Charles Chaplin Movies
The first great screen comedian, Charles Chaplin was also one of the most gifted directors in history, in addition to being a formidable talent as a writer and composer. The son of music hall performers from England, he began working on the stage at age five. He was a popular child dancer and got work on the London stage, eventually moving up to acting roles. It was while touring America in 1912 that Chaplin was spotted by Mack Sennett, the head of Keystone Studios, and he was signed to them a year later. After a disappointing, relatively non-descript debut, Chaplin began evolving the persona that would emerge as his most famous screen portrayal, The Little Tramp, and after his first 11 movies, Chaplin began to manifest a desire to direct. By his 13th film, he had shifted into the director's chair, and also emerged as a writer.Chaplin's 35 movies at Keystone established him as a major film comedian and afforded him the chance to adapt his stage routines to the screen. He next moved on to Essanay Studios, where he had virtually complete creative freedom, and The Little Tramp became an established big-screen star. In 1916, Chaplin went to Mutual, earning an astronomical 10,000 dollars per week under a contract that gave him absolute control of his films -- the Mutual titles, most notably The Immigrant and Easy Street, are still counted among the greatest comedies ever made. These modestly proportioned two-reelers were followed by Chaplin's move to First National Studios, where he made lengthier, more ambitious, but fewer films, including the comedy The Kid, which was the second highest grossing silent film after D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, and made an overnight sensation of his co-star, Jackie Coogan. By this time, Chaplin had become an international celebrity of a status that modern audiences can only imagine because he achieved his success through comedy. With three other screen giants, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and D.W. Griffith, he founded United Artists, the first modern production and distribution company, and achieved further renown as a director with A Woman of Paris two years later. In 1925, he made what is generally considered his magnum opus, The Gold Rush.
Chaplin's success continued into the sound era, although he resisted using sound until Modern Times in 1936. He had his first failure in 1940 with the anti-Hitler political satire The Great Dictator at about the same time that his personal life -- he had been involved in several awkward problems with various women, including a paternity suit filed against him by aspiring actress Joan Barry -- began to catch up with him. Chaplin's career during the immediate post-World War II period was marred by continuing problems, as his pacifism and alleged anti-American views led to investigations. He also made the black comedy Monsieur Verdoux, which failed at the box office. It was followed, however, by the best of his sound comedies, Limelight, which, because of his legal difficulties, didn't open in Los Angeles until two decades later -- when its score, written by Chaplin, received an Oscar. A King in New York, in 1957, and The Countess From Hong Kong, made nine years later, closed out his career on a lackluster note.
After D.W. Griffith, Chaplin was the most important filmmaker of the silent film era. Through his clear understanding of film and its capabilities, and his constant experimentation -- he frequently ran though hundreds of takes to get just the right shot and effect he wanted -- he set most of the rules for screen comedy that are still being followed, and his onscreen image remains one of the most familiar. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 2003
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For a variety of reasons, mostly political, Charlie Chaplin left the United States in the early fifties living the final quarter-century of his life in Switzerland. Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years documents this last act in the legendary director's life. The film intersperses personal footage of the man with interviews from those who knew him during this period. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Chaplin, Eugene Chaplin, (more)
- 2003
American film historian and author Richard Schickel directs the documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin. Schickel offers an exploration into Chaplin's life, from his childhood in London until his death in 1977. The film also contains insight on his multifaceted film career and much-publicized private life. Includes archive footage, film clips, and narration by Sydney Pollack. Interwoven with the vintage bits are contemporary interviews with Hollywood personas such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Johnny Depp. Chaplin's children Michael and Geraldine also provide contributions. Charlie was shown at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sydney Pollack, Charles Chaplin, (more)
- 1918
During the 1910s, comic actor and filmmaker Charles Chaplin was without peer. He was so popular that pirated versions of his pictures were frequently pieced together and sold to exhibitors. This five-reel mish-mosh of Chaplin, however, wasn't pirated -- it was made up of several of his Essanay shorts, including His New Job, The Tramp, In the Park, Shanghaied, The Champion, and others, and Essanay itself released it. Chaplin had gone over to Mutual almost two years before the release of this compilation, but Essanay was still clearly making money from his days with them. These bits and pieces are strung together by a British editor to make a rather loose story -- pretty simple task, since Chaplin consistently used the same group of players. Edna Purviance, as always, is the girl. Charlie saves her from a hobo and her father hires him to work on his farm. When he finds out Edna has a sweetheart, Charlie goes away and becomes an actor. He can't forget Edna, however, and his persistence finally wins her. Her father, however, disapproves. Charlie becomes the janitor of a bank, meets up with his girl once again, and saves her from thieves. Finally, her father gives his consent. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1951
