This is the first time that I look at Charlie Chaplin as a Villain. Good or bad you were/was and will be the best comedian of all times. In this movie, Mabel was the heroine. Thank you Charlie for stand out to the woman, because of open to her a space to demonstrate that a woman not only is a beautiful face. The women are intelligent with capacities. You are my idol. Charlot.
DO your research. Chaplin was outraged that she, a woman, had the spot light and in fact like the little girls. Don't try and change history. At the time he couldn't do anything but try and strike and protest but had no choice cuz the money was coming from NY and they told him to shut up or he'd have no career. Go look it up
I don't care what anyone says; Mabel Normand was EXCELLENT! as were all those female silent film comedians (even the ones that took a back seat to their male co-stars). i'm sorry that our overly misogynistic society has under valued their contributions to the history of film. I still love it when these silent film actors would look directly at the camera throughout the film letting the audience feel like a part of the film. for some reason this technique didn't translate well with the talkies. the music, as fine as it was, was actually from the wrong era by about 20 or 30 years. thanks for the short.
True fans of cinema don't undervalue the silent comediennes. And I don't know who put this music with the film. The uploader, probably. Charlie composed the music for his full-length films, starting around The Kid (1921) and continuing. The music would be played live, but when he finally started producing talkies, he could just do it the way we do now.
You're exactly right, Spencer. Folks need to also keep in mind that there really weren't too many female comediennes in the silent days - just how it was. But Mabel Normand will always stand out as the best and most famous of them all; a fine tribute to the ladies of the silent screen.
Charlie Chaplin owned an Indian Powerplus twin in 1916. In this movie he used a 1910 Thor single 500. It sucks to see him treating it so badly. It would fetch 250K easily in today's market (due to this movie) Nice to see that the drop stands fell back then too! I have 7 pre war cycles with rear drop stands and NONE of them stay in the clip :)
chaplin rules. his gang is one of the best, if not the best of all time. even now, his movies are seen the same atention and recognition, just like no other. they are true aristocrats of arts and cuture.
I was going to point out that the music should be ragtime or something, not swing, but I guess it's already been done several times. I would like to point out that those are awfully big rocks to be chucking like snowballs. I would also like to say that that stunt where he almost gets hit by the car at 12:39 was very ballsy! That could have gone wrong easily. I would also direct your attention to the second man riding in each car; they were called "mechanics", and served several functions regarding maintenance, pushing the car when it broke down, and on a least one occasion, the mechanic crawled out on the hood of the speeding car to beat at the flames coming from the engine with a rag until the crossed the finish line. Most importantly, they served to watch the cars coming up behind the driver, because the driver had no way to see behind him without glancing over his shoulder, which was dangerous at 60mph. Eventually, one driver decided to leave the mechanic behind and rigged up a simple mirror to see what was behind him instead of relying on a second person to watch for him. He entered the Indianapolis 500 with this setup, and won the race. Thus, the rear-view mirror was born. No-one had thought of such a simple solution before (although I admit for normal driving there was little need of such a device at that time). Very quickly race cars stopped carrying a second man as they all saw the advantages of the mirror setup immediately, although in some series it was still required to carry a mechanic for some time as a rule, and even modern LeMans prototypes have to be "capable of fitting two seats", although this usually means placing the driver a foot to the side of the centerline and leaving a tiny space which could, theoretically, fit a second person.
I tried watching Sterling and he just irritates me. This was the first 2 reel film of Chaplin appearing as Sterlings replacement with Keystone. I can tell how Chaplin was kind of forced to act like Sterling. Mable and Charlie got in an argument over the directing on this film. And after he did this film, he started directing his own with Keystone.
He tried to introduce the Tramp wardrobe in this film but Mable said no. There was friction between both of them and again some believe they had an affair which is possible but unlikely as I think she was married but who knows.
+raleighman3000 The music is 1940's swing music by Jimmy Dorsey. It was not part of the original film. The original film was completely silent, and each movie theater would have its own organist or piano player who would play music to the silent movie.
Great visual restoration, but not such a good choice of music for this genre (with apologies to the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra). It should be ragtime, dixieland - Jelly Roll Morton and the Red Hot Peppers would be a good example.
Mabel Normand was spoiled by Sennett and got too big for her boots. Although just a co-star, Chaplin's charisma makes him the star. Sorry but I had to put the mute on to enjoy this properly.
+Steve Matthews I agree that Mabel doesn't pull her weight here, but I don't think Chaplin has much charisma in this film either. I like Chester Conklin the best myself.
Yes - the girl in "Modern Times" was Paulette Goddard, Chaplin's 3rd wife (out of 4). Otherwise, I'm sure he had LOT more than 30 women: probably more like 300+ women! ;-)
It would've helped if the music would've been appropriate FOR a 1914 slapstick film. At least the film quality is good; been wanting to see this at least once. Basically, Charlie (in a great Ford Sterling send-up) engages in a no-holds-barred war vs. mud-bottomed Mabel and boyfriend Harry McCoy. When McCoy's abducted before his race, Mabel "takes the wheel" and joyously wins against all odds and treachery. Chester Conklin is her father; Mack Sennett is just an annoying pest.
The race track scene was so long and boring; I didn't think it would ever end. The same images over and over again, and then the music, so repetitive-- the same bars of music played over and over in a continual loop to the same images on the screen, nonstop... it almost put me in a trance. And this movie was only 23 minutes long. It seemed so much longer.
The images weren't exactly the same; just very similar. But YES, I began to kind of hate the music. It should've been some piano rags by Scott Joplin instead. And it would've been fitting to the era!!
