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This Film Is More Than 100 Years Old

The Butcher Boy (1917)

The Butcher Boy is a silent comedy from 1917, written, and directed by Fatty Arbuckle, and starring Fatty Arbuckle, too, as well as Alice Lake, Buster Keaton, and Fatty Arbuckle’s amazing dog, Luke.

I love Luke.

Anyway the film’s in two parts. The first part is set in the butcher’s shop where Fatty Arbuckle works, while the second part involves Fatty Arbuckle dressing up as a girl so he can break into a boarding school for girls and marry a girl.

The second part has more Luke but less jokes. The first part has less Luke but more jokes. I could not tell you which I prefer.

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Notes

1. I watched this on blu-ray, in this excellent collection of Buster Keaton films.

2. But there’s plenty of version available on youtube or wherever. I captured the above screenshots from this slightly shoddy version.

3. This was Buster Keaton’s film debut, which explains why it’s in the Buster Keaton boxset and not a Fatty Arbuckle boxset, I suppose.

4. Anyway, I’m going to watch one of these every day during December.

5. I hope that’s okay.

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Film Information

Title: The Butcher Boy
Director: Fatty Arbuckle
Year: 1917
Duration: 24 minutes
Watch: youtube (various versions)