This film is comprised of extracts from several Charlie Chaplin silent shorts made around 1915, including The Bank, His New Job, The Tramp, The Champion, and A Night in the Show. The clips are edited together into a loose storyline. Michael Howard narrates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Charles Chaplin was deep into production of his silent City Lights when Hollywood was overwhelmed by the talkie revolution. After months of anguished contemplation, Chaplin decided to finish the film as it began--in silence, save for a musical score and an occasional sound effect. Once again cast as the Little Tramp, Chaplin makes the acquaintance of a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill), who through a series of coincidences has gotten the impression that the shabby tramp is a millionaire. A second storyline begins when the tramp rescues a genuine millionaire (Harry Myers) from committing suicide. When drunk, the millionaire expansively treats the tramp as a friend and equal; when sober, he doesn't even recognize him. The two plots come together when the tramp attempts to raise enough money for the blind girl to have an eye operation. Highlights include an extended boxing sequence pitting scrawny Chaplin against muscle-bound Hank Mann, and the poignant final scene in which the now-sighted flower girl sees her impoverished benefactor for the first time. Chaplin's decision to release the silent City Lights three years into the talkie era was partially vindicated when more than one critic singled out this "comedy in pantomime" as the best picture of 1931. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, (more)
- 1958
This documentary video offers a variety of clips from the silent screen's funniest men. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1914
In his eighth film for Keystone Charlie Chaplin, in frock coat and bushy mustache, is cast in the role of a melodramatic lover who attempts suicide over his lost love. The film is a farce, a parody of the overacted melodramas of the day. Mr. Dovey (Chaplin) is first seen on his knees proposing in the drawing room of his lady (Minta Durfee). The couple are overheard and mocked by the lady's maid, whose laughter causes Minta to eject her from the house. To get back at her boss, she arranges a hoax with the gardener. She feigns injury and her cries bring the departing Dovey to her aid. When Minta sees her maid flirting with Dovey, she rejects him in a jealous rage. Back at home the despondent Dovey drinks what he thinks is poison; only his highly amused butler knows it was just water. Waiting for the poison to take effect, Dovey has horrifying visions of his eternal damnation. Meanwhile, Minta has learned of her maid's deception and has sent the gardener to Dovey with a letter of apology. "It's too late. I've been poisoned," says Dovey and the gardener goes back to retrieve Minta to be at her dying man's side. Dovey now summons doctors to save him, drinking all the milk he can with evident distaste. When the physicians arrive, the butler lets them in on the joke and they play along too, jokingly examining him. Minta, having raced to her man's home, learns of the hoax and tells Dovey he's going to live. First relieved, then enraged, he attacks all the pranksters and finally embraces his lady, removing from his fingers a ball of hair he had pulled from his head and blowing it away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Minta Durfee, (more)
- 1917
In Charlie Chaplin's 10th film in his series for Lone Star/Mutual, and one of the funniest, he plays a gentleman of means who is at a health spa to take the cure, presumably for his alcoholism. His costume is somewhat different from that of his classic Tramp's: he wears a light-colored jacket and a straw boater. The baggy pants and oversize shoes are there and his derby is in evidence in his trunk. The main feature of the sanatorium is the health-spring well, around which the rich guests sit and take the waters. Charlie is pushed onto the scene in a wheelchair and soon gets caught up in a revolving door, where he traps and incurs the anger of a large, gouty patient, Eric Campbell. Shown to his room by an attendant, he is present when his trunk is delivered and he checks the contents for damage -- bottle upon bottle of liquor, which astonishes the elderly bellhop who delivers it.
Taken down to the well again he's cajoled by another attendant (Albert Austin) and a pretty nurse to try the waters, resulting in his immediate departure to his room for a drink. The bellhop has obviously been into the trunk, and Charlie ejects the old fellow. He makes his way downstairs where he encounters a beautiful fellow visitor (Edna Purviance), rescuing her from the advances of the amorous Campbell, almost getting himself thrown off the premises. Edna steps in to rescue him, refuting Campbell's protestations to the manager. Charlie is brought to the steam room/gymnasium, where a huge masseur, Henry Bergman, terrifies him as he works on a rubbery fellow-patient (actually a contortionist Chaplin hired for the part). He escapes damage himself as he mock-wrestles with the burly masseur and his assistant and pushes everyone, including Campbell, into the pool.
