Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films - Vol. 2 [1916]

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Customer reviews

review by: Chicken Hat Theater Improv date: 2004-10-04 rating:
Four two-reelers from Chaplin's happiest days at Mutual
Volume 2 of "The Chaplin Mutuals" presents four restored masterpieces Charlie Chaplin made in 1916 for the Mutual Studio. In 2003 these films were shown as part of a Chaplin Tribute at the 20th Annual Olympia Film Festival. Mutual built Chaplin his own studio and the most famous movie star on the face of the planet enjoyed a creative twelve-month period, which he often called one of the most inventive, liberating, and happiest of his fabled career. At this point Chaplin was not only directing his films but had total control over cast and script as well. From the slapstick comedy of "Behind the Screen" to the evocative tale of "The Immigrant," these Mutual two-reelers were all restored and mastered restored by renown film restoration expert David Shepherd from the best available prints composer while Michael Mortilla has revised, re-orchestrated, and re-recorded the musical score for the Mutual shorts in digital stereo (for those of us who had to first be exposed to these classic silent comedies where music was slapped onto the films with no regard for how it matched up with what was happening on screen the new music is most welcome).

Include in Volume 2 are four comedies from this period: "The Fireman" (released June 12, 1916) was the second comedy Chaplin did for Mutual. Charlie is a member of a fire brigade in a small town where the foreman (Eric Campbell, a huge man with a barrel chest and crazy eyebrows) is plotting with the rich father (Lloyd Bacon) of a pretty girl (Edna Purviance, his loveliest leading lady) to burn the house and split the insurance money. Although Charlie has no idea of the scheme, he ends up rescuing Edna from the burning building. Like a Keystone Cops comedy "The Fireman" is pretty much pure slapstick. Chaplin actually burned down a couple of buildings and used a real fire station as a set, all to great effect.

His third two-reeler for Mutual, "The Vagabond" (released July 10, 1916), is often pointed to as one of Chaplin's first real masterpieces, representing the blend of comedy and pathos that would define his greatest work in films (e.g, "The Kid," "City Lights"). The tramp is a traveling violinist who is competing with an artist (Lloyd Bacon) for the hand of the lovely Edna Purviance, a young girl who has been stolen by Gypsies. This means there is also a Gypsy Chieftain (Eric Campbell) for Charlie to contend with as well. The way Chaplin mixes the despair of his character over being rejected as a lover with the comedy of accidentally sitting on a stove captures the essence of his genius as a filmmaker.

"The Count" (released September 4, 1916) was Chaplin's fifth film for Mutual. The Tramp starts off as the inept apprentice to a tailor (Eric Campbell) who is fired from his job and ends up impersonating a Count at a fancy party help by Mrs. Moneybags (Charlotte Mineau) at her mansion. This time Edna is Miss Moneybags and the big comedy scene is Chaplin on a slippery dance floor (you might have seen the bit where he hooks the chandelier with his cane), all before the real count shows up and the comedy ends with a chase sequence. Again, Chaplin created ambitious sets for his comedy and even hires an entire orchestra for the dance sequence (so much for the cheap sets of his earlier days).

His seventh Mutual comedy, "Behind the Screen" (released November 13, 1916) is noteworthy because it provides a look behind the scenes at a Hollywood movie studio of this period. Chaplin is the overworked assistant to a prop man named Goliath (Eric Campbell), and actually has a name in this film: David. Of course he falls for Edna, a country girl, whom he dresses up as a boy so she can get a job working as a stagehand. There is a scene where the two are caught kissing by the prop man and we get an idea of how gays were perceived in 1916. If you have been looking for a Chaplin comedy with a pie fight then realize that "Behind the Screen" is the only time it happens. This one takes a rather unusual twist in that the stagehands are planning a strike and end up trying to bomb the studio.

Each of these two-reelers runs approximately 25 minutes. The twelve shorts Chaplin did for Mutual are collected on four volumes and clearly represent the best of his short comedies. You can basically taken any of these dozen two-reelers and compare them to what he was doing previously for Essanay to prove the point. The contract ($10,000 a week for one year plus a $150,000 signing bonus) was for twelve months but Chaplin actually took eighteen to complete his work. This was because it was at Mutual that he first started to rehearse and re-shoot scenes until they meet his exacting standards. From here Chaplin would move on to feature length silent films, taking years to finish each one but creating some of the masterpieces of American film comedy in the process. But the Mutual shorts are where he refined both his working style and his immortal character of the Tramp.

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Similar categories

Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Classics . Comedy
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Comedy . All Comedy
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . VHS
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . U
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1939 and earlier
Video . Video . Categories . Classic Films . Comedy . Pre 1920s
Video . Video . Categories . Comedy . General
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