The announcement of Kino International’s two-volume collection of short films featuring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton was a cause for excited anticipation. After all, the Kino editions of Buster Keaton’s films on DVD were, for the most part, great. Upon inspecting this first volume we can honestly say that its release is an occasion for celebration.

For years many of the Arbuckle films made for Keystone Film Corporation have been available in public-domain home video editions and are familiar to many silent film enthusiasts. But opportunities to view the Arbuckle Comique shorts and features have been difficult to come by, and the films have been nearly impossible to acquire on home video. We now have an opportunity to enjoy ten comedies between these two Kino DVD volumes that were made during Arbuckle’s mid-career phase (post-Keystone yet prior to his move into feature films) and at the beginning of Keaton’s film career. And, with the rumored demise of some of these films, it is pleasing that most of the films in this collection look so good.

Generally the 35mm prints utilized for the video transfers are in good to very good condition, with generally some light scuffing, scratches and speckling, some exposure fluctuations and frame jitters, but with well-defined visual detail. The transfers are generously framed (except for Moonshine, which seems a little pinched by the original 16mm print framing) and are transferred at proper running speeds. The gray values of the original prints and of the video transfer are broad, with occasional highlight detail burn out. Shadow values are open and well defined.

The roughest 35mm print in the volume is Out West, with its sometimes contrasty and choppy print. It’s worth nothing that the print of Out West is unfortunately missing footage where Roscoe, as the new bartender, uses the rattling hands of a frightened man to shake a cocktail mixer. Throughout the volume the transfers are color tinted in pale tones of yellow and blue, with some color-toned sequences. All main titles and intertitles appear to have been digitally reconstructed in authentic-looking borders and typefonts, with the exception of The Hayseed which utilizes the off-center intertitles of a 35mm reissue print.

Moonshine has apparently only survived as a contrasty 16mm reduction print, with burnt-out highlights and distracting exposure fluctuations. Some frames are good, others are over exposed. But the action is easy to follow and we’re happy that the film has survived in any form. As with most 16mm reduction prints, the film is tightly cropped and sometimes lops the top of heads off.

The Alloy Orchestra has provided unorthodox music scores for the entire Kino Arbuckle-Keaton series, and all of the shorts include some punctuating sound effects that are well synchronized to the action. The music for the molasses scene in The Butcher Boy brings to mind the quirky CD releases of Muzic for Insomniaks by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. And because quirky perhaps best describes the music here, we can confidently say that some viewers will dislike the music scores. However, we personally enjoy The Alloy Orchestra’s unusual approaches to silent film accompaniment and urge reticent viewers to give the DVD several spins before coming to a final judgment on the music.

While a few of the films collected here have previously been released on home video (mostly in substandard editions by public-domain companies), they have never looked this good. The films presented in this volume are noted in the DVD packaging as being licensed from The Douris Corporation, holders of the Raymond Rohauer collection. The huge Rohauer collection contains many of the finest prints of the films of Buster Keaton, with many of the original 35mm prints coming from Buster’s personal collection. This Kino edition of Arbuckle-Keaton films, produced by Bret Wood, is definitely worth acquiring if you are a fan of Roscoe and Buster comedies. We highly recommend this DVD.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.