Meanwhile the manager searches Charlie's room, and, finding the trunk full of liquor and the drunk bellhop in the bed, orders all the liquor thrown away. This is done by the now equally drunk Austin who has obviously been partaking of Charlie's stash. He throws the bottles out the window and into the health spa well. Now sober, Charlie departs the gym, but in the lobby there's a party going on -- the waters have had "a strange effect" and everyone but Charlie and Edna are drunk. Charlie rescues Edna again from the clutches of two aggressive drunks, and the two repair to the well to escape the festivities. Edna urges Charlie to drink from the spring to keep sober for her sake. Eagerly downing jug after glass of the spiked waters transforms Charlie, and he begins to chase Edna too, but he gets caught up in the revolving door and ends up revolving his way all the way to the gym and into the pool. The next morning the hangover reigns supreme over all the guests. Edna apologizes to Charlie for making him drink the water that was full of liquor, and at her entreaty, Charlie promises not to sample the waters again. The two walk off confidently, arm in arm, until Charlie steps into the well, bobbing up and down as the film fades out. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Taken down to the well again he's cajoled by another attendant (Albert Austin) and a pretty nurse to try the waters, resulting in his immediate departure to his room for a drink. The bellhop has obviously been into the trunk, and Charlie ejects the old fellow. He makes his way downstairs where he encounters a beautiful fellow visitor (Edna Purviance), rescuing her from the advances of the amorous Campbell, almost getting himself thrown off the premises. Edna steps in to rescue him, refuting Campbell's protestations to the manager. Charlie is brought to the steam room/gymnasium, where a huge masseur, Henry Bergman, terrifies him as he works on a rubbery fellow-patient (actually a contortionist Chaplin hired for the part). He escapes damage himself as he mock-wrestles with the burly masseur and his assistant and pushes everyone, including Campbell, into the pool.
Meanwhile the manager searches Charlie's room, and, finding the trunk full of liquor and the drunk bellhop in the bed, orders all the liquor thrown away. This is done by the now equally drunk Austin who has obviously been partaking of Charlie's stash. He throws the bottles out the window and into the health spa well. Now sober, Charlie departs the gym, but in the lobby there's a party going on -- the waters have had "a strange effect" and everyone but Charlie and Edna are drunk. Charlie rescues Edna again from the clutches of two aggressive drunks, and the two repair to the well to escape the festivities. Edna urges Charlie to drink from the spring to keep sober for her sake. Eagerly downing jug after glass of the spiked waters transforms Charlie, and he begins to chase Edna too, but he gets caught up in the revolving door and ends up revolving his way all the way to the gym and into the pool. The next morning the hangover reigns supreme over all the guests. Edna apologizes to Charlie for making him drink the water that was full of liquor, and at her entreaty, Charlie promises not to sample the waters again. The two walk off confidently, arm in arm, until Charlie steps into the well, bobbing up and down as the film fades out. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1961
This is one in a series of entertaining cinematic compilations by Robert Youngson that reviews aspects of the history of film (The Golden Age of Comedy and When Comedy Was King directly preceded this release). As in its predecessors, this compilation looks back on the more distant past. Renowned comics like Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennet and the Keystone Kops, Fatty Arbuckle, Stan Laurel, and others are featured in some of the best moments in their filmic careers. As for the thrillers, those times when the heroine was tied to the train tracks or the hero's car balanced on the edge of a cliff, they are as hilarious in retrospect as the comedies were to that generation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's 29th comedy for Keystone was one of his most popular, grossing $130,000 in its initial year of release. It was shot before, but released after Those Love Pangs, and was originally conceived as an early sequence of the latter, showing Charlie and Chester Conklin at work in a combination cafe/bakery. The sequence was so good Mack Sennett suggested that Chaplin expand it. Waiter Charlie has his mind on a waitress as he clears one patron's plate onto the food of another. He mans the bakery counter and is taken with a female customer, especially her hip movements which he imitates. He gets into fights with fellow-waiter Chester and disrupts work in the bakery below. The bakers strike for higher wages and Charlie and Chester are impressed into service as bakers at which both are inept. The striking bakers plot revenge as one of them buys a loaf of bread and inserts a stick of dynamite into it. They send a little girl to return it as undercooked, and the owner's wife brings it downstairs to have it baked further. She observes Charlie's method of bagel making - whipping a roll of dough around his wrist forming a ring and rolling it off over his hand. Meanwhile the owner (Fritz Schade) has been noticing that the waitresses have dough on their derrieres, indicating they've been socializing with Charlie in the bakery. When his wife returns from downstairs, the owner likewise sees dough on her behind, put there by Charlie, and he flies into a rage. He goes down to the bakery and berates Charlie, slaps him around and chases him upstairs to the restaurant and down again. In self defense Charlie flings dough and flour bags at Fritz and Chester. Just then the oven explodes, covering Chester and Fritz with debris and burying Charlie under a huge lump of dough from which he emerges, eyes first, as the film ends. