The Cook and Other Treasures

Starring:Glen Cavender, Bobby Dunn, Buster Keaton, Alice Lake, John Rand, Al St. John
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A long-lost two-reel comedy starring and directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and costarring Buster Keaton, The Cook (1918) has been reclaimed from nitrate materials found in Norway and Denmark in 1998-99. A few seconds' worth of footage remains lost, but the minor burps in continuity can't dim the two comic geniuses' balletic precision and freewheeling inventiveness. Keaton, new to the flickers, is more devil-may-care than in his own films, but the careening dynamism perfected in two decades of vaudeville knockabout is fully in play. Arbuckle's trademark fat is 95 percent muscle, and his no-sweat juggling rivals W.C. Fields'--though the image viewers will carry to their graves is his kitchen-pan jeu d'esprit as Cleopatra, clutching a link-sausage asp to "her" bosom. All this--plus a ladder-climbing dog named Luke!--makes for a comedic tour de force. Milestone has filled out the package with another Arbuckle rediscovery, A Reckless Romeo (1917), and Harold Lloyd's characteristically zippy Number Please! (1920)--all three shot on glorious amusement-pier locations. --Richard T. Jameson
Description
At the Bull Pup Cafe, Fatty Arbuckle is chef of all trades while Buster Keaton waits tables in own inimitable fashion. When a tough guy annoys the pretty cashier, Keaton comes to her defense with help from Luke the Dog, feisty canine defender of womanhood! One of the finest and funniest of these comedians' collaborations, "The Cook" was long considered one of cinema's lost holy grails until its discovery in 1998 among a cache of undentified nitrate prints at the Norsk Filminstitutt, followed by the discovery of even more footage in 2002 at the Nederlands Filmmuseum! This new edition combines the sources to approximate the original U.S. release of this comic milestone. Also included is "A Reckless Romeo," a legendary lost film also recovered. Arbuckle is at the height of his comedic talents as an adventurous young husband exploring greener pastures, but his attempts at indiscretion at the Palisades Amusement Park are filmed by a newsreel cameraman and shown at the local movie house with both philanderers' nearest and dearest in attendance! Arbuckle's "escape" is one of the most memorable endings of any cinematic comedy.

The Cook and Other Treasures
Average customer rating:

You have this

Arbuckle on center stage, with Keaton and Lloyd supporting

What would life be without these guys?

Oh yes, worth the wait!

Incredible!

The Cook and Other Treasures
Starring: Glen Cavender , Bobby Dunn , Buster Keaton , Alice Lake , and John Rand
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video
General | Silent Films | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video
General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
John, Al St | ( J ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Keaton, Buster | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00007L4MK
Release Date: 2003-02-11

Amazon.com

A long-lost two-reel comedy starring and directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and costarring Buster Keaton, The Cook (1918) has been reclaimed from nitrate materials found in Norway and Denmark in 1998-99. A few seconds' worth of footage remains lost, but the minor burps in continuity can't dim the two comic geniuses' balletic precision and freewheeling inventiveness. Keaton, new to the flickers, is more devil-may-care than in his own films, but the careening dynamism perfected in two decades of vaudeville knockabout is fully in play. Arbuckle's trademark fat is 95 percent muscle, and his no-sweat juggling rivals W.C. Fields'--though the image viewers will carry to their graves is his kitchen-pan jeu d'esprit as Cleopatra, clutching a link-sausage asp to "her" bosom. All this--plus a ladder-climbing dog named Luke!--makes for a comedic tour de force. Milestone has filled out the package with another Arbuckle rediscovery, A Reckless Romeo (1917), and Harold Lloyd's characteristically zippy Number Please! (1920)--all three shot on glorious amusement-pier locations. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

At the Bull Pup Cafe, Fatty Arbuckle is chef of all trades while Buster Keaton waits tables in own inimitable fashion. When a tough guy annoys the pretty cashier, Keaton comes to her defense with help from Luke the Dog, feisty canine defender of womanhood! One of the finest and funniest of these comedians' collaborations, "The Cook" was long considered one of cinema's lost holy grails until its discovery in 1998 among a cache of undentified nitrate prints at the Norsk Filminstitutt, followed by the discovery of even more footage in 2002 at the Nederlands Filmmuseum! This new edition combines the sources to approximate the original U.S. release of this comic milestone. Also included is "A Reckless Romeo," a legendary lost film also recovered. Arbuckle is at the height of his comedic talents as an adventurous young husband exploring greener pastures, but his attempts at indiscretion at the Palisades Amusement Park are filmed by a newsreel cameraman and shown at the local movie house with both philanderers' nearest and dearest in attendance! Arbuckle's "escape" is one of the most memorable endings of any cinematic comedy.

