The last Arbuckle/Keaton collaboration is one of their best. Stripped of romantic interest and Al St John, all we have here is Roscoe and Buster doing what they do best - having fun for everyone else's enjoyment. Working the dual jobs of mechanics and firemen the boys keep the laughs coming thick and fast. Most of the jokes work and some are positively inspired. The scene where Buster dresses as Sir Harry Lauder still has me laughing. There's also the first appearance of a piece of action where a trouserless Buster is dodging a policeman aided by Roscoe. This gag resurfaced years later when Buster appeared in The Twilight Zone. It's a shame they didn't make a few more films as Buster and Roscoe were well into their stride at this point and understood each other perfectly.
16 Reviews
Life At The Auto-mat
redryan6422 July 2014
AFTER HAVING ENTERED the world of movie making rather casually in 1917, Buster Keaton's ascent to the top of the heap of Silent Clowns was put on hold thanks to World War I. Returning to the cameras after cessation of hostilities, he remained a supporting player for now good friend, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. This is his last short in supporting role.
SEEMING MUCH MORE complex and developed than previous outings, THE GARAGE offers us plenty of action, sight gags and a more substantial storyline than those that preceded it.
UINDER THE DIRECTION of star, Mr. Arbuckle, the action and situations flow freely through the commercial garage; what we would nowadays call a "service station." The characters and their accompanying situational humor situations are ushered to front stage in a smooth, well paced fashion. Time is taken in the prep, as well as the ultimate execution of each vignette and its gag potentiality. Arbuckle and Keaton had both evolved high above the break neck speed of Sennett, Larry Semon and others.
OCCUPATIONS ARE DEFINITELY on the front burner of this outing, as the story mixes in Police and Fire services. The boys are apparently in some volunteer fire department; as they both sleep on the upper floor, use a firemen's pole to descend to main level and do answer a false fire alarm.
THE PREVELANCE OF mechanical gadgets in the story. such as a giant turn table and fan system indicate that Buster Keaton might well have had a good deal of influence in shaping this last Arbuckle silent short into what it was. It is not hard to imagine that Buster could have readily fit the bill of hero without sidekick/assistant.
FOLLOWING THIS MOVIE, Keaton did move into his own series; superseding Roscoe at the Comique Studios. Roscoe had moved on to his own company, Paramount, Feature Films, and the scandalous accusations which ruined a ruined career and a shortened life.
SEEMING MUCH MORE complex and developed than previous outings, THE GARAGE offers us plenty of action, sight gags and a more substantial storyline than those that preceded it.
UINDER THE DIRECTION of star, Mr. Arbuckle, the action and situations flow freely through the commercial garage; what we would nowadays call a "service station." The characters and their accompanying situational humor situations are ushered to front stage in a smooth, well paced fashion. Time is taken in the prep, as well as the ultimate execution of each vignette and its gag potentiality. Arbuckle and Keaton had both evolved high above the break neck speed of Sennett, Larry Semon and others.
OCCUPATIONS ARE DEFINITELY on the front burner of this outing, as the story mixes in Police and Fire services. The boys are apparently in some volunteer fire department; as they both sleep on the upper floor, use a firemen's pole to descend to main level and do answer a false fire alarm.
THE PREVELANCE OF mechanical gadgets in the story. such as a giant turn table and fan system indicate that Buster Keaton might well have had a good deal of influence in shaping this last Arbuckle silent short into what it was. It is not hard to imagine that Buster could have readily fit the bill of hero without sidekick/assistant.
FOLLOWING THIS MOVIE, Keaton did move into his own series; superseding Roscoe at the Comique Studios. Roscoe had moved on to his own company, Paramount, Feature Films, and the scandalous accusations which ruined a ruined career and a shortened life.