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Arguably the best of Charlie Chaplin's 12 Lone Star/Mutual comedies, Easy Street gives us a look at the environment in which Chaplin grew up, the slums of South London. Indeed the title of the film is likely a reference to the street where Chaplin was born, East Street in Walworth. Charlie begins this film as he seldom does, as a truly down-and-out derelict, huddled sleeping at the steps of the Hope Mission. The sounds of a service in progress draws him wearily inside. After the sermon, he is entranced by the beautiful mission worker and organist, Edna Purviance and stays after the service. Inspired by their ministrations he vows to reform, returning the collection box he has slipped into his capacious pants. Out on Easy Street a gang is pummeling members of the police department, removing their uniforms for the coins in their pockets. Toughest of all is the Bully, Eric Campbell, who menaces the other toughs, taking the spoils for himself. Charlie, passing the Police Station sees the recruitment sign outside and eventually builds up his resolve sufficiently to apply. His beat is Easy Street. He encounters the Bully who threatens him and is impervious to the blows that Charlie delivers with his nightstick. In a display of his great strength, the bully bends a gas streetlamp in two, whereupon Charlie leaps on the Bully's back, covering his head with the lamp and turns on the gas. (Chaplin was injured during the filming of this scene; the lamp hit him across the bridge of the nose, holding up production for several days).
As the Bully slumps to the ground, Charlie takes his pulse and decides to give him one more shot of gas for good measure. The squad is called to retrieve the unconscious Bully and Charlie is, for the moment, cock-of-the-walk, frightening away the other street toughs by simply spinning around to face them. His work also entails charity, as he helps a woman, (who turns out to be the Bully's wife) who has stolen food from a street vendor by stealing more food for her. Edna happens by and helps Charlie get her upstairs to her tenement flat. He's rewarded for his efforts by her ingratitude, nearly dropping a flower pot on his head. Edna takes Charlie across the way to another apartment where a couple have a large brood of children whom Charlie helps to feed by scattering bread crumbs among them as if he were feeding chickens. Meanwhile, the Bully awakens at the Police Station and despite multiple blows from the collective nightsticks of the cops, he escapes and returns to Easy Street. His fight with his wife draws Charlie from across the street and a chase begins, the Bully seeking revenge for his earlier capture. Charlie drops a stove on the Bully from a second-story window, knocking him out, but the street toughs capture Edna and toss her down some steps into a subterranean speakeasy. She is threatened there by a dope addict who injects himself with cocaine. Exiting the Bully's flat Charlie is mugged by the gang and himself tossed down into the cellar. Landing accidentally on the addict's upturned needle, Charlie becomes supercharged, defeating the junkie and all the denizens of the cellar, rescuing Edna. Peace is restored to Easy Street and a new mission is in evidence. The Bully and his wife, dressed in their finest, make their way to the services, under Charlie's approving eye. Edna approaches and Charlie greets her joyously and the pair stroll arm in arm towards the welcoming minister and missionary of The New Mission. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
As the Bully slumps to the ground, Charlie takes his pulse and decides to give him one more shot of gas for good measure. The squad is called to retrieve the unconscious Bully and Charlie is, for the moment, cock-of-the-walk, frightening away the other street toughs by simply spinning around to face them. His work also entails charity, as he helps a woman, (who turns out to be the Bully's wife) who has stolen food from a street vendor by stealing more food for her. Edna happens by and helps Charlie get her upstairs to her tenement flat. He's rewarded for his efforts by her ingratitude, nearly dropping a flower pot on his head. Edna takes Charlie across the way to another apartment where a couple have a large brood of children whom Charlie helps to feed by scattering bread crumbs among them as if he were feeding chickens. Meanwhile, the Bully awakens at the Police Station and despite multiple blows from the collective nightsticks of the cops, he escapes and returns to Easy Street. His fight with his wife