In the Dough

In the Dough (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A bakery store owner has a group of gangster show up wanting money for "protection" but he refuses. That same day a man named Slim (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle) shows up wanting the job of the baker. Soon the new baker goes up against the gangsters. IN THE DOUGH was the next-to-last film for Arbuckle who gets several good moments here even if the film itself isn't really that good. It's clear that this was meant as a throwback to his Keystone days because a lot of the humor comes from dough throwing. If you've seen at least one Keystone short then you've probably seen some sort of food fight and that tradition pretty much carries on here as we get at least two different and long sequences dealing with dough being thrown around. These scenes are certainly funny in their own right but the film really doesn't offer too much else. The entire subplot of gangsters threatening someone for money had been done countless times even by 1933 and there's really nothing new done with it. There's an ongoing gag dealing with a man who keeps wanting a larger cake but the final pay-off really isn't that funny. Arbuckle is certainly the main reason to watch this as he appears to be having a good time and there's no question that he's charming enough in the part. One of the gangsters is played by Shemp Howard so fans of his will also want to check this out.