seems like the first fifteen-minutes were fairly uneventful except for a rather funny fight that Arbuckle gets into defending his woman. From this point on we see a bunch of nothing and for the most part there's really nothing interesting happening up to the fight. Once the fight happens is when the film really picks up and a lot of the credit has to go to Chaplin who plays the referee who doesn't seem to know what he's doing. It's funny to watch this thing because you can see the old-fashioned Keystone ways pretty much going out the window in favor to the type of comedy that Chaplin would be doing from this point on. This here is also worth watching for the performance of Arbuckle who is extremely fast on his feet for such a big man and he really gets to show his comic grace.
There is no knockout in this knockabout comedy short from the Keystone studios
weezeralfalfa29 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Roscoe(Fatty) Arbuckle is the star in this 3 reel offering from the Keystone studios, directed by Mack Sennett. Although Charlie Chaplin is listed as being among the stars, he basically makes a few minute cameo appearance as the much knocked about referee in the short boxing match between Fatty and champion Edgar Kennedy(Cyclone Flynn). Nonetheless, his performance is hilarious.......After a first half, in which Fatty has to defend his girlfriend(actual wife) Minta from being manhandled by masher Al St. John, in the second half , she changes from her feminine outfit into man's clothes, with her long hair hidden by a cap. Apparently, she did this so that she could qualify for a ringside seat at the boxing match. Then, during the last portion, while Fatty is occupied dealing with a squad of Keystone cops, unexpectedly, she is holding hands with Fatty's boxing rival, as they follow Fatty's movements!......During the fight, Fatty grabs two pistols from a spectator, who got too close to the ring. With his boxing gloves still on!,he begins to shoot randomly in the crowd, which soon spills out of the arena, in panic. Fatty continues to shoot wildly(apparently, with an inexhaustible bullet supply)when he emerges from the arena. The arrival of a squad of Keystone cops adds to the chaos, as they chase Fatty and he chases them, going over rooftops. Fatty still has his boxing gloves on, as a cop lassos him, beginning an extended period in which Fatty engages in a tug of war with the cops, incredibly, dragging them along the road, toward a pier. There, he jumps into the ocean, dragging the cops in with him. Thus, the comedy is mostly of the mayhem sort, rather than gags, if you like that.
Not quite a knockout
TheLittleSongbird26 May 2018
Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors.
He did do better than 'The Knockout', still made very early on in his career where he was still finding his feet and not fully formed what he became famous for. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'The Knockout' is a long way from a career high, but has a lot of nice things about it and is to me one of the better efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch.
'The Knockout' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and some other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy and the production values not as audacious. Occasionally, things feel a little scrappy and confused.
For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'The Knockout' is not bad at all.
While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick.
Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'The Knockout' is humorous, sweet and easy to like, though the emotion is not quite there. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.
Overall, far from one of Chaplin's best but pretty good and perhaps one of his better efforts from the early Keystone period. 7/10 Bethany Cox
He did do better than 'The Knockout', still made very early on in his career where he was still finding his feet and not fully formed what he became famous for. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'The Knockout' is a long way from a career high, but has a lot of nice things about it and is to me one of the better efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch.
'The Knockout' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and some other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy and the production values not as audacious. Occasionally, things feel a little scrappy and confused.
For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'The Knockout' is not bad at all.
While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick.
Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'The Knockout' is humorous, sweet and easy to like, though the emotion is not quite there. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.
Overall, far from one of Chaplin's best but pretty good and perhaps one of his better efforts from the early Keystone period. 7/10 Bethany Cox
No knockdown favourite
Igenlode Wordsmith20 February 2007
I saw a new 32-minute restoration of this film (courtesy of the Chaplin Keystone restoration project) and came away with the feeling that half an hour was too long; the film degenerates into endless repetitive scenes that the more mature comedy shorts of the 1920s would have trimmed drastically to greater effect. However, reading other users' comments, I get the impression that the material previously edited out of "The Knockout" was actually the early, plot-based part of the picture -- hardly an improvement!
