Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

HomeyTao For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

Steve Pulaski There is certainly a group of people that would bill the 1914 short film The Rounders as comedic gold, but to me, it seems more like two great, even legendary, comedic actors slumming or going through the motions. The Rounders, to Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin, seems nothing more than a warmup for larger, more thoughtful shorts and full-length features. It's perfectly safe and innocence, as nearly all comic shorts were during this time period, but for two large names comes a great deal of expectations that The Rounders barely fulfills.We watch Arbuckle and Chaplin stumble around town drunk, fighting with their girlfriends and eventually being chased out of town by other townspeople following Arbuckle attempting to strangle his wife after she hits him. That element alone is a bit extreme, especially for a film of this era, and Arbuckle and Chaplin simply do not funnel the same kind of energy into the story or the gags to back something like that up.The Rounders winds up having an entertaining final minutes because things finally pick up and become pleasantly manic. However, at the same time, sitting and watching Arbuckle and Chaplin stumble their way through town isn't so funny when one recalls what these actors have done and would go on to do later in their careers. For them, this was an impromptu warmup exercise on the set of a film in comparison to their other works.Starring: Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Directed by: Charlie Chaplin.

OldAle1 Like all of the very early Chaplin works on this VHS, the quality is rather poor and there are dropouts -- not from the tape, but from the film elements -- sometimes enough so that the action is hard to follow. Not that it matters a whole lot, as these are for the most part very simple films with lots of knockabout action, broad humor, and very little else. This short with the previous "Masquerader" is a little bit more imaginative and interesting than the first three."The Rounders" again features Fatty Arbuckle; this time Charlie and Fatty are neighbors in a cheap apartment building, each with wife trouble: Fatty beats up his wife, while Charlie gets beaten by his. They make enough racket that their wives get angry and send them next door to shut up the other neighbor, but after a little bit of knockabout Charlie and Fatty decide instead to split some booze and go off to a fancy restaurant, where after more mischief they are kicked out, only to go off in a leaky rowboat together, apparently drowning at the finish! Just about as good as the previous short, "The Masquerader", quite solid and re-watchable.

SnorrSm1989 By the late summer of 1914, Chaplin's confidence as a film director and performer seemed to be well established. Though still a newcomer in the medium, he had developed a sharp understanding of the essential mechanics of motion pictures remarkably fast. His films were never below the average Keystone-standard as far as I'm concerned, and some are easily among the funniest things produced at the company during this period, THE ROUNDERS being a good example. It's strict "drunken act comedy," with obvious borrowings from Chaplin's years in the music halls, but does not feel like a filmed stage routine; certain bits could only have worked well on film.Neighbors and pals Charlie and Roscoe (of "Fatty Arbuckle"-fame) arrive home in drunken condition, leading to heavy arguments with their respective wives. They soon hurry out again, and decide to stay over at the local bar for the night. They are hastily thrown out of the bar as well, however, and as their wives have begun a search for their husbands, our heroes seek peace in a row-boat at a nearby lake. There, they fall asleep while the boat sinks; whether they ever wake up again remains unconfirmed. Through this very simple and much-used premise, Chaplin and Arbuckle manage to come up with many funny bits; Roscoe using a cloth as his feather-bed while trying to get asleep at the bar is one highlight. The two work perfectly as a comedy team, and only the absence of well-defined personalities (they are both quite vulgar and drunk) makes a comparison with Laurel & Hardy a bit far-fetched.Years later, Roscoe Arbuckle is reported to have said that he regretted to not have appeared in more films with Chaplin than these loud and fast Keystone-films. Even so, the two did turn out together at least one of the funnier films Chaplin appeared in during that single year of 1914. Not a masterpiece, quite loud and somewhat vulgar, but pretty amusing. (This review has later been somewhat revised and updated, Dec. 2012)

Snow Leopard It's fun to see Roscoe Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin together (plus a couple of brief appearances by Al St. John), although this movie as a whole is only mildly entertaining. Not that either of the stars disappoints, by any means, but the material limits them somewhat. It's also interesting, though, to see an earlier version of the extended, more carefully planned "drunk" acts that Chaplin did in features like "The Cure" and the excellent "One A.M."The story is episodic, with the two stars as a couple of good-natured drunks who get into trouble with their wives and with plenty of others. Chaplin and Arbuckle could do that kind of material as well as anyone. Most of it is funny enough, although after a while it starts to run out of steam and seem a bit forced. There are a couple of good gags to go along with their drunk act, though other parts are fairly routine stuff. It's probably a little above average for its time, but it's not as imaginative as either Arbuckle's or Chaplin's best material.