| Leap Year | |
| Director: | Roscoe Arbuckle James Cruze |
| Starring: | Fatty Arbuckle |
| Cinematography: | Karl Brown |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent (English intertitles) |
Leap Year is an American silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe Arbuckle and James Cruze.[1] Though produced in 1921, the film was not released in the United States due to Arbuckle's involvement in the Virginia Rappe death scandal; it received its first release in Finland in 1924.[2] The film finally saw an American release of sorts in 1981.[3] Prints are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Library of Congress.[4] [5]
Roscoe Arbuckle plays Stanley Piper, heir to his uncle’s millions. He lives at Piper Hall. His valet is Mumford. Inside the house, Jeremiah Piper, Stanley’s uncle, who is gouty, grouchy and a girl-hater, is being looked after by his nurse, Phyllis Brown. He decides to send Stanley on a fishing trip to keep him away from women as he falls in love with every woman he meets. The ‘fool nephew,’ stutters when he’s excited and is relived only by drink (water). Nurse Brown is upset to hear this news. Stanley brings flowers for Nurse Brown only to be told by his uncle that she’s been fired. He catches her as she’s about to leave the house. She tells him what his uncle has said about Stanley falling in love with every woman he meets. Stanley is unable to state is case, his stutter making him momentarily speechless until Mumford gives him water when he tells her it’s a base falsehood and he can prove it. If he can prove it, she decides, they can be together. While he’s trying to prove his love for Nurse Brown, he inadvertently ends up engaged to three different women and must extricate himself from all three engagements by pretending to be seriously ill and suffering from fits. When this doesn’t work, fate intervenes, and the three women find welcome distractions in the form of the other characters.