Good movie but grossly overrated

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"The Count" is another Charlie Chaplin 20-minute short film. It was made in 1916, almost 100 years ago or maybe over 100 years already when you read this review. It was silent and black-and-white obviously and is considered one of the films Chaplin made during his strongest years before his full feature film career. Sadly, I cannot agree in this very particular case. I found this one of his more forgettable films. Purviance and Campbell are welcome additions as always, but I am not too big on Chaplin films that are basically nothing but a collection of slapstick and other comedic elements. It would have been nice to actually see a better storyline in this one here. Not recommended and I suggest you check out some of his superior short films. There are enough that fit this description.

In this short, subtitled "The Phoney (sic) Nobleman" on-screen, Charlie Chaplin plays a tailor's apprentice fired for mis-measuring a woman's waist, since he had his measuring tape circling BOTH the customer's bottom AND the mannequin's middle at the same time. The tailor's apprentice makes the notation "Waste--five feet," which apparently is not accurate enough to meet his employer's standards. Which is an analogous situation to the accuracy displayed by IMDb, versus Wikipedia's standards. While Wikipedia requires a source footnote for every claimed "fact," IMDb frequently runs with unattributed MISinformation. Take the running time of this short as an example. IMDb baldly claims it is "34 minutes." My DVD time counter states otherwise: 20 minutes, 32 seconds. Hence, IMDb is claiming--seemingly with no authority--that my DVD was missing 37.5 per cent of this film. However, I studied the 12 user reviews about THE COUNT previously submitted to IMDb during the past 10 years, and EVERY SECOND described in ALL of them were contained in the 20:32 on my DVD. Logically, this means there is either 12-minutes of secret self-contained prologue and\or epilogue material contained in some arcane description of the original no one at IMDb sees fit to share with us ordinary users, OR the folks who run this site just plug in any old "technical specifications" with no effort to check for accuracy. (As an underemployed fact checker, I not only would be happy to help out with this possible need--hopefully on on full-time, paid basis, but I know of several other people that are qualified and able to pitch in during this time of need.)

Chaplin edited, wrote, directed, and produced his fifth film for the Mutual Film Corporation, and as with each of his previous films with the company, they're all a departure from the preceding film. In this film, Chaplin plays a tailor's assistant who gets fired from his job (by Eric Campbell) for his inability to properly measure a lady for a dress. He gets booted out by Campbell and happens upon a cook in a kitchen who almost immediately has to hide him from what appears to be her spouse or employer. Plenty of fun ensues as Chaplin does not care to be holed up in close quarters with a smelly or burned offering from the cook. Chaplin runs into his old boss in a glitzy mansion, as his boss is there to impersonate a count, so he can wed Miss Moneybags (played by Edna Purviance) and avoid toiling away as a tailor. His ex-boss quickly decides Chaplin can pose as his secretary, so he can continue his pursuit of Purviance as the "count". From here on in, chaos ensues. Chaplin ends up competing with his ex-boss for Purviance's hand, namely on the dance floor where Chaplin exhibits the most anatomically unfeasible dance moves one could imagine. There's plenty of fun at the dinner table also as spaghetti and watermelon are both served! Audiences loved when the common man got the better of the upper-crust, and so it's no wonder Chaplin used this idea of posing as or being mistaken for upper class society with regularity. However, in this film, the antics and plot development are much more harried than usual. *** of 4 stars.

Monday Septembeer 17, 7:00pm, The Paramount TheaterAn enormous tailor (Eric Campbell) impersonates Count Broko in order to attend the party of beautiful heiress, Miss Moneybags (Edna Purviance). He discharges his assistant (Charles Chaplin) for incompetence, then discovers him at the party. The tailor pleads with his former employee to pose as his secretary, but Charlie rushes instead to announce he is the Count, and a competition for Miss Moneybag's attention ensues. When the real Count (Leo White) arrives, the tailor is arrested, while Charlie waddles down the sidewalk and into the distance. In The Count, Chaplin revisits the theme of the role playing impostor intruding on the upper classes as he satirizes established social conventions. He invents bizarre dining etiquette as he shares a meal while seated between the tailor and the composed but concerned heiress, then vies with another guest (Albert Austin) for her attention on the impossibly slippery floor, in an outrageous dancing finale.