The Butcher Boy (1917 film)

The Butcher Boy

Poster
Directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Produced by Joseph M. Schenck
Written by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Joseph Anthony Roach
Starring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
Al St. John
Josephine Stevens
Arthur Earle
Joe Bordeaux
Luke the Dog
Charles Dudley
Alice Lake
Agnes Neilson
Cinematography Frank D. Williams
Edited by Herbert Warren
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • April 23, 1917 (1917-04-23)[1]
Running time
 30 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)
A short clip of The Butcher Boy

The Butcher Boy is a 1917 American short comedy film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. This was the first in Arbuckle's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Keaton's film debut.

Plot

The story involves Arbuckle working as the butcher boy in a country store. He falls in love with the cashier (Lake), who is the daughter of the store owner. His attempts to get close to her are thwarted when a customer named Alum (St John) also falls in love the cashier and a fight breaks out in the store between Fatty, Alum and Alum's friends accomplices (Keaton & Bordeaux). Determined to win the cashier over, he follows her, disguised as a female cousin, to an all-girl boarding school. Unfortunately Alum has the same idea and masquerades as a female student as well. After another fight breaks out between the two men, Fatty is taken by the head teacher to a separate room to be punished, meanwhile Alum and his gang attempt to kidnap the cashier. Luckily Fatty's dog Luke distracts the gang for long enough for Fatty and the cashier to escape. They spot a church across the road and decide to get married.

Cast

Critical response

A contemporary Variety review indicates the film was well-received, stating: "The Comique Film Co.'s series of Arbuckle two-reelers starts off with Fatty shaking out a bag of laugh making tricks. The cast fits the star, and not the least important member is 'Luke,' the bull terrier. It is a wonder. Arbuckle's juggling with the accessories of the country store where he is an important factor, also his way of handling the feminine clothes worn in his visit to the girl's boarding school, is done in such a serious, earnest way the comic effect is all the more forceful... The first of the Arbuckle series has set a good mark to aim at. While there is some slapstick, the comedy is recommended."

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Knopf, Robert (2 August 1999). The theater and cinema of Buster Keaton. Princeton University Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-691-00442-6. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

Further reading

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