Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle goes from strength to strength--literally--pummeling his brick-throwing nemesis Al St. John one minute, and then going into the ring to whallomp a pair of desperate drifters the next.

Mack Sennett directed this deliriously paced short, which is packed with wall-to-wall talent: Arbuckle is joined by his real-life wife Minta Durfee and his nephew Al St. John, as well as gifted supporting players Edgar Kennedy, Charley Chase, Alice Howell, Mack Swain... Even Sennett himself shows up briefly as "Spectator in Straw Hat." Of all the luminaries circling in supporting roles, however, one stands out especially today: Charlie Chaplin, as the referee. Chaplin had joined the studio half a year earlier, and had already established himself as a force to be reckoned with. By this point, both Chaplin and Arbuckle were starting to direct their own films, and were in head-to-head competition as the most popular draws on Sennett's roster.

By David Kalat