There are some funny bits; chiefly those that are allowed to stand as one-off gags and not over-milked by repetition. Don't (as if this needed mentioning!) look for realism -- the film clearly features the pair of six-shooters with the largest number of consecutive charges in the world, for a start...
There is, incidentally, no knockout in this boxing match. Much other activity, though; including Minta Durfee as a girlfriend with a decided taste for fisticuffs, Charlie Chaplin in a long-shot cameo as the referee, and a brooding Mack Swain apparently having trouble with his moustaches.
There are some funny bits; chiefly those that are allowed to stand as one-off gags and not over-milked by repetition. Don't (as if this needed mentioning!) look for realism -- the film clearly features the pair of six-shooters with the largest number of consecutive charges in the world, for a start...
There is, incidentally, no knockout in this boxing match. Much other activity, though; including Minta Durfee as a girlfriend with a decided taste for fisticuffs, Charlie Chaplin in a long-shot cameo as the referee, and a brooding Mack Swain apparently having trouble with his moustaches.
One Of The Better Keystone Comedies
CitizenCaine22 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This film is a first in several respects. It's the first film in which Chaplin himself is on screen for only a few minutes and does not even appear until into the second half of the film. It's also the first Chaplin film to feature the keystone cops as a group and as major characters. Fatty Arbuckle is actually the main character who steps in early in the film to protect a young lady from a masher, frequently a plot device used in silent comedy. Fatty's prowess gets noticed, and he is later signed to take on a real fighter in a match refereed by Chaplin himself. Chaplin steals the action when he's on stage, trying to avoid getting slugged himself and then of course joining the brawl too. Fatty gets a hold of some six-shooters (which never seem to run out of bullets), and the zaniness is on. The keystone cops get involved and Fatty makes the whole gang look absolutely inept. The film really takes off in the second half starting with the boxing match followed by shooting, rooftop chases, and police chases. Truly a funny film in the second half, even though this is not really a Chaplin film. Look fast for Mack Sennett and Charley Chase in bit roles. **1/2 of 4 stars.
The Knockout review
JoeytheBrit28 June 2020
Roscoe Arbuckle takes on a prize fighter in this Keystone short, and somehow ends up firing guns while wearing boxing gloves during a rooftop chase. Plenty of frantic pandemonium, and a scene-stealing appearance from Charlie Chaplin as the referee, but it's all a bit messy.
An interesting cast of silent film who's who's.
classicsoncall6 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not too knowledgeable about the old silents, so when I watched this one I wasn't quite sure if the guy refereeing who looked like Chaplin was really Chaplin. The same with the Keystone Kops gimmick, not realizing they went this far back in screen history. And it was my very first time catching Fatty Arbuckle in a film, so on all counts this was a worthwhile experience. Oh, and don't let me forget Edgar Kennedy, an actor I first recall seeing in a bunch of Laurel and Hardy flicks made a few years later. Apparently the casting of Kennedy as Cyclone Flynn, boxing champion was an intelligent choice, as he actually boxed professionally for a while before going to work for Mack Sennett.
My viewing of the film short was of a greatly abbreviated version shown on Turner Classics a few nights ago lasting only twelve minutes. Reading other reviewers here, it appears I missed some of the set up and the events following the boxing match and the Keystone Kops chase, but I think I got the gist of it. It appears that director Sennet relied heavily on caricature for his supporting cast as well as the principal players; I got a kick out of the front row spectator at the boxing match going berserk, and the heavy bettor with the Yosemite Sam mustache was a hoot.
Trying to keep things in perspective, this isn't going to be anyone's favorite film short, but it's entertaining enough with an amusing cast and moves quickly once the action enters the boxing ring. If you get a chance to see it, it's a great opportunity to see a host of silent screen legends all in one place before they all moved on to bigger and better things.