draws Charlie from across the street and a chase begins, the Bully seeking revenge for his earlier capture. Charlie drops a stove on the Bully from a second-story window, knocking him out, but the street toughs capture Edna and toss her down some steps into a subterranean speakeasy. She is threatened there by a dope addict who injects himself with cocaine. Exiting the Bully's flat Charlie is mugged by the gang and himself tossed down into the cellar. Landing accidentally on the addict's upturned needle, Charlie becomes supercharged, defeating the junkie and all the denizens of the cellar, rescuing Edna. Peace is restored to Easy Street and a new mission is in evidence. The Bully and his wife, dressed in their finest, make their way to the services, under Charlie's approving eye. Edna approaches and Charlie greets her joyously and the pair stroll arm in arm towards the welcoming minister and missionary of The New Mission. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1989
Emerging Chaplin profiles the talent of the best-known actor of silent comedy, Charles Chaplin. Follow the emergence of Chaplin's genius, from his early films, to his stint at Mack Sennett's Keystone studios, to his classics: Kid Auto Races, The Bank, The Tramp, The Rink, and Easy Street. Highlights include a look at Chaplin's enduring portrayal of the Tramp, a short, shabby man with a black moustache who waddled his way into the hearts of Americans. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. narrates this look at the comedian's extraordinary gifts, expressive grace, and perfect timing. ~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
- 1945
One of producer Joseph Levine's earliest projects, Gaslight Follies is a compilation of silent film footage narrated by Metropolitan Operan stalwart Milton Cross. Unlike the more respectful compilations of Robert Youngson (The Golden Age of Comedy, Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20s etc.), Follies mocks its silent material, re-editing the old footage to make it look as ridiculous as possible, then adding stupid sound effects and inappropriate music. The film's vintage Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Keystone Kops clips are presented in a manner that robs them of all their entertainment value (Chaplin is rendered utterly unfunny, a remarkable "achievement"). The film concludes with a lengthy excerpt from East Lynne, an old-fashioned and overly sentimental melodrama which nonetheless does not deserve the cruel and condescending treatment Joseph Levine has given it here. Gaslight Follies was put together in the mid-1940s, an era in which silent movies were regarded as "antiques", worthy only of derisive laughter; as such, this compilation is a must to avoid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's 30th Keystone comedy is again set at the auto races, as were his earlier films, Kid's Auto Race, Mabel at the Wheel and Mabel's Busy Day. However this time, as Chaplin scholar Harry Geduld suggests, it was likely shot at the Keystone studios with shots of the race intercut. Charlie tries to sneak in by walking backwards through the gate but is turned back. He has a contretemps with Ambrose (Mack Swain), also trying to sneak in. The two resolve their differences for the moment and try to sneak in through a gap in the fence. Swain gets stuck and Charlie tries to help him through the gap with pushes, kicks and by trying to wedge him in with a baseball bat. Mabel and boyfriend Chester are there too, but Chester insists on flirting with the unlikely Phyllis Allen. Mabel, fed up with Chester's infidelity, is charmed by the nervy gentleman tramp. When Chester returns to the grandstand to reclaim a protesting Mabel, Charlie comes to her rescue. He shoves Chester into Ambrose and a cop, who arrests both as troublemakers, to the delight of Charlie and Mabel. Mabel rewards Charlie by letting him kiss her hand, and she playfully tweaks his nose as the new couple enjoy the rest of the race. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's penultimate Keystone comedy takes us back to the scene of so many of his Keystones, Westlake Park. It is unusual in that it is a story of two married couples with wandering husbands: Charlie and battle-ax Phyllis Allen, and Mack Swain and Mabel Normand. Mack and Mabel, taking the air, spot a stalled sports car which fascinates Mack, who leaves Mabel and goes off to help the driver start it up. Seated on a park bench with Charlie, Phyllis has fallen asleep. A beautiful young woman, Cecile Arnold pauses by the bench, looking for her beau, a mysterious Turk. Charlie flirts with her and is spurned, but he leaves Phyllis asleep and chases after her. When he catches up, the Turk arrives and after a brief confrontation in which he stabs Charlie in the backside, Charlie is chased off. Charlie comes upon Mabel and begins to mash her. Tipping his hat he hooks her skirt with his upside-down cane and raises it above her knees. When she protests, he scolds the cane as if it had a mind of its own. Mack arrives on the scene and doesn't heed Mabel's complaints but introduces her to Charlie, whom he seems to know. Mack leaves them alone to go back to the car, and Charlie persists in mashing Mabel until a cop shows up behind Charlie. Mabel then turns all smiles and