Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had once been one of the screen's premier comedians and he and Mabel Normand had proved so lucrative in their pairings for Paramount that in 1918 the studio offered him a $3 million dollar contract to make 18 movies over 3 years. But the 1921 Labour Day scandal which resulted in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe and the trials which managed to keep Arbuckle's name connected with some salacious headlines for over 6 months destroyed his career. Even though the last trial completely exonerated him and the jury took the unprecedented step of composing a remorseful apology with each member embracing him and shaking his hand, there were moves afoot to prevent him from ever appearing on the screen again. Most of his movies due for release were destroyed or conveniently disappeared. "Leap Year", one of the very few to survive was eventually released in Europe in 1924 after Paramount forbade it U.S. release because of the scandal.
With the resurfacing of "Leap Year", it shows how prestigious Arbuckle's films were - directed by James Cruze and photographed by Karl Brown, ace cameraman for D.W. Griffith. I'm also wondering if Mary Thurman was the first actress to wear her hair in a bob on film - she plays the nurse, Miss Brown of Stanley's gouty old uncle (Lucian Littlefield) and is described as having a "sanitary haircut"!! She is fired early on but not before Stanley vows to her that he is not fickle in his affections!!
The thing I love about Arbuckle's comedy, he is not a "look at me, I'm a funny fat man" comic - in fact from the start he refused to do comedy that took advantage of his size. There are a few scenes in this movie that show his balletic grace, one at the start when he dances a solo tango to show he is just over the moon about Miss Brown's love....but then he arrives at Catalina Island and he finds he is fighting dames off with a stick - a golf club actually!! In view of the looming scandal and the seedy gossip making front page news in many papers, this plot featuring Roscoe as an unwilling girl magnet may not have been in the best taste!! The plot line for the first half hour just seems to be a handle to introduce a bevy of girls. There is fickle Molly (Gertrude Short) who sees in Stanley the real man she had been searching for!! Her fiancé is not amused! Then there is Lois (Helen Hammond), a gold digger who desperately wants to get her hands on his bank book!! She is down with her sugar daddy - but daddy's wife pays a surprise visit so Fatty is asked to escort her about so wifey won't get jealous. She wastes no time in proposing and in the effort to escape he swims out to a moored boat where he meets - bored Mrs. Rutherford who claims her husband doesn't understand her and that Stanley has swum all the way across the bay to propose!! The film ends when all the ladies converge onto his uncle's stately home and it soon resorts into a Benny Hill style chase!!
For me the movie was not particularly funny only in a broad slapstick way. And if this Paramount feature was typical of Arbuckle's output, I think his style was soon to be out moded as the 1920s went on. Certainly he was not a patch on the Big 3 - Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd as far as comic talent went!!
With the resurfacing of "Leap Year", it shows how prestigious Arbuckle's films were - directed by James Cruze and photographed by Karl Brown, ace cameraman for D.W. Griffith. I'm also wondering if Mary Thurman was the first actress to wear her hair in a bob on film - she plays the nurse, Miss Brown of Stanley's gouty old uncle (Lucian Littlefield) and is described as having a "sanitary haircut"!! She is fired early on but not before Stanley vows to her that he is not fickle in his affections!!
The thing I love about Arbuckle's comedy, he is not a "look at me, I'm a funny fat man" comic - in fact from the start he refused to do comedy that took advantage of his size. There are a few scenes in this movie that show his balletic grace, one at the start when he dances a solo tango to show he is just over the moon about Miss Brown's love....but then he arrives at Catalina Island and he finds he is fighting dames off with a stick - a golf club actually!! In view of the looming scandal and the seedy gossip making front page news in many papers, this plot featuring Roscoe as an unwilling girl magnet may not have been in the best taste!! The plot line for the first half hour just seems to be a handle to introduce a bevy of girls. There is fickle Molly (Gertrude Short) who sees in Stanley the real man she had been searching for!! Her fiancé is not amused! Then there is Lois (Helen Hammond), a gold digger who desperately wants to get her hands on his bank book!! She is down with her sugar daddy - but daddy's wife pays a surprise visit so Fatty is asked to escort her about so wifey won't get jealous. She wastes no time in proposing and in the effort to escape he swims out to a moored boat where he meets - bored Mrs. Rutherford who claims her husband doesn't understand her and that Stanley has swum all the way across the bay to propose!! The film ends when all the ladies converge onto his uncle's stately home and it soon resorts into a Benny Hill style chase!!
For me the movie was not particularly funny only in a broad slapstick way. And if this Paramount feature was typical of Arbuckle's output, I think his style was soon to be out moded as the 1920s went on. Certainly he was not a patch on the Big 3 - Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd as far as comic talent went!!