Customer Reviews:

You have this.......2007-04-13

I love The Cook for two reasons really, one is of course that it was found after all those lost years to complete the set of Arbuckle/Keaton movies, it would have been so sad to have never found it and always have this one movie that was un-obtainable for all Arbuckle/Keaton fans. The second reason is that Buster dances, and that is worth the price of the DVD alone. The Cook tells the story of a restuarant and the people that work in it, you see them waiting on tables, cooking and basically running a restuarant as only they could. Al St John chips in as the meaness man in the world trying to take Alice Lake from Keaton. Luke the dog comes to the rescue and then we follow the gang to the seaside for a bit of R&R.
Two other movies complete this set, Number Please with Harold Lloyd, which is amusing at times, although I am concerned with the little dog at times. The Reckless Romeo with Arbuckle alone completes this set (filmed I believe when Keaton was overseas in France serving during WW1, this is very funny, I enjoy watching this.

Great Set, if you are a Arbuckle or Keaton fan you have to own this,

Arbuckle on center stage, with Keaton and Lloyd supporting.......2004-11-22

This collection marks the release of two films long thought lost by film historians: "The Cook" starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, and "A Reckless Romeo", thought by some to be another lost Arbuckle/Keaton film, but in fact featuring only Arbuckle. The prints were discovered in 1998 in unmarked canisters in the Norwegian Film Institute. "Reckless" seems to be complete, but "The Cook" is missing footage at the end, which is a little disappointing to the viewer; still, fans of Keaton are grateful of the discovery of the film.

"The Cook" takes place in a cafe, with Arbuckle in the kitchen and Keaton as a waiter. The gags fly at a furious pace, combining Arbuckle's deft and droll knife-wielding; a "magic urn" that seems to produce just about anything wished for, including coffee, milk, gravy, something that looks like stew, and eventually, Arbuckle's jacket; and a game of catch with food orders between Fatty and Buster. We're not talking subtlety here, but the humor emerging from the sheer turmoil is infectious -- I would love to see it in a crowded movie house. Both Fatty and Buster add their own version of grace to their physical humor, but Buster especially is, as always, a joy to behold: no one ever has taken a fall with such precision, and Buster takes numerous high-precision falls in this movie. One also appreciates the effort of Al St. John in "The Cook" (as "the toughest guy in the world") and "Reckless Romeo"; he blends well into Fatty and Buster's world of chaos as a sort of hybrid between "dumb country rube" and "half-crazed urban punk".

The most famous scene in "The Cook", parts of which have been repeated over the years by either Fatty or Buster alone, is a middle-eastern veil dance, first performed by Buster, then taken over by Fatty. Buster's version is all grace and athleticism; its humor is the result of being an almost spot-on perfect imitation of a perfectly executed female veil dance. Fatty's version, by contrast, is way over-the-top, with kitchen props, a cabbage head representing that of John the Baptist (Fatty imitating Salome here), and a transition into a death-of-Cleopatra scene, with a link of sausages delivering the fatal snake bite.

This collection also contains "Number Please", an entertaining short starring Harold Lloyd. Lloyd's character and comic techniques offer an interesting contrast to the Arbuckle/Keaton pairing. "Number Please" (1920) lacks the pure Keystone-influenced chaos of the other films in this set, and engages in simple and effective story-telling, with more clear character definition. Like other Lloyd films, it also has a freshness and natural feel to it -- one gets a deep sense of the cultural world of 1920 around which Lloyd's "glasses character" lives. Lloyd also has a physical grace and athleticism that offers an interesting contrast to Keaton and Arbuckle. The only disappointment is that this short is also in "The Slapstick Symposium" collection starring Lloyd, which I also recommend, but I didn't appreciate having to purchase two copies of the same film.

What would life be without these guys?.......2004-09-14

Wish they were still around making more movies! Buy all their dvds and you'll have the best comedies ever made and a lifetime of entertainment you can watch over and over again! Never loses it's freshness!

Oh yes, worth the wait!.......2003-05-27

So, there's not much more I can say about the restoration of "The Cook", so let me simply speak to the quality of the dvd.

The three films here are well presented. They have been carefully transferred and encoded, so that as much detail as possible comes through.

The Cook is amazing to see. IT's obvious that the materials used were not of high-quality, but the restorers have brought as much quality into the print as possible, and the results are very watchable, certainly more watchable than most low-budget dvd releases.

The music is good, it accompanies the film without taking over.

There is a bonus function where you can view the two unrestored copies of "The Cook". You can also put the dvd into your computer and try to edit together your own version. "Look mom, I'm a silent film restorer!!" An amazing idea whose time has come....P>Kudos to the producers!

Incredible!.......2003-01-17

I saw THE COOK in a rough print of the restoration. The crowd loved it. Picture a theater filled with continuous roaring laughter during Arbuckle and Keaton's riotous rendition of Salome's dance, which somehow manages to incorporate the death of Cleopatra. We laughed until it hurt, and didn't stop.

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