My viewing of the film short was of a greatly abbreviated version shown on Turner Classics a few nights ago lasting only twelve minutes. Reading other reviewers here, it appears I missed some of the set up and the events following the boxing match and the Keystone Kops chase, but I think I got the gist of it. It appears that director Sennet relied heavily on caricature for his supporting cast as well as the principal players; I got a kick out of the front row spectator at the boxing match going berserk, and the heavy bettor with the Yosemite Sam mustache was a hoot.
Trying to keep things in perspective, this isn't going to be anyone's favorite film short, but it's entertaining enough with an amusing cast and moves quickly once the action enters the boxing ring. If you get a chance to see it, it's a great opportunity to see a host of silent screen legends all in one place before they all moved on to bigger and better things.
Major mayhem makes mediocre movie merely
Horst_In_Translation17 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"The Knockout" is an American black-and-white film from 1914 and as this one is already over 100 years old, it is of course a silent film as well. Director is Mack Sennett and lead actor is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (looking like a big baby as usual) and if you know a bit about the days before sound, then you will recognize these names immediately. Charlie Chaplin is in it as well, but only plays a minor part, namely a boxing umpire. And there you also a have a vital ingredient of the movie: boxing, a sport that was at least as popular a century ago as it is now and when Fatty (as unfit as it gets, he may have the mass, but not the muscles) grabs his gloves, then mayhem is inevitable of course. But the co-characters help a lot as well for sure. Several Walk of Fame actors are in this one and the outcome is not a failure, but it is also not memorable whatsoever in my opinion as it is really not about good story-telling at all, but more about following one funny scene up with the next and the result is that it looks a bit try hard and is never really as funny as it wants to be. Oh yeah, more intertitles would have helped too. Don't watch.
Must see for fans of early silent comedy
deason14 July 2010
This short silent comedy features a great, large cast, and many hilarious scenes. The large number of characters help support a plot more complicated than the average 1914 Keystone comedy.
For a 1914 Keystone, this has it all, or almost all: cartoon violence, street fights, fraud, romance, a cross-dressing heroine, Arbuckle's acrobatic slapstick, a (brief) love triangle, death threats, menace, the funniest boxing match of the decade, with Chaplin as a guest star and the Keystone Kops! The last ten or so minutes in particular (of the 25 minute version I saw) were outstanding: densely packed with ludicrous action and surprising gags. There's easily enough going on to reward multiple viewings. It's one of Chaplin's best Keystone films (though he's only in a few minutes), one of Arbuckle's best Keystone films and has the funniest Keystone Kops sequence of the handful I've seen.
Recommended!
For a 1914 Keystone, this has it all, or almost all: cartoon violence, street fights, fraud, romance, a cross-dressing heroine, Arbuckle's acrobatic slapstick, a (brief) love triangle, death threats, menace, the funniest boxing match of the decade, with Chaplin as a guest star and the Keystone Kops! The last ten or so minutes in particular (of the 25 minute version I saw) were outstanding: densely packed with ludicrous action and surprising gags. There's easily enough going on to reward multiple viewings. It's one of Chaplin's best Keystone films (though he's only in a few minutes), one of Arbuckle's best Keystone films and has the funniest Keystone Kops sequence of the handful I've seen.
Recommended!
Another early winner for Keystone
StevePulaski16 May 2015
The Knockout, like other Keystone shorts of the 1910's, combines two comedic legends in one short film. We center around Pug (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle), a boxer who is planning to face off against the renowned Cyclone Flynn (Edgar Kennedy). With the help of his girlfriend (Minta Durfee), Pug trains to beat the boxer until, upon getting into the ring, he is greeted with the goofiest of referees (Charlie Chaplin).
The comedy here stems directly from the slapstick breed, making The Knockout incredibly kinetic and fun. It's never too reliant on one breed of comedy and, again, typical for the Keystone shorts, toys with the roles and personalities of its characters. Nothing is ever too linear here and everything winds up being a ribald blast of energy, especially for Chaplin. Chaplin's referee character doesn't come into play until the second half of the short, but when he does, he provides for another element of the diverse comic abilities of the Keystone company. Playing with comedic tropes and having two great performers at the forefront, The Knockout is among one of the big winners for the company.
