In the Dough (1933) watch online HD

"In the Dough" is very funny. It's one of the six short comedies that Roscoe Arbuckle filmed at Warner Brothers' Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn in the early talkie era. The funniest of these is "Buzzin' Around", but "In the Dough" is a close second in hilarity. Roscoe is at the top of his form, and Shemp Howard (the sometime Stooge) is funny here too.

Roscoe applies for a job in a bakery. When asked why he wants to be a baker, Roscoe grins broadly and replies: "Because I knead the dough."

Just when Roscoe is mixing a big vat of dough, along comes a hoodlum running a protection racket, played by the gifted comic actor Lionel Stander. One thing leads to six others, and soon Roscoe and Lionel have begun a bitter battle in the boiling biscuit batter. I usually don't see anything funny about actors getting splattered with sticky goo, but "In the Dough" is an exception.

There's a nice running gag about a Karl LaFong-ish customer who orders a birthday cake with very specific decorations: he wants "a large 'S' ... a capital 'S'." But this gag has been re-used by other comedians, so you probably know the punchline.

When I saw "In the Dough" at the American Museum of the Moving Image, with an audience full of New Yorkers, most of the audience members laughed at a stock shot of a police car stopping near a billboard for the Greenpoint Savings Bank. Apparently this is funny to New Yorkers.

The same stock shot turned up in another of Arbuckle's Vitaphone movies, and the audience laughed even harder the second time it showed up.

"In the Dough" was directed by Ray McCarey, brother of comedy legend Leo McCarey. While definitely not as talented as his brother, Ray McCarey made some excellent films and he deserves to be remembered as an efficient comedy director in his own right.

When IN THE DOUGH was released in late 1933, Roscoe Arbuckle had sadly passed away months before and this was the second to last new film of his to be screened altogether. During this final year, he had made a promising comeback in six two-reelers for Warner Brothers' Vitagraph-series; they seem to have been quite well received, but it can be assumed that Roscoe himself was more relieved than anyone. Having been unable to perform in front of a camera since 1921, when he was accused of a crime he never committed, it is touching to imagine how much pleasure it must have given him to be the star of his own series of films again, standard though they may often appear to be otherwise. The films were not necessarily released in the same order as they were shot, but Roscoe does in any case come off as more alert and enthusiastic here than in his last-to-be-released film TOMALIO, which in my opinion is the weakest effort in the series. IN THE DOUGH, on the other hand, stands amongst the funnier ones. The premise may be borrowed from a Keystone-film that saw the light of day some twenty years before, but Roscoe handles the transition from pure pantomime to partly dialogue-based humor very well.

A bakery run by a temperamental immigrant and a rather nervous waitress seeks a new baker, and Roscoe seizes the opportunity. Dressed in his trademark costume from the silent days, pants too short and derby too small, he is immediately assigned. A plot involving some villains eager to blow the shop to pieces soon evolve, quite reminiscent of Chaplin's early effort DOUGH AND DYNAMITE (and plenty of other Keystone-films). The ever-flexible Shemp Howard appears as one of these not quite noble gentlemen. However, we witness less use of dynamite (though it certainly occurs) and more of dough; the fights between Roscoe and the villains (and eventually, other unfortunates…) are quite in sync with the slapstick-tradition one would aptly associate with Roscoe. Even so, a few apparent borrowings from Laurel & Hardy add somewhat more depth to the mayhem than the Keystone-shorts presumably would have done. Rather than having us just laugh at the visual depiction of well-dressed people drowning in fistfuls of dough, the funniest moments are based on the rhythm-and-reaction-style which from the late silent era on had made slapstick appear fresh again. Arbuckle's timing is spot-on perfect; nothing suggests that this man had not performed regularly for more than a decade.

Another funny bit includes the recurring gag with a mild-mannered but eccentric British costumer, who asks for a large cake with a large "S" written on it, as his own name is Smith. Of course, the order turns out to become quite demanding on his patience; "Pardon me, gentlemen, but you may remember that I, in my youth, ordered a cake here…" Well-used by now I guess, but still quite priceless. Less fun is the ridiculing of the stammering, nervous waitress; I could try to tone into the most cynical mode I'm capable of, but this bit strikes me as just too cruel, it's downright uncomfortable to think that it's supposed to be funny. Like so many others, however, I'm not always consistent about what I find funny or merely offensive; if I laugh out loud at the most outrageous moments in Larry David's sitcom "CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM," I guess I should better be quiet. In any case, IN THE DOUGH remains a quite funny little film all in all; great to see Roscoe back, though the comeback turned out to be sadly brief.