winks, hoping Charlie will mash her in the presence of the cop which he does, until the presence of the cop's billy club on his shoulder makes him take to his heels. Meanwhile Mack has come upon Phyllis and begins to mash her. Her cries also bring the cop who chases Mack away. Mabel and Phyllis eventually meet and commiserate with each other about the mashers they've encountered in the park. There follows a series of comedic chases and fights between the cop and Charlie and Mack. While hiding from the cop in the same bushes they are both apprehended and dragged off, but Phyllis and Mabel intercede to save their spouses from the clutches of the police. The two couples reconcile their differences but Charlie still insists on flirting and Phyllis, to Mack and Mabel's amusement, drags him off by the seat of his pants. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Chaplin's 16th film for Keystone is the only Chaplin film thought to be lost. What we know of its plot comes from the movie magazines of the day. Apparently Charlie is the bandit who accosts a Count on his way to a society party and assumes his clothes, invitation and identity. He encounters rich girl Mabel Normand there and eventually the Keystone Kops show up to arrest Charlie. The plot seems to anticipate Chaplin's later Mutual film, The Count. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, (more)
- 1914
In Charles Chaplin's seventh film for the Keystone Company, the Little Fellow's favorite pastime is drinking and chasing women. The film opens in a saloon where Charlie is partaking of a free lunch and teasing a down-on-his-luck Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle who is trying to bum a drink. We see an early Chaplin "transposition" gag when Charlie tries to light a sausage, thinking it's a cigar. After leaving the bar, Charlie accosts beautiful but married Peggy Pierce (with whom Chaplin was involved romantically at the time) as she and her maid wait for her husband to return to their taxi. After being shooed away by the husband, Charlie returns to the saloon and gets into fights with various patrons. In the men's washroom after Charlie polishes his shoes with a towel, he hands the towel to a man who has soap in his eyes, causing him to blacken his face. Exiting the bar again, he follows the maid's taxi home and gets into a melee with the maid, the maid's employer and her employer's irate husband, who, with the aid of his household servants, ejects Charlie from their home. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's musical career is as a piano mover for a music store in this, his 31st comedy for Keystone. The film was a direct inspiration for Laurel and Hardy's 1932 short, The Music Box. His Little Fellow is not a tramp but a hard-working laborer. Charlie is first seen applying for his job, being examined, muscles and even teeth, by Mack Swain. In the showroom, we see Mr. Rich (Fritz Schade) deciding to buy a piano from salesman Charley Chase, and a few moments later, Mr. Poor being threatened that his piano will be repossessed if he can't make his payments. Mack and Charlie are sent to deliver the one piano and pick up the other, for which, of course, they will mix up the addresses. As they take the piano outside, Mack pulls Charlie along the showroom floor, as Charlie smiles to the camera, expressing his delight in a free ride. They load the piano onto the horse-drawn wagon. At one point the slope is so severe that when Mack leans to the back of the wagon, the donkey is lifted right off the ground. Arriving at Mr. Poor's house the residents are delighted that they seem to be receiving a free piano, as Charlie carries the piano on his back and must be straightened out by boss Mack. Next, the movers proceed to Mr. Rich's house and proceed to take his piano, over the objections of Mrs. Rich Cecile Arnold. Mr. Rich arrives as Charlie and Mack get the piano out to the sidewalk. A kick to Mack's backside sends Charlie, Mack, and the piano skidding down a steep hill, and to Mr. Rich's horror, into Echo Lake in Westlake Park where Charlie plays some last notes before they begin to sink. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin began his new job at Essanay Studios, who lured him away from Keystone with an offer of $1250 a week plus a bonus of $10,000, with a parody film on his former employer. It features two actresses at the beginning of their careers in minor roles -- Gloria Swanson and Agnes Ayres. Charlie applies for work at the Lockstone Motion Picture Company. Arriving at the office just after him is cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin. Charlie is interviewed by the boss who uses a funnel and long tube as a hearing aid. Charlie uses the device with a cigarette in his mouth which gets lodged in the funnel. Charlie tries to dislodge it by pouring ink into the funnel and blowing but ends up with the ink on his own face. Hired as an assistant carpenter/prop man, he disrupts rehearsals and gets into trouble with the director. He is told to don an extra's military costume for the Russian melodrama being filmed, but he goes instead into the star's dressing room and steals his costume. Charlie is as inept as an actor as he is a carpenter, sitting on the train of the leading lady's gown, tearing it off as she walks up a staircase and blowing his nose in it as he overacts tearfully. (This scene contains one of the first dolly shots in Chaplin films). He later topples a large column which lands on top of him, and he is sat upon by Turpin, who, having replaced him as prop man is called to lift the column. Eventually, the star actor arrives, and, enraged at finding his costume missing, starts a melee on stage which ends with everyone but Charlie unconscious. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1914
