Tag Archives: Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle

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The Bootleg Files: Windy Riley Goes Hollywood

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BOOTLEG FILES 820: “Windy Riley Goes Hollywood” (1931 short starring Louise Brooks and directed by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle under a pseudonym).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels and as a special feature on a Kino Lorber Blu-ray offering.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright enables endless dupes.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It was already on a commercial label, but the public domain dupes never stopped.

The 1931 Educational Pictures short “Windy Riley Goes Hollywood” is not remembered today for its content – which, quite frankly, is terrible – but as a low point in the creative lives of two iconic talents of the silent screen who came into the talkie era with their respective careers in shambles.
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The Bootleg Files: Love

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BOOTLEG FILES 710: “Love” (newly bootlegged version of a copyright-protected restoration of a 1919 comedy short starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbucke).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: This just appeared online two days ago.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Someone must have thought it was okay to rip off the presentation because the source material is public domain.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at all.

The basic premise of this column is to highlight rare film and television productions that can only be seen in bootlegged prints and unauthorized online video postings. The column has never encouraged bootlegging of copyright-protected work. On occasion, this column has considered public domain titles that are the subject of endless duping because of their lapsed copyrights – and in too many cases, the only way that one can appreciate those works is by enduring the duped versions.
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