Starring: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Edgar Kennedy, Minta Durfee, and Charlie Chaplin. Directed by: Charles Avery.
The comedy here stems directly from the slapstick breed, making The Knockout incredibly kinetic and fun. It's never too reliant on one breed of comedy and, again, typical for the Keystone shorts, toys with the roles and personalities of its characters. Nothing is ever too linear here and everything winds up being a ribald blast of energy, especially for Chaplin. Chaplin's referee character doesn't come into play until the second half of the short, but when he does, he provides for another element of the diverse comic abilities of the Keystone company. Playing with comedic tropes and having two great performers at the forefront, The Knockout is among one of the big winners for the company.
Starring: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Edgar Kennedy, Minta Durfee, and Charlie Chaplin. Directed by: Charles Avery.
Rudimentary Early Comedy From the Keystone Crew
drqshadow-reviews16 February 2022
Fatty Arbuckle swings his weight around in this super-shallow pugilistic comedy. There's almost no story to speak of, just a basic theme (prize fighting) wrapped around the loosest of frameworks, which can certainly be attributed to its incredible age. Keystone Studios had only been around for two years at this point and secondary star Charlie Chaplin was still an eccentric supporting player. Fritz Lang wouldn't direct his first film for another five years! Even bearing that in mind, it's lacking as anything more than a historical curiosity. Chaplin is all over the posters, despite being involved for less than five minutes as the rubber-booted ref in charge of the big fight. There's little to the humor beyond cartoony chase scenes and constant head-over-heels pratfalls. Everybody's taking a pratfall. The boxers, the fans, the dream girl in the front row, the infamous Keystone cops... if they've got feet, you better believe they'll be pointed up at the sky before it's all said and done. No way this should stick around for twenty-seven minutes.
The Second Half Has A Lot Of Good Material
Snow Leopard14 November 2005
The second half or so of this Keystone comedy is quite enjoyable, with a lot of good material. The first half is sometimes amusing, but for the most part it really only serves to set up the last part. Roscoe Arbuckle was skilled at performing almost any kind of comic material, but he is much more fun to watch when he has something good to work with. Charlie Chaplin's appearance in the last part of the movie also adds quite a bit.
The setup has Arbuckle getting hoodwinked into a boxing match with a champion opponent. It takes rather a while to prepare for the 'main event', and some of the material in the first half really isn't that creative. But once the match begins, with Chaplin appearing as a timid, hapless referee, things really get rolling. It's a lengthy, amusing sequence that's not unworthy of being mentioned with the boxing sequences in some of Chaplin's own movies. It's well worth watching this part over again to catch all of the subtle gags that Chaplin throws in.
Arbuckle is still the star here, though, and it ends up being a decent showcase for him to perform slapstick and feats of agility, plus a few mannerisms and facial expressions. It would have been better if some of the unnecessarily complicated setup material had been streamlined, but even as it stands it has some good laughs.
The setup has Arbuckle getting hoodwinked into a boxing match with a champion opponent. It takes rather a while to prepare for the 'main event', and some of the material in the first half really isn't that creative. But once the match begins, with Chaplin appearing as a timid, hapless referee, things really get rolling. It's a lengthy, amusing sequence that's not unworthy of being mentioned with the boxing sequences in some of Chaplin's own movies. It's well worth watching this part over again to catch all of the subtle gags that Chaplin throws in.
Arbuckle is still the star here, though, and it ends up being a decent showcase for him to perform slapstick and feats of agility, plus a few mannerisms and facial expressions. It would have been better if some of the unnecessarily complicated setup material had been streamlined, but even as it stands it has some good laughs.
two great scenes
SnoopyStyle8 August 2020
Pug (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) tries to please his girlfriend. When she gets harassed by a ruffian, Pug takes him and his friends out. The ruffians are impressed and convince Pug to sign up to box Cyclone Flynn who is taking on all comers. A couple of bums play a prank on him. The match has a wacky referee (Charles Chaplin). It ends with a shootout and a Keystone cops chase.