The Garage was quite funny as the final teaming of Arbuckle and Keaton
tavm24 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This film, titled The Garage, was the last of the shorts starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle with Buster Keaton in support. Actually, at this point Arbuckle and Keaton are more of a comedy team as they both fight and watch each other's back in equal measure. In fact, the best example of the latter is when after Buster's Scottish "kilt" is revealed to have a front only (watch the short if you want to know what I'm talking about), Roscoe goes behind him to keep him away from the cop about to arrest him. I also loved the way both a car and a man were washed and dried on a large spinning floor disc. And how about those contraptions that pull both comics awake when a fire alarm is ringing? It's too bad that a scandal concerning Arbuckle and his death after a brief comeback kept the possibility of his teaming with Keaton again a pipe dream. At least we have their 14 shorts (with a 15th one still lost as of present time) to watch over and over again...
Has a Lot of Pretty Good Material
Snow Leopard16 August 2001
This Arbuckle/Keaton short comedy has a lot of good material and is quite enjoyable. It's all done in Arbuckle's free-wheeling style, so the story is held together less by the plot than by its setting and by the antics of the two stars.
The setting in "The Garage", where Arbuckle's and Buster's characters work both as mechanics and as firemen, lends itself to all kinds of humor, and the various props and situations are used to good effect. The first part gets lots of mileage out of the cars, tools, and various gadgets in the garage, and later there is an amusingly chaotic fire-fighting scene. There are quite a variety of good gags, with even a billboard getting in on the act.
Although there isn't really a story to speak of, there are lots of frantic goings-on and some great comic moments, making it well worth seeing for any fan of these two great silent screen comedians. In the classic series of comedies that paired the two, this is one of the best ones.
The setting in "The Garage", where Arbuckle's and Buster's characters work both as mechanics and as firemen, lends itself to all kinds of humor, and the various props and situations are used to good effect. The first part gets lots of mileage out of the cars, tools, and various gadgets in the garage, and later there is an amusingly chaotic fire-fighting scene. There are quite a variety of good gags, with even a billboard getting in on the act.
Although there isn't really a story to speak of, there are lots of frantic goings-on and some great comic moments, making it well worth seeing for any fan of these two great silent screen comedians. In the classic series of comedies that paired the two, this is one of the best ones.
it has a few excellent sight-gags
planktonrules20 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
While this is not a great silent comedy short, it still is very good and worth a look. Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton work in a garage and manage to not only fix cars but put out fires as well--with a fire station directly above the garage. In the end, the fire station itself burns to the ground--proving, I guess, that these two guys aren't exactly the world's greatest firemen (big surprise there, huh?).
A few of the sight gags are funny, such as the lady Susan on which they spin cars as Fatty hoses them off, the way Fatty and Buster pull ropes to yank on their clothes when they are sleeping in the firs house, and the way Keaton climbs up the fire pole upside-down (this isn't done by running the film backwards--Keaton really could do this stunt).
A few of the sight gags are funny, such as the lady Susan on which they spin cars as Fatty hoses them off, the way Fatty and Buster pull ropes to yank on their clothes when they are sleeping in the firs house, and the way Keaton climbs up the fire pole upside-down (this isn't done by running the film backwards--Keaton really could do this stunt).
The end of the Arbuckle/Keaton run
gbill-748771 May 2023
The Garage marked the end of an era, as it was the final short Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton would make together. The 1920's would see Keaton's solo career skyrocket into immortality, and to Arbuckle's credit, he fully supported Keaton going his own way. Meanwhile, Arbuckle's career would of course be brutally derailed by the injustice of the Virginia Rappe case less than two years later, the public fanned into a frenzy by the tabloid journalism of William Randolph Hearst and willing to believe the worst about a star whose screen persona always had a dark streak. Knowing the impending parting of ways and fates of these friends makes watching this short special.
There are lots of amusing bits here, including getting several gags out of an automobile turntable (Buster running on it like a gerbil among other things), Arbuckle walking behind Buster and hoisting him up so Buster can swipe a pair of pants and instantly put them on, and Buster getting stuck in the fence and having a dog (good old Luke) attack his backside. The garage mechanics are also firemen (of course!), and the contraption they rigged up to whisk the covers off their beds as well as their nightshirts in response to a fire alarm was hilarious, my favorite. As James Curtis writes in his biography of Keaton, Buster believed this was the best of his films with Arbuckle ("It was a honey," he said, "It was a pip."). While I don't fully agree with him, it's certainly entertaining.