After Fatty Arbuckle was acquitted of a rape charge after an infamous trial in the 1920s, the once super-famous comedian was practically unemployable for several years. To get around this, he switched from acting to directing and used a fake name (William Goodrich) on his films. Later, just before his early death, Vitaphone decided to give Fatty another chance and featured him in a few shorts. I have not seen the others but this one is far from the wonderful Fatty Arbuckle films of the past.

The problem with this film is that it relies on slapstick. Even during the slapstick era, Arbuckle rarely resorted to cheap laughs. But the entire final portion of the film is a variation on the old pie fight--with Fatty and some jerks throwing dough and cakes at each other. Funny? Not really. And not nearly as charming and sweet as his earlier pictures. Not entirely bad but far from his best work.

In the Dough (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A bakery store owner has a group of gangster show up wanting money for "protection" but he refuses. That same day a man named Slim (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) shows up wanting the job of the baker. Soon the new baker goes up against the gangsters. IN THE DOUGH was the next-to-last film for Arbuckle who gets several good moments here even if the film itself isn't really that good. It's clear that this was meant as a throwback to his Keystone days because a lot of the humor comes from dough throwing. If you've seen at least one Keystone short then you've probably seen some sort of food fight and that tradition pretty much carries on here as we get at least two different and long sequences dealing with dough being thrown around. These scenes are certainly funny in their own right but the film really doesn't offer too much else. The entire subplot of gangsters threatening someone for money had been done countless times even by 1933 and there's really nothing new done with it. There's an ongoing gag dealing with a man who keeps wanting a larger cake but the final pay-off really isn't that funny. Arbuckle is certainly the main reason to watch this as he appears to be having a good time and there's no question that he's charming enough in the part. One of the gangsters is played by Shemp Howard so fans of his will also want to check this out.

WE BELIEVE THAT it was Mark Twain who is credited with saying that: "A Lie can get half way around the World before the Truth can even get its shoes on."

NO WHERE IS this more applicable than in the case of famed Comedian of the Silent Film days than Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The huge funny-man had his career ruined (and probably his life expectancy abruptly curtailed) following some flimsy accusation of rape from a film "starlet"; who later died of a ruptured bladder. Virginia Rappe had been known to have frequently made such claims before against several others.

AFTER UNDERGOING THREE trials (the first two had ended with hung juries) Arbuckle had these charges dismissed against him with an apology from the Judge & Jury. The whole legal episode was supposedly the responsibility of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and some other Yellow Journalists; who hated Arbuckle and the Hollywood establishment in general.

TODAY'S REVIEWED FILM, this two reeler sound short, IN THE DOUGH (Vitaphone/Warner Brothers, 1933) was the penultimate installment in what was an outstanding comeback effort. The great film comic tragically passed away before its release in 1933.

AS FOR THE movie itself, it was overall a sample of a sort of standard fare of the day. Its threadbare premise is more than sufficient as a framework and backdrop for the story. In short; a baker is being victimized by a gang of extortionists; who are headed up by Lionel Stander and Shemp Howard. Arbuckle answers the "help wanted-baker" window sign and gets entangled in the crossfire. An ongoing additional gag is thrown in with a prim, proper and prissy man who insists on certain specifics ion a made to order cake.

WITH THE APPEARANCE of a young, but tough female, who turns out to be the gun moll of the gang, the story hits its zenith of ultimate action, plot twists and merriment.

IT IS FORTUNATE on our part to be able to screen such film rarities on our home computers; this one being courtesy of our friends at Youtube.com.

JUST WHAT HEIGHTS that Mr. Roscoe Arbuckle could have achieved in this early sound era comeback will never be known. He remains a most tragic figure in the checkered history of Tinsel Town; having "cashed in his chips" at the age of 46!

The Vitaphone shorts that Roscoe Arbuckle made at the end of his career (and his life) unfailingly make me wistful. Oh, they're amusing enough, even if they're rarely more ambitious than the Keystone comedies from which Fatty came. It's the thought, though, that just when Arbuckle was emerging again as a film comedian after an unjust scandal ruined him, he passed away. (Seeing 1932 Brooklyn, where this was shot, makes me more wistful still.) Arbuckle's quite winning in "In the Dough." He's still light on his feet, his timing is solid, and, no matter what dumb thing he does, he remains likable throughout. The familiarity of the material--including repeating a group dough fight with little variation--doesn't detract too much from his performance. (Destined for better things, Lionel Stander and Shemp Howard, while game, don't come off quite as fortunate.) One could see in Arbuckle's future a career as a valued, even beloved character player, perhaps in the stock company of Leo McCarey, Frank Capra or Preston Sturges. Alas, it was not to be...