In the 1910s and early 20s, Fatty Arbuckle was one of the biggest comedy stars on the big screen. However, after a well publicized rape trial (the jury in the re-trail went so far as to pen a letter saying Arbuckle was completely innocent), his career was in free- fall. Only in the late 1920s was he able to get some work as a director using a pseudonym. Then, in the early 30s, Vitaphone (a division of Warner Brothers) made some comedy shorts starring Arbuckle and things were looking up for him. But most of the shorts were not especially good and he died very young...right after making "Tomalio".
"Tomalio", sadly, isn't a very good film. Most of the humor comes from watching the Generalissimo of this small country and Arbuckle himself wasn't all that good in this one. I blame the writers, as he proved in "Hey, Pop!" (1932) that he still had it. The problem is that often he just stands there...and funny (or at least semi- funny) stuff takes place around him. Not a terrible film but a poor way to end his long comedy career.
"Tomalio", sadly, isn't a very good film. Most of the humor comes from watching the Generalissimo of this small country and Arbuckle himself wasn't all that good in this one. I blame the writers, as he proved in "Hey, Pop!" (1932) that he still had it. The problem is that often he just stands there...and funny (or at least semi- funny) stuff takes place around him. Not a terrible film but a poor way to end his long comedy career.