There are lots of amusing bits here, including getting several gags out of an automobile turntable (Buster running on it like a gerbil among other things), Arbuckle walking behind Buster and hoisting him up so Buster can swipe a pair of pants and instantly put them on, and Buster getting stuck in the fence and having a dog (good old Luke) attack his backside. The garage mechanics are also firemen (of course!), and the contraption they rigged up to whisk the covers off their beds as well as their nightshirts in response to a fire alarm was hilarious, my favorite. As James Curtis writes in his biography of Keaton, Buster believed this was the best of his films with Arbuckle ("It was a honey," he said, "It was a pip."). While I don't fully agree with him, it's certainly entertaining.
Buster and Fatty work on cars
lee_eisenberg14 December 2019
Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle team up for the last time for "The Garage", in which they play mechanics for whom everything goes wrong. It's clear that these two made a great comedy team. I'd go so far as to say that they were the Laurel and Hardy of their day. Probably would've continued had Arbuckle not gotten mired in a scandal.
As for the antics, there's a bathtub, a pole, and grease. I try to imagine how much fun everyone must've had filming it. I don't know if it's widely available (I saw it on YouTube).
Fun stuff.
As for the antics, there's a bathtub, a pole, and grease. I try to imagine how much fun everyone must've had filming it. I don't know if it's widely available (I saw it on YouTube).
Fun stuff.
Slapstick Pure & Simple
DKosty1237 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton practically co-star with Arbuckle Directing this slap stick short. Molly Malone is the other most noticeable co-star though there are some garage customers thrown in for good measure. There is not a lot of story here, but here is what the gags are hung around.
Fatty & Buster run a combination garage/firehouse. At first, all their problems are related to the garage, in some interesting gags like the falling apart car (which would be used again many times in later films) to the slipping & sliding around on a wet greasy garage floor causing all kinds of havoc. There is a spinning turntable large enough to park a car on thrown in for good measure.
Then, things get more chaotic as the fire alarm goes off & while Fatty & Buster chase on out, the firehouse goes up in flames behind them. The Kino edition I watched of this has some segments in black & yellow & a few in black & white. By the looks, the yellow sections seem to be in better condition picture wise, though I am not sure the coloring was intended or if this is just the state of the films preservation.
Arbuckle & Keaton are practically co-stars in this one with one seeming to top the other in each slap stick sequence. This may well have been intended as Keaton was a key gag contributor to this one.
Fatty & Buster run a combination garage/firehouse. At first, all their problems are related to the garage, in some interesting gags like the falling apart car (which would be used again many times in later films) to the slipping & sliding around on a wet greasy garage floor causing all kinds of havoc. There is a spinning turntable large enough to park a car on thrown in for good measure.
Then, things get more chaotic as the fire alarm goes off & while Fatty & Buster chase on out, the firehouse goes up in flames behind them. The Kino edition I watched of this has some segments in black & yellow & a few in black & white. By the looks, the yellow sections seem to be in better condition picture wise, though I am not sure the coloring was intended or if this is just the state of the films preservation.
Arbuckle & Keaton are practically co-stars in this one with one seeming to top the other in each slap stick sequence. This may well have been intended as Keaton was a key gag contributor to this one.
Perfect
barbb195311 April 2010
Keaton and Arbuckle have come a long way since "The Butcher." It's wonderful to see how well they work together in this one.
Leave it to Buster to go *up* the firehouse pole routinely!
There is indeed a lot of "The Blacksmith" (1922) in this one; maybe that, as well as "Cops" (1922), were both Keaton's homage to Arbuckle during his legal trials (which began in late 1921).
Also, now I finally understand the bathtub scene with Sybil Seely in "One Week," which came out in September 1920 ("The Garage" came out at the beginning of that year). The cheesecake seemed out of place in "One Week," but I see now that Keaton was duplicating the scene with Molly Malone here in "The Garage." He did it so well, I had to look both shorts up to make sure different actresses played them.
"One Week" was the first short that Keaton made on his own, and perhaps that explains why "The Garage" is the last Keaton-Arbuckle collaboration.
Also, I used to think Seeley was the most athletic of the Keaton female co-stars, but Malone is even better here.