Charlie Chaplin's 25th Keystone comedy is a park farce on the same order as many of his earlier shorts. It opens with a famous shot of Charlie sitting on a park bench, reading Police Gazette, the National Enquirer of its time. A couple nearby are unhappy; the boy, Charles Parrot (later known as Charley Chase), has to take care of his gouty, wheelchair-bound uncle, preventing him from going off with his girlfriend, Gene Marsh. He gets an idea -- find someone to push uncle around for the day. He finds Charlie, of course, but not before his girlfriend encounters the Tramp. She accidentally drops her purse in front of him and he retrieves it and tries to flirt. When Charlie agrees to push Uncle around, the Nephew finds his girlfriend and they go off for a stroll. Wheeling Uncle past a saloon, Charlie asks for an advance for a drink but the Uncle refuses. Charlie pushes Uncle to a nearby pier where another invalid in a wheelchair with a tin cup and a "Help A Cripple" sign has fallen asleep. Charlie deftly puts the sign and cup on Uncle, who is also dozing. The first contribution is enough to send Charlie off to the saloon for a drink. Meanwhile the couple arrives at the pier and finds the sleeping Uncle in this embarrassing position. Gene laughingly teases her beau as they again escape. Another charitable soul comes by and drops a coin in the cup which awakens the cripple who takes back his sign and cup and strikes Uncle on his gouty foot with his cane. Charlie arrives quite tipsy and wheels Uncle further along the pier, amusing him with his Police Gazette. The couple has meanwhile had a fight, and the girl arrives on the pier and sits down next to Charlie. He begins flirting again, and when Uncle tries to interfere, Charlie pushes him right to the end of the pier. Nephew arrives and is enraged to see Charlie and Gene together. A scrap begins also involving a couple of Kops, one of whom shoos the boyfriend away before being pushed off the pier. The other Kop pinches Uncle as a troublemaker, leaving Charlie and Gene to walk off together. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Charley Chase, (more)
- 1914
In his 32nd film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin is a married man, an unusual state for his film character. His wife, played by Mabel Normand, complains that they have no money for new shoes for her or food for their baby. They have a fight and Charlie leaves, promising to bring a present home for their son. Meanwhile another couple in a hotel room are rather lovey, as the wife (Phyllis Allen) helps hubby Ambrose (Mack Swain) prepare to go out. On his way out, a young lady who has just completed a love letter asks Ambrose to mail it for her. He puts the letter in his coat pocket. Charlie goes to a drug store and buys a bottle for the baby, which he puts in his coat pocket. He proceeds to a diner where, coincidentally, Ambrose has gone for lunch. The pair get into a funny food fight at the lunch counter, and switch coats accidentally. When Charlie arrives home Mabel finds the note in his pocket and flies into a rage, eventually breaking an ironing board over his head. Charlie escapes to a nearby park where Ambrose has met his wife who consoles him over the beating he has just taken from Charlie. Calmed down, Mack goes to a nearby refreshment stand. Mabel has by now caught up with Charlie and is delivering quite a beating, which delights Mack. Meanwhile, Phyllis has found the baby bottle in "his" coat pocket and when he returns to their bench she berates him for his infidelity. When Mabel shows Charlie the note she has found, he examines the coat and the mystery is solved. The two men exchange coats, but when Charlie returns the love note to Mack, Phyllis attacks him with her umbrella. But Charlie, Mabel and their baby are reunited in a picture of connubial bliss. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Produced for Britain's Thames television in 1979, Hollywood is a 13-part overview of the silent film era, lovingly assembled by historian Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Each episode runs one hour, and each concentrates on a separate aspect of the art of the silent cinema. Chapter titles include "The Pioneers," "Single Beds and Double Standards," "Swanson and Valentino" and "Comedy: A Serious Business." In addition to interviews from such silent-movie veterans as Lillian Gish, Allan Dwan, Viola Dana, William Wellman, Karl Brown, Colleen Moore, King Vidor and Blanche Sweet, each episode of Hollywood is distinguished by rare, lengthy filmclips, many in pristine condition. The symphonic background music by Carl Davis superbly evokes the 1910s and 1920s without ever stooping to tinkly-piano cliches. The release of Hollywood was accompanied by the publication of a coffee-table book, also the handiwork of Brownlow and Gill. In 1988, a feature-length version of Hollywood was made available for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
