How much do you know about the history of this engine? Are you absolutely sure that the distributor is in correctly? Usually as the process goes, you will hear the odd explosion and then it will start to speed up when turning over. This is becuase some cylinders are partially firing.
I would check to make sure that when #1 Cylinder and valves are ready to fire, the points are about to open and the rotor is pointing to #1. There are no big mysteries here. When all that is checked I would dump a couple of ounces of gas down the carb and give it a shot. Personally I would stay away from the starter fluid.
