| Fatty and Mabel Adrift | |
|---|---|
 Original 1916 theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle |
| Written by | Roscoe "Fatty' Arbuckle |
| Produced by | Mack Sennett |
| Starring |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Triangle Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 34 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | Silent film English (original intertitles) |
Fatty and Mabel Adrift is a 1916 short comedy film produced by Keystone Studios and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Al St. John.
The story involves Arbuckle as a farm boy marrying his sweetheart, Normand. They have their honeymoon with Fatty's dog Luke at a cottage on the seashore. At high tide that night, Al St. John (Fatty's rival) and his confederates set the cottage adrift. Fatty and Mabel awaken the next morning to find their small house floating in the ocean and water rapidly flooding their bedroom.
Variety in its 1916 review gives the film a positive review, commenting that "the picture is amusing with some new and good effects, without the customary dose of messy slapstick one expects in a Keystone with these principals." [1] As was often the case in contemporary reviews of Arbuckle films, the direction of the film is singled out for praise, although it is not mentioned that Arbuckle himself is the director. The review mentions "a dandy lightning storm is a feature of the film and there are some pretty views of breakers rushing on to the shore." [1] The review also contends that Al St. John's performance is not as good as his usual work for Keystone but adds, "The picture is a sure laugh maker and as it is fairly clean, it is the more worthy." [1]
Fatty and Mabel Adrift was the closing movie of the 56-film Arbuckle retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in April and May 2006. Prior to the presentation of this short, the event's curators cited the film as their favorite of Arbuckle's screen productions. [2]
The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
Amabel Ethelreid Normand, better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, director and screenwriter. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their Keystone Studios films, and at the height of her career in the late 1910s and early 1920s had her own film studio and production company, the Mabel Normand Feature Film Company. On screen, she appeared in twelve successful films with Charlie Chaplin and seventeen with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, sometimes writing and directing films featuring Chaplin as her leading man.
The Knockout is a 1914 American silent comedy film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. It also features Charlie Chaplin in a small role, his seventeenth film for Keystone Studios. It is one of only a few films in which Chaplin's Little Tramp character appears in a secondary role, not appearing until the second half of the film. It also stars Arbuckle's wife, Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy and Keystone owner, Mack Sennett in a minor role as a spectator. The film was directed by Charles Avery.
Al St. John was an early American motion-picture comedian. He was a nephew of silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, with whom he often performed on screen. St. John was employed by Mack Sennett and also worked with many other leading players such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mabel Normand. His film career successfully transitioned from the silent era into sound, and by the late 1930s and 1940s he was working predominantly in Westerns, often portraying the scruffy comedy-relief character "Fuzzy Q. Jones". Among his notable performances in that role are in the "Billy the Kid" series of films released by the Producers Releasing Corporation from 1940 to 1946 and in that company's "Lone Rider" series from 1941 to 1943.
A Film Johnnie is a 1914 American-made motion picture starring Charles Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Mabel Normand.
He Did and He Didn't is a 1916 American short comedy film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.
A Noise from the Deep is a 1913 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The film was directed and produced by Mack Sennett and also features the Keystone Cops on horseback. A Noise from the Deep still exists and was screened four times in 2006 in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of a 56-film retrospective of all known surviving Arbuckle movies.
Shotguns That Kick is a 1914 comedy short starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Arbuckle's acrobatic nephew Al St. John. The film was directed by Arbuckle.
Mabel's New Hero is a 1913 American short comedy film featuring Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, and The Keystone Cops.
The Speed Kings is a 1913 American short comedy film starring Mabel Normand and featuring Fatty Arbuckle in an early role. The film is set at a race track and features footage of actual races. The story has Mabel's papa trying to prevent her growing infatuation with real life racing driver Teddy Tetzlaff.
The Alarm is a 1914 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. This silent film was produced by Mack Sennett and The Keystone Film Company and distributed by Mutual Film Corporation. It was released on May 28, 1914.
Mabel and Fatty's Married Life is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle.
Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition is a 1915 American silent black-and-white short comedy film, directed by Fatty Arbuckle and starring Arbuckle and Mabel Normand. It was produced by Keystone Studios.
Mabel's Wilful Way is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by Roscoe Arbuckle, starring Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle.
Bright Lights is a 1916 American short comedy film directed by Roscoe Arbuckle and starring Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Al St. John.
Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco is a 1915 American short comedy-documentary film both starring and directed by Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.
Keystone is the twenty-fifth album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the Greenleaf label in 2005 and features performances by Douglas, Jamie Saft, DJ Olive, Gene Lake, Marcus Strickland, and Brad Jones. The music was written to accompany Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's silent films and a DVD containing the complete film Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) and a collage of Arbuckle's scenes set to "Just Another Murder" is included with the album.
Elgin Lessley was an American hand-crank cameraman of the silent film era—a period of filmmaking when virtually all special effects work had to be produced inside the camera during filming. Though Lessley worked earlier with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and later with Harry Langdon, he is best known for the groundbreaking effects he produced with Buster Keaton, who dubbed him "the human metronome" for his ability to crank consistently at any requested speed.
Al St. John (1893–1963) was an American comic actor who appeared in 394 films between 1913 and 1952. Starting at Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company, St. John rose through the ranks to become one of the major comedy stars of the 1920s, though less than half of his starring roles still survive today. With the advent of sound drastically changing and curtailing the two-reel comedy format, St. John diversified, creating a second career for himself as a comic sidekick in Western films and ultimately developing the character of "Fuzzy Q. Jones", for which he is best known in posterity.
Luke the Dog (1913–1926) was an American Staffordshire Terrier that performed as a recurring character in American silent comedy shorts between 1914 and 1920. He was also the personal pet of actress Minta Durfee and her husband, the comedian and director Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
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