In this comedy documentary begun during the construction of his new studios in 1917, and continued after its completion, Charlie Chaplin gives us a look, however staged, inside the Chaplin workplace. Although never completed by Chaplin, who wanted to use it to help fulfill his First National contract, it was reconstructed in 1982 by scholars Kevin Brownlow and David Gill from material they found at the Chaplin estate. They got the editing continuity from a page of titles they found in the Chaplin archive. Some of the footage was used in 1959 by Chaplin as a prologue to his compilation, The Chaplin Revue, and used again for the documentary on Chaplin, The Gentleman Tramp. The film begins with a stop-action sequence of the studio being built. Then it shows a dapper, 29-year-old Chaplin arriving at work, greeting his staff, reading his fan mail. His butler is instructed to bring his famous costume, which he retrieves from the studio vault. Chaplin is seen rehearsing his cast and coaching a starlet through a screen test. Viewers are taken into the Chaplin Studio laboratory where they're shown how film is developed and processed and see Chaplin at work in the editing room. Then Chaplin is seen dressing in his Tramp costume and applying the famous mustache. A few scenes from an unreleased Mutual follow, showing Chaplin,Eric Campbell and Albert Austin on the golf links. Ideas from these sequences were later used for Chaplin's The Idle Class. This would be Chaplin's final pairing with Campbell who died in an auto accident soon after filming. At the end of the work day Chaplin bids viewers 'Au Revoir." How To Make Movies offers a rare glimpse inside Chaplin's studio, and although he was always guarded about revealing his working methods, it gives viewers the feeling of those exciting, creative days. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's fourth release for Essanay is very similar to his Keystone Twenty Minutes of Love. He had taken longer than planned to complete his previous film, The Champion, and he felt obliged to give Essanay a new film quickly, so he shot and edited this park farce in the course of a week. It opens with Leo White in his French Count costume and Margie Reiger spooning on a park bench, observed by an amused Edna Purviance seated on a nearby bench, wearing a nursemaid's outfit and minding a baby carriage. Chaplin, strolling through the park, encounters an inept pickpocket, from whose pocket Chaplin picks a cigarette and a match. Chaplin comes upon the couple, and mocking their emotions, he gets chased away. Purviance is joined by her boyfriend Bud Jamison who goes off to buy a hot dog from a vendor.
Finding Purviance alone, Chaplin makes eyes at her and gets a few smiles in return, but when he tries to mash her she spurns him. Meanwhile the pickpocket steals Reiger's purse while the couple are necking. Returning to Purviance, Jamison chases Chaplin away. Chaplin encounters the same hot dog vendor and steals a string of hot dogs which he hangs from his breast pocket and eats by swinging them up to his mouth. The pickpocket steals Chaplin's hot dogs, but Chaplin steals the purse from his pocket. While Chaplin sells the purse to Jamison for $2, the pickpocket starts a brick fight during which everyone except Chaplin is knocked out. Chaplin gives the purse to Purviance, who rewards him with a hug, but Jamison awakens and returns to claim the purse and Purviance. By this time Reiger has discovered her purse is gone and sends White over to Jamison to retrieve it. He is beaten back by Jamison and when Reiger spurns him for his ineptitude he contemplates suicide. Chaplin comes along and obliges him by booting him into the lake. Meanwhile Reiger has summoned a cop who gets the purse back from Jamison and confronts Chaplin, but ends up in the lake along with Jamison, as Chaplin strolls away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Finding Purviance alone, Chaplin makes eyes at her and gets a few smiles in return, but when he tries to mash her she spurns him. Meanwhile the pickpocket steals Reiger's purse while the couple are necking. Returning to Purviance, Jamison chases Chaplin away. Chaplin encounters the same hot dog vendor and steals a string of hot dogs which he hangs from his breast pocket and eats by swinging them up to his mouth. The pickpocket steals Chaplin's hot dogs, but Chaplin steals the purse from his pocket. While Chaplin sells the purse to Jamison for $2, the pickpocket starts a brick fight during which everyone except Chaplin is knocked out. Chaplin gives the purse to Purviance, who rewards him with a hug, but Jamison awakens and returns to claim the purse and Purviance. By this time Reiger has discovered her purse is gone and sends White over to Jamison to retrieve it. He is beaten back by Jamison and when Reiger spurns him for his ineptitude he contemplates suicide. Chaplin comes along and obliges him by booting him into the lake. Meanwhile Reiger has summoned a cop who gets the purse back from Jamison and confronts Chaplin, but ends up in the lake along with Jamison, as Chaplin strolls away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
