Making a Living (1914)

Synopsis of Making a Living

This typical Keystone slapstick comedy was Charlie Chaplin's first appearance on film. An Englishman (Chaplin) cons a newspaper reporter (Henry Lehrman) out of some money. The Englishman flirts with a young woman who later turns out to be the reporter's girlfriend, and the reporter and the Englishman fight. Later, the Englishman talks his way into a job at the same newspaper where the reporter works. When the reporter takes some photos of an automobile accident as it happens, the reporter and the Keystone Kops help the driver, and the Englishman steals the photos. He rushes them back to the paper, and they are immediately put in the latest edition. The newspaperman catches up with him, and they begin fighting in the street, and the film ends as a streetcar cowcatcher sweeps them up. Chaplin is barely recognizable in this film, sporting a monocle, a top hat, and a walrus moustache. While this costume had been used in his stage appearances, he quickly realized that it was not appropriate for a film comedian. He would devise his famous costume of the tramp in his next film Mabel's Strange Predicament. Chaplin was unhappy when he saw the finished film because many of the gags that he had performed had been cut out by Lehrman, the director. However, this is typical of Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies, where there is a lot of running around and fighting, and not a lot of funny gags. ~ Bruce Calvert, Rovi

Director(s):

Henry Lehrman

Producer(s):

Mack Sennett

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