Hello my friends. Once again it is time to celebrate my personal favorite filmmaker, Charlie Chaplin with a selection of his classic short films.
Today's selection begins with Between Showers (1914). This marked the last of four Chaplin films directed by Henry Lehrman. Though Charlie never saw eye to eye with his early directors (before he began directing all his films himself), he and Lehrman never got along. Lehrman actually had a nickname in the movie industry and this was "Mr. Suicide." This was because he was well-known for having a very low regard for actors and their safety. Many extras actually refused to appear in his films for this reason. The storyline for Between Showers came from a recent series of rainstorms in Los Angeles. This short may be best known today as a Chaplin film but Ford Sterling is just as much the star of this film as Charlie. At the time Sterling was a major comedy star and one of the top draws at the Keystone studio. Some of Charlie's earliest films actually call for Charlie to essentially imamate Sterling's over the top bombastic style. Also featured in this film are Emma Clifton and Chester Conklin. The latter would after the Keystone days would reunite with Chaplin to play smaller roles in two of Charlie's feature films, Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). Conklin will also be a familiar face to fans of the Three Stooges as he appeared in such Stooge films as Flat Foot Stooges (1938), Dutiful but Dumb (1941), Three Little Twirps (1943), Phony Express (1943) and Micro-Phonies (1945). He may also be known for his dramatic role in Erich Von Stroheim's masterpiece Greed (1924).
Next comes one of Chaplin's funniest short films, The Pawnshop (1916). This comedy is a pure masterpiece that provides one great laugh after another. The film features one of Chaplin's most celebrated sequences, a tour de force where he examines a watch. Though at the time he made this film, sentimentality and pathos were finding their way into much of his work, that is completely absent in this film. Instead, this short is a pure gag fast.
For fans of silent comedy Tango Tangles (1914) is an all-star short. This film features Charlie Chaplin, Ford Sterlin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Chester Conklin and Minta Durfee (the first Mrs. Arbuckle). Tango Tangles is the final time that Charlie Chaplin and Ford Sterling would appear together. This is a rare film that features Charlie without an elaborate costume or makeup. Here you can see he was actually quite a handsome young man. Chaplin also gets to do his drunk act here. Before his movie career Charlie had often played a drunk on stage as part of the Fred Karno Troupe (including in the popular Mumming Birds sketch). Producer and director Mack Sennett sent these comics to the Venice Dance Hall on Abbott Kinney Pier and had them improvise the majority of the comedy (the patrons in the background are real life patrons, unaware that a movie is being made). The end result lasts around 10 minutes, making for a fast-paced fun little film that always puts a smile on my face.
Cruel, Cruel Love (1914) is a perfect example of Chaplin playing a very different character than his typical Tramp character. In this short film, we get to see Charlie at his most over the top, hamming it up as much as Ford Sterling. This is one of the many shorts made for the Keystone studio during this period that was a parody of the types of films that D.W. Griffith made for the Biograph Studio. This film's storyline is especially similar to the Griffith short, Death’s Marathon (1913).
A Day's Pleasure (1919) is an often glanced over Chaplin film. Released around the time, Charlie was releasing some of his greatest masterpieces, this is rather a simple basic comedy. It was in fact a quickly made film made around the time Charlie was working on the first feature length movie he directed and starred in, The Kid (1921). The short even feature Jackie Coogan, who played the title character in The Kid. The Kid was becoming a much more complicated and elaborate project than Charlie had planned. However, he still had a quota of short films he had to make for First National. So that he could devote more time to the feature, he made a quick and easy low-brow comedy. Coogan later remembered that during the making of A Day's Pleasure Charlie, "‘kind of sloughed that picture off. You’ll notice, if you see it, that it gets very jumpy. He lost interest in it." The result may not be up to par with other films, Chaplin was turning out at this time. However, for what it is this is a very fun little comedy with some funny gags. The following is a review from The New York Times (dated December 8, 1919), "Charlie Chaplin is screamingly funny in his latest picture, A Day’s Pleasure, at the Strand, when he tries in vain to solve the mysteries of a collapsible deck chair. He is also funny in many little bits of pantomime and burlesque, in which he is inimitable. But most of the time he depends for comedy upon seasickness, a Ford car, and biff-bang slap-stick, with which he is little, if any, funnier than many other screen comedians."
Thanks for joining me. Come back in the future for more Charlie Chaplin.
Resources Used
The Chaplin Encyclopedia by Glenn Mitchell.
Liner Notes for the Chaplin at Keystone DVD set by Jeffery Vance
https://chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/a-days-pleasure-15-december-1919/
https://chaplinfilmbyfilm.wordpress.com/2014/03/09/tango-tangles-9-march-1914/
https://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/cruel-cruel-love-1914
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