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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 1214

The Butcher Boy

191730 minUnited States
Comedy
Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
24:16
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Roscoe Arbuckle · Public domain

This copy runs shorter than the reference runtime. Editing and playback speed can differ between editions.

Synopsis

A country-store worker and a rival clerk compete for the manager's daughter, turning groceries and household tools into weapons. When she leaves for a girls' school, both men follow in disguise. Their renewed quarrel gives way to an attempted abduction and a rescue involving the worker's dog.

Cast

DirectorsRoscoe Arbuckle

Behind the scenes

Buster Keaton made his screen debut in this Roscoe Arbuckle comedy. The store sequence brings him into a performance style built on objects, collisions and carefully organized disorder.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 15, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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