The scene with Buster running on that spinning disc is also done, in a very different setting, in "The Haunted House," a Keaton short that came out a little over a year after "The Garage."
Leave it to Buster to go *up* the firehouse pole routinely!
There is indeed a lot of "The Blacksmith" (1922) in this one; maybe that, as well as "Cops" (1922), were both Keaton's homage to Arbuckle during his legal trials (which began in late 1921).
Also, now I finally understand the bathtub scene with Sybil Seely in "One Week," which came out in September 1920 ("The Garage" came out at the beginning of that year). The cheesecake seemed out of place in "One Week," but I see now that Keaton was duplicating the scene with Molly Malone here in "The Garage." He did it so well, I had to look both shorts up to make sure different actresses played them.
"One Week" was the first short that Keaton made on his own, and perhaps that explains why "The Garage" is the last Keaton-Arbuckle collaboration.
Also, I used to think Seeley was the most athletic of the Keaton female co-stars, but Malone is even better here.
The scene with Buster running on that spinning disc is also done, in a very different setting, in "The Haunted House," a Keaton short that came out a little over a year after "The Garage."
Humour lost in silence
Horst_In_Translation12 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"The Garage" is an American 20-minute short film from almost 100 years ago. So of course, it is still a silent film and also in black-and-white. This hurts the movie a lot and even the talents of actors Buster Keaton and Roscoe Arbuckle (also the director) cannot make up for us not hearing the characters talk and laugh. Maybe the material isn't good enough. Other than that, there are some usual problems with silent films. Acting is over-the-top on several occasions and more intertitles would have helped a lot, also in understanding the story completely. As a whole, this is nowhere near Arbuckle's or Keaton's best. I do not recommend checking this one out.
Ruba Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub
weezeralfalfa22 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This was the last of 14 comedy shorts featuring Roscoe(Fatty) Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, in 1917-20. Many regard it as the best in this series. I don't find it all that different. It takes place mostly in a garage or service station, which also functions as a firehouse. It begins with some basic slapstick. Roscoe and Keaton are flinging wet things, including a cream pie, at each other, in the garage. Roscoe is cleaning a car, polishing a window, then sticks his head through the window. Buster rolls a big tire that misses Roscoe, but hits the garage manager (Dan Crimmins)in the backside, pushing him in the large tub of water that he's using to detect a hole in the innertube. Roscoe and Keaton come over to help get him out, and soon they fall in too: Ruba Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tube!.....The owner of the car Roscoe has been cleaning shows up. Roscoe hurries to move the car to the revolving floor section, to give it a spin, as he hoses it off. The owner is satisfied. Another customer wants to rent a Ford, which promptly falls to pieces as soon as it gets out the door. Next, a suitor of Molly, daughter of the garage manager, arrives and she slides down the fire pole to greet him. Roscoe and Keaton move their work area to right behind the suitor. They get very messy as they grease the car. Eventually, they get some on the clean pants of the suitor, and on the bouquet of flowers he's hiding behind his back. When he pulls the flowers out, she smells them and gets black grease allover her face......After getting the suitor much more messy, they rub him with gasoline, then direct a large fan at him, as he rotates on the revolving floor section. He emerges nearly as good as when he arrived!.....A mad dog chases Keaton, who gets stuck between 2 boards of a fence. The dog locks his jaws on the seat of his pants, and rips them to shreds. I'll let you see what Keaton does in response.......The last section relates to the role of the garage as a firehouse. I will leave this for you to discover. It's quite amusing.......A general criticism I have is the overuse of pratfalls, sometimes one after the other. After so many, they cease to be amusing(for me, but perhaps some kids find the excess amusing). Roscoe had an endearing babyface, with large beautiful eyes, which I think was an important part of his appeal......See it at YouTube or commercial DVDs.
The Garage review
JoeytheBrit29 June 2020
The final collaboration between Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, and the duo end on a high in a comedy that's filled with inventive gags and comical situations. They're mechanics at a garage who also double up as firemen. Keaton has a lot more screen time here than he had in the earlier of the 14 shorts he and Arbuckle made together, and the couple work extremely well together as near-equal partners.
