Despite Fatty Arbuckle's career mostly being over by the early 1930s due to an infamous sex scandal, this short proves that even just 4 months before his death, he still found the passion to be entertaining. The plot begins with him leaving his mother's farm and going into the city in a noisy jalopy. He has with him a chemical that he claims can make fine plates, vases, and other delicate objects indestructible. However, in his hurry to get out of the house, he brings a jar of cider and leaves the chemical behind. A beehive then falls into his car on his way to the city and he throws it to some football players who mistake it for a football. When one of the bees is swallowed by Arbuckle, he tries to get a bartender to fix him by holding his mouth open while the other guy lures the bee out with a sugary treat. After the bee emerges and flies in his mouth instead, the football players storm the bar and request assistance after being stung numerous times. Arbuckle then makes his way to a shop that sells china and vases. Upon attempting to impress the storeowner by coating the objects in his "chemical" and then trying to smash them, Arbuckle finds to his horror that the objects are able to be broken. Someone catches up to him and says he left the real chemical at home, and he's been coating the things in cider. After the chemical still fails to make things unbreakable, a fight erupts in the store as Arbuckle, the store owner, and someone hauled away by the cops earlier (for following Arbuckle) throw plates and things at each other. Arbuckle then manages to escape in a vehicle resembling a bathtub with a propeller on the back, alongside a dog. This is the first Fatty Arbuckle film I've seen so far, but for him, it was his last. While I didn't find the short that funny, I have to admire how Arbuckle was daring enough to release films under his own name after the scandal which basically put an end to his career. Many think that he died a forgotten entertainer, but he was on his way to fame again right when he died, and had actually signed to do a Warner Bros movie the same day. We'll never know what this might have looked like, something that sadly applies to most things he was in. Producers in this era didn't really like keeping film around after it had been completed, so many films containing Arbuckle are gone for good, and this is compounded by the fact that studios didn't want to hold onto films starring an alleged rapist. Even though he was arguably the first movie star to fall victim to a sex scandal, Arbuckle's films are up there with the likes of Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and other physical comedy geniuses. It's not surprising he basically taught them all in the art of making people laugh. One other thing, the dog in this short is the same one from The Little Rascals.

BUZZIN' AROUND was the third two-reeler Roscoe Arbuckle appeared in, as part of a series produced at Vitagraph studios. As any fan will know, these short films marked the official comeback of Arbuckle as a performer, having been able to find work only as a director in the years following the infamous scandal that ruined in career in 1921. By the time Vitaphone became interested in him, ten years later, silent films belonged to the past, and Roscoe had to synchronize his slapstick style to dialogue and sound effects. All in all, he did the transition very well; his strong voice suits his character perfectly, and the dialogue is rather functional, as it never takes too much focus away from the slapstick-routines which were Roscoe's specialty (Buster Keaton suffered much more in this regard at MGM during these years). BUZZIN' AROUND provides little truly extraordinary, perhaps, but at least ranks among the average comedy shorts of the time. This film is also of some particular interest as it teams up again Roscoe with his real-life nephew Al St. John; the two had appeared together in numerous films during the silent era, St. John usually playing "the villain." Here, however, the two are on quite good terms. And while it must be assumed that Roscoe's brilliant Luke the Dog had sadly passed away by this time, the dog Pete (known from Our Gang-comedies) is also quite clever and charming.

In the film, Roscoe appears as Cornelius, a boy from a farm whose big ambition in life is to become an inventor. He receives words that a company is interested in his most recent triumph; a liquid which makes all objects unbreakable, including the most expensive ming vase. As our hero excitedly leaves the farm for the city in order to perform a demonstration, he happens to bring along a jar of moonshine rather than the invention. Several unexpected problems occur on his way; he is attacked by bees, one of which he manages to swallow, and later on wrecks a stranger's car by accident. I choose not to reveal much more, other than that expensive glass and vases are much present in the culmination of this mayhem. You've seen it before in some other form, and there is certainly not much refinement to be found here. Even so, the crudeness in the humor seldom comes off as overly cartoonish, much due to Roscoe's presence; he appears just "human" enough as a character for us to care about him. Although a bit older, he is just as charming as in his heyday; the cleverness with objects which was often reflected in his silent films is also present here. Only the "buzzing" itself, when a doctor tries to allure the bee out again from Roscoe's mouth, seems a bit over-done to me (though it's quite funny up to a point).

Apparently, BUZZIN' AROUND was the last film Arbuckle appeared in to be released before his death in June, 1933, though he did manage to make three more after this one. The comeback which these short films marked was long overdue and sadly turned out to be all too brief. But I am certainly glad Roscoe Arbuckle did make these; having been deprived of his performing career when it was at its peak, he could in the end call himself a "true comedian" again. (This review has since been revised, Dec. 2012)

One of a series of sound shorts that Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle made after the publicity surrounding the Virginia Rappe scandal (perhaps the most notorious in Hollywood history) had seemingly died down from a decade earlier,BUZZIN' AROUND plays on Arbuckle's persona from his silent screen peak of an amiable ne'er-do-well,and often reprises many familiar gags from those days,but it actually all works rather nicely,with plenty of funny,well-timed slapstick involving hornets nests,ramshackle transportation and crockery which only occasionally become repetitive,and an amusing use of sound and visual effects which although hilariously dated add to the film's charm.

It does play like a silent comedy itself,with little dialogue,particularly for Arbuckle,though his voice registers effectively,and he is well supported by his nephew Al St.John and a somewhat obscure supporting cast.

If memory serves correctly,I watched BUZZIN' AROUND as a child on early morning British TV in the 1970's (unaware at the time of the controversy that had previously surrounded him),and still find it as amusing then as I presently do.Arbuckle was unfairly pilloried by Hollywood even after being acquitted in the infamous murder case that ruined his life and career;it was perhaps not unexpected that his comeback as a leading film comedian took place at the Vitagraph Studios (later renamed Vitaphone with the emergence of talking pictures) in New York,away from the hypocritical glare of the movie capital's self righteous moralists.He certainly proved here that he still had the talent to make people laugh and indeed had seemingly just signed a contract for the production of several feature films before his untimely death.Arbuckle is sadly remembered nowadays for events that went out of his control off-screen rather than for his considerable abilities as a comedian/actor/writer on screen.For those few film buffs that prefer the latter,BUZZIN' AROUND is a genial hint of what could have been achieved if Roscoe Arbuckle had lived longer in the new and unfolding world of sound film.

RATING:6 and a half out of 10.