"Back Stage" is one of the later works of Arbuckle and Keaton as an on screen-duo. As Arbuckle's acting career was fading despite him being only in his early 30s, Keaton still had his most lauded works before him. Also, a crucial event happened only two years later that almost cost him his freedom and entire career.
Anyway, back to this short film. It is pretty mediocre. There is one or two funny moments, but as a whole I was slightly disappointed. Early on, Arbuckle tries to put up a poster and a little boy gets in the way. As we see the physical abuse, it becomes clear that these silent black&white short films were pretty much as violent almost like the Disney cartoons which became big 15 years later, including an electric shock, a woman being shot and more. Even if we see a happy end (as always at that time) and how she survived, violence was a dominant entertainment factor back in the day. Unfortunately, most of it I did not find particularly funny. Also, this short film has lots of jumping and running around and dancing, but little actual story that could justify a short movie which goes considerably over 20 minutes.
Apart from Keaton and Arbuckle, Al St. John also plays a part here. he was one of the most famous and prolific silent movie actors back then even if his name is not known to many anymore. The main villain is played by Charles A. Post, an actor who was only in his early 20s here, but looks much older, probably also thanks to his enormous height. Nice makeup work. The girl was played by Molly Malone, a regular Keaton/Arbuckle actor. I liked the scene where Fatty hits himself for touching the female companion of the antagonist as such behavior wasn't acceptable. Keaton gives us his usual shtick by making fun of himself and his tiny slim size and there is one main antagonist.
The whole film is about a theater play which goes all kinds of wrong, but brings also action to the table that makes audiences think they were really watching a theater play. It also has quite a few dramatic effects, not comedy only. Some of these I mentioned earlier. None of it really had me on the edge of my seat. I'd really recommend this only to lovers of very old movies (95 years ago already) and fans of the two protagonists.
Anyway, back to this short film. It is pretty mediocre. There is one or two funny moments, but as a whole I was slightly disappointed. Early on, Arbuckle tries to put up a poster and a little boy gets in the way. As we see the physical abuse, it becomes clear that these silent black&white short films were pretty much as violent almost like the Disney cartoons which became big 15 years later, including an electric shock, a woman being shot and more. Even if we see a happy end (as always at that time) and how she survived, violence was a dominant entertainment factor back in the day. Unfortunately, most of it I did not find particularly funny. Also, this short film has lots of jumping and running around and dancing, but little actual story that could justify a short movie which goes considerably over 20 minutes.
Apart from Keaton and Arbuckle, Al St. John also plays a part here. he was one of the most famous and prolific silent movie actors back then even if his name is not known to many anymore. The main villain is played by Charles A. Post, an actor who was only in his early 20s here, but looks much older, probably also thanks to his enormous height. Nice makeup work. The girl was played by Molly Malone, a regular Keaton/Arbuckle actor. I liked the scene where Fatty hits himself for touching the female companion of the antagonist as such behavior wasn't acceptable. Keaton gives us his usual shtick by making fun of himself and his tiny slim size and there is one main antagonist.
The whole film is about a theater play which goes all kinds of wrong, but brings also action to the table that makes audiences think they were really watching a theater play. It also has quite a few dramatic effects, not comedy only. Some of these I mentioned earlier. None of it really had me on the edge of my seat. I'd really recommend this only to lovers of very old movies (95 years ago already) and fans of the two protagonists.