The Silent Switch
At the drugstore where he works doing a bit of everything from making milkshakes to manning the pumps Roscoe (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) is sweet on the pharmacist's daughter Alice (Alice Mann). But he is not the only one as he has a rival in Al (Al St. John) who is devious enough to stoop to any level to get the girl. When Alice tells Al that she is engaged to Roscoe he takes things badly so badly that when a Delivery Boy (Buster Keaton) shows up with a dress for Alice and models it Al kidnaps him thinking he is kidnapping Alice.
As I have said before I don't need much of an excuse to watch a movie no matter what it is but over the years that willingness to watch any movie means I have often ventured into the bygone era of silent pictures. Up until recently most silent movies I have watched have tended to be from Charlie Chaplin and so I'm always curious when I come across one which isn't a Chaplin movie.
Now having watched "His Wedding Night" I was pleasantly surprised at how well it has held up as whilst it doesn't have the frenetic comedy of a Chaplin movie of the same era the storyline is much more clear. It has that feel of actually having a clear narrative rather than just sketches shoe horned together and is simplistic enough that it is incredibly easy to follow.
The thing about "His Wedding Night" is that whilst the camera focuses on the antics of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Al St. John as rivals it is pleasant enough with some reasonable gags. But it is when Buster Keaton arrives that it really delivers the laughs with an impressive entrance which sees him flip over the handlebars of his delivery bike and of course modelling a wedding gown.
What this all boils down to is that "His Wedding Night" isn't a brilliant movie from the silent era but is entertaining especially when Buster Keaton gets in on the act.
