Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Rough House (1917)

This short comedy, directed by Roscoe Arbuckle, stars Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, with Al St. John, Alice Lake, Agnes Neilson, Josephine Stevens and Glen Cavender.

The Rough House (1917) was another Arbuckle/Keaton film that was believed lost for many years, but is now available for us all to enjoy again. The film is loosely structured around the premise that two dukes are coming to the Rough house for dinner. It is but an excuse for mayhem. This totally slapstick film should be shown in film studies classes as a prime example of silent era slapstick. Some gags verge on the homicidal. Is Roscoe actually getting ready to bite the nose of his wife when she begins throttling him?

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Antonio Coppola.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg, in French with English subtitles (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance, an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg, plus analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

While the visual quality is lower than desired, the high-resolution of Blu-ray Disc renders the sharpest images of the substandard source prints. For now, this is our recommended home video edition of this film for North American collectors.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes an introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg; audio commentary on six films by Joseph McBride; a recently-discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage; alternate endings for Coney Island and My Wife’s Relations; a video essay by critic David Cairns; a discussion of Keaton’s style by actor Pierre Étaix; an audio recording of Keaton at a 1962 party; and a 184-page booklet with a roundtable discussion with critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Dan Sallitt, an essay and with detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance; an essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries; an excerpt from Life with Buster Keaton (1951) including a reenactment by Keaton of Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Salomé dance,” first performed in The Cook and the words of Buster Keaton.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 on home video page.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player to view this edition.

This Region B Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Antonio Coppola.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg, in French with English subtitles (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance, an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg, plus analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes audio commentary on six films by Joseph McBride; and a 184-page book with notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 on home video page.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from a good but rough 35mm print. Dust, speckling, schmutz, frame jitters, significant filmbase scuffing, and other print flaws are present. The analog master could have benefited from a wet gate video transfer. Portions of some shots appear to be missing as some of the film’s continuity is choppy and disjointed, and the film ends abruptly. The film is erroneously listed as released in 1918 on the DVD packaging.

The film is presented with a music score composed and performed by The Alloy Orchestra, who has provided unorthodox music scores for the entire Kino Arbuckle-Keaton series, and all of the shorts include some punctuating sound effects that are well synchronized to the action. The film’s manic pace is emphasized by The Alloy Orchestra’s equally manic and catchy music score.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Arbuckle & Keaton, Volume Two on home video page.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

For some enthusiasts, the main attraction of this collection will be the piano scores performed by Neil Brand and others, which offered an alternative to The Alloy Orchestra scores on the similarly programmed Kino editions.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection on home video page.

This collection should be of similar quality to the FPA disc noted below.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD+R edition is available directly from FLICKER ALLEY through . . .

This DVD edition, produced by Lobster Films and Film Preservation Associates, has been mastered from a fair to good archival 35mm print. Dust, speckling, schmutz, significant filmbase scuffing, splices, frame jitters, vertical emulsion scratches, and other print flaws are present. The presentation could have benefitted from a wet gate video transfer. The Rough House in a rough print.

The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on piano by Neil Brand.

Supplemental material includes an eight-page booklet with film notes by Jeffrey Vance.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection on home video page.

This edition is now out-of-print; it has been replaced by two split Flicker Alley editions.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other silent era ROSCOE ARBUCKLE films available on home video.