''The Rough House'' is a 1917 American

two-reel A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

written by, directed by, and starring both

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

and

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

. ''The Rough House'' was Keaton's first film as a director.

Plot

Mr Rough (Arbuckle) falls asleep while smoking and wakes up to find his bed on fire. He calmly walks out of his bedroom, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. He gets a single cup of water, returns to the bedroom, and throws it on the fire. He repeats this several times; meanwhile, he drinks some of the water, flirts with the maid in the kitchen, and stops to eat an apple in the dining room. Mrs Rough and her mother discover the fire and insist on more effective methods, so Rough obtains a garden hose from a gardener (Keaton). After initially squirting everything but the fire, Rough finally succeeds in putting it out. A delivery boy (also Keaton) arrives. He and the cook (St John) get into a fight over the affections of the maid and chase each other all over the house until Rough throws them out. A passing policeman arrests them and takes them to the police station, where the officer in charge gives them a choice: join the force or go to jail. The Roughs are expecting dinner guests. Lacking the cook, Rough must prepare the dinner. Some of his techniques are creative (e.g., slicing potatoes by putting them through a fan), but others prove disastrous (e.g., serving soup with a sponge). When he finds he is out of rum, he pours gasoline on the steak instead. He brings it to the table and sets fire to it, which completely spoils the dinner and embarrasses his wife and mother-in-law. The two dinner guests appear to be distinguished, but actually they are thieves in disguise. In the chaos, they sneak away and steal one of Mrs Rough's necklaces. Luckily, a plain clothes officer has been tailing them. He telephones the station; the former delivery boy and cook respond. They run to the house, falling down slopes and, in the delivery boy's case, getting stuck on a fence. Meanwhile, the plain clothes officer and Rough, both armed and firing wildly, chase the thieves around the house. Once the newly minted policemen arrive, they arrest the thieves and Mr Rough recovers the necklace.

Cast

as Mr Rough *

as Gardener / Delivery Boy / Cop *

Al St. John Al St. John (also credited as Al Saint John and "Fuzzy" St. John; September 10, 1892 – January 21, 1963) was an early American motion-picture comedian. He was a nephew of silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, with whom he often performed on ...

as Cook *

Alice Lake Alice Lake (September 12, 1895 – November 15, 1967) was an American film actress. She began her career during the silent film era and often appeared in comedy shorts opposite Roscoe Arbuckle. Career Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lake began he ...

as Mrs Rough * Agnes Neilson as Mother-in-Law *

Glen Cavender Glen Cavender (September 19, 1883 – February 9, 1962) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1914 and 1949. Biography Glen Cavender was born in Tucson, Arizona, and died in Hollywood, California. He start ...

* Josephine Stevens as maid

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''The Rough House'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors cut the scene showing the theft of beads from the film.

References

External links

* *
''The Rough House''
at the

International Buster Keaton Society The International Buster Keaton Society Inc.— a.k.a. "The Damfinos"—is the official educational organization dedicated to comedy film producer-director-writer-actor-stuntman Buster Keaton. Mission According to the Damfinos, their mission is "t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rough House, The 1917 films 1917 comedy films 1917 short films Silent American comedy films American silent short films Films directed by Roscoe Arbuckle American black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Buster Keaton Films with screenplays by Roscoe Arbuckle 1910s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links