I'm not sure about the story. Fatty Arbuckle seems a bit too angry to be that fun. The girlfriend is not terribly nice. This movie does have two great scenes. Charles Chaplin makes a great cameo and basically steals the scene. The only problem with it is that the camera doesn't move. The manic fun only comes from the performers. The other great scene for me is breaking the fourth wall. I love Fatty's playfulness with the audience during that bit. The two great scenes more than make up for any deficiencies.
I'm not sure about the story. Fatty Arbuckle seems a bit too angry to be that fun. The girlfriend is not terribly nice. This movie does have two great scenes. Charles Chaplin makes a great cameo and basically steals the scene. The only problem with it is that the camera doesn't move. The manic fun only comes from the performers. The other great scene for me is breaking the fourth wall. I love Fatty's playfulness with the audience during that bit. The two great scenes more than make up for any deficiencies.
Vertigo's got nothing on this rooftop sequence!!
Anonymous_Maxine27 February 2008
That's not really true, of course, but the level of action and the quality and style of editing in this film is leaps and bounds above a lot of the kinds of films that were coming out at the time, even the ones that Chaplin himself was directing. The first 15 minutes of the film, the build-up to the boxing match, are noticeably slow and almost eventless, but the last ten minutes are so action packed and so frantically fast paced that it almost feels like a full length film.
Fatty Arbuckle stars in this tale of a fixed boxing match gone horribly wrong, and it has slapstick violence, Charlie Chaplin as a referee who doesn't seem to know that he's not supposed to get involved with the fight, gunfights, police chases, and Arbuckle dragging the whole precinct of officers attached to a rope into the ocean off of a pier. There's intrigue, betrayal, romance, crime, comedy, and illegal gambling. There is so much going on in this film that it's amazing how short it is.
Chaplin didn't write or direct this film, and in reality was only a co-star, but this is one of the best films I've seen in the Chaplin collection I have. Chaplin at the time was a very inexperienced filmmaker, and he wasn't really turning out anything better than this at the time that it was made. He became much better than this later in his career, obviously, but any Chaplin fan should not miss this one.
Fatty Arbuckle stars in this tale of a fixed boxing match gone horribly wrong, and it has slapstick violence, Charlie Chaplin as a referee who doesn't seem to know that he's not supposed to get involved with the fight, gunfights, police chases, and Arbuckle dragging the whole precinct of officers attached to a rope into the ocean off of a pier. There's intrigue, betrayal, romance, crime, comedy, and illegal gambling. There is so much going on in this film that it's amazing how short it is.
Chaplin didn't write or direct this film, and in reality was only a co-star, but this is one of the best films I've seen in the Chaplin collection I have. Chaplin at the time was a very inexperienced filmmaker, and he wasn't really turning out anything better than this at the time that it was made. He became much better than this later in his career, obviously, but any Chaplin fan should not miss this one.
Barrels of fun
deickemeyer15 October 2018
Roscoe Arbuckle, ably supported, makes barrels of fun in this two-reel comedy release. In its early stages, the story has a particularly well-connected plot, but things go to smash a little in this line when a big chase is introduced in the second reel. This chase, as well as a comedy prize fight, is unusually funny. - The Moving Picture World, July 4, 1914
A Fun Half An Hour Short Film
HabibieHakim12312 October 2021
I found The Knockout as more of a Fatty Arbuckle film rather than a Chaplin film, Fatty Arbuckle is the real star in this film means he is as groovy and as funny as Chaplin, The Knockout is a fun half an hour short film.
Entertaining
gbill-7487717 August 2020
Fatty Arbuckle shows off his fighting moves before, during, and after a boxing match, Charlie Chaplin shows up briefly as the referee and naturally gets hopelessly tangled up in the brawl, Minta Durfree looks cute dressed up as a man, and the famed Keystone Kops fall all over each other. It's all pretty silly stuff, but I loved the bits where Arbuckle breaks the 4th wall to have the camera pan up while he's changing into his shorts, and his frenetic tug of war with the cops at the end.
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