Last Keaton Movie With Arbuckle
springfieldrental8 October 2021
Keaton appeared in 14 Arbuckle films during a three-year period, only interrupted by Buster's short stint in the Army. His final movie with Fatty before accepting Schenck's studio offer was January 1920's "The Garage." The film was also Arbuckle's last two-reel short since Paramount, seeing how many gags were left on the cutting room floor, wanted to capitalize on the popularity of its top comedian by capitalizing on his previously discarded jokes into longer feature films.
Some claim "The Garage" was the pair's best and funniest movie together. The two comedians are garage mechanics whose props are everything that is found in an automobile service station. Oil is one of the main substances used to create a great amount of belly laughs.
Many of the gags have been imitated in later Hollywood movies, especially in The Three Stooges. One sequence, with Buster hiding from the police, has him snip a cutout of clothes from a nearby billboard to disguise himself. With the help of Fatty, he's able to elude the cop. The scene is one of the highlights in 1939's "Bringing Up Baby" when Katherine Hepburn, with her skirt ripped open in the back, does the exact step escape with Cary Grant.
Some claim "The Garage" was the pair's best and funniest movie together. The two comedians are garage mechanics whose props are everything that is found in an automobile service station. Oil is one of the main substances used to create a great amount of belly laughs.
Many of the gags have been imitated in later Hollywood movies, especially in The Three Stooges. One sequence, with Buster hiding from the police, has him snip a cutout of clothes from a nearby billboard to disguise himself. With the help of Fatty, he's able to elude the cop. The scene is one of the highlights in 1939's "Bringing Up Baby" when Katherine Hepburn, with her skirt ripped open in the back, does the exact step escape with Cary Grant.
This Prolific Comic Partnership Saved the Best for Last
drqshadow-reviews8 September 2020
Keaton and Arbuckle's final collaboration is also their finest. With Fatty soon moving on to feature-lengths and Buster continuing as a solo act, the prolific duo came together one last time to entertain audiences (and themselves) in a typically short, simple silent comedy.
They're a pair of mechanics this time, serving double-duty in a combination garage / firehouse, and incapable of finishing one job without creating two or three new ones. The various props and occasions of a busy day in the auto repair business provide ample opportunity for clever laughs, which Arbuckle and Keaton casually pluck like fresh fruit from an overburdened apple tree. It's jam-packed with smart, funny, groundbreaking material; twenty-odd minutes of nonstop escalation. A posh suitor, interested in dating the boss's daughter, sees his neat white suit (and thoughtful flower bouquet) summarily ruined by the bumbling duo, who happen to be working with motor oil nearby. Wobbly vehicles are rented out with no chance of leaving the yard. An enormous turntable, once used to wash and inspect cars, becomes a high-speed human dry-cleaning station and, soon enough, a treadmill.
There's so much rich, creative energy jammed into this small package, it's hard to believe the masterminds behind it were about to split apart. In time, that divorce would work to Keaton's benefit. Arbuckle, sadly, wasn't quite so fortunate.
They're a pair of mechanics this time, serving double-duty in a combination garage / firehouse, and incapable of finishing one job without creating two or three new ones. The various props and occasions of a busy day in the auto repair business provide ample opportunity for clever laughs, which Arbuckle and Keaton casually pluck like fresh fruit from an overburdened apple tree. It's jam-packed with smart, funny, groundbreaking material; twenty-odd minutes of nonstop escalation. A posh suitor, interested in dating the boss's daughter, sees his neat white suit (and thoughtful flower bouquet) summarily ruined by the bumbling duo, who happen to be working with motor oil nearby. Wobbly vehicles are rented out with no chance of leaving the yard. An enormous turntable, once used to wash and inspect cars, becomes a high-speed human dry-cleaning station and, soon enough, a treadmill.
There's so much rich, creative energy jammed into this small package, it's hard to believe the masterminds behind it were about to split apart. In time, that divorce would work to Keaton's benefit. Arbuckle, sadly, wasn't quite so fortunate.
seductive
Kirpianuscus3 February 2019
That kind of collaboration giving a gem, because the clash between two different characters and two meanings of a garage are well used for fun, for inspired gags and as frame of a special form of nostalgia. A lovely short film reminding the genius of two great commedians.
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