Overrated

Absolutely Fantastic

A lot of fun.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

An amusing tour of the flophouses and the seedier side of Los Angeles, circa 1916, when you could REALLY be poor through no weakness of your own.Charlie has just been let out of prison and tries to make his way through this Dickensian milieu without a cent. But he's spirited, enlivened by the challenge, not depressed.A bit of theft here and there, a sad tale for the flophouse owner. When he impudently uses his cane to pull the feet out from under a police officer, the cop does a forward somersault in mid-air. There are pratfalls and then there are pratfalls.The plot doesn't matter much. It rarely does in his earlier short. He is recruited by another criminal to help burglarize a house. They enter it and begin crashing into tables full of silverware, sitting on pianos, setting off alarm clocks and so on.Charlie saves the pretty mistress of the house from harm by his partner and in return she gets him off when the police arrive.

Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in this film, his last for Essanay. The company reedited the film after Chaplin left, and it took months more to release as a result. Chaplin is a man released from prison who is immediately swindled by a sidewalk preacher. He meets up with his old cell-mate who is trying to rob him on the sidewalk, and they decide to break into a mansion where Edna Purviance lives with her old, sick mother. Once inside, there are some good sight gags, as the two crooks are discovered by Edna. She'll allow them to take some things and leave as long as they don't disturb her mother upstairs. This doesn't sit well with Chaplin's partner in crime, and Chaplin finds himself defending Edna. The police arrive in time, and Chaplin is set straight by Edna and the lie she tells the police. Chaplin's comedy is more subtle in this film, but there are still some fine brief bits of slapstick. Chaplin was quickly realizing his films were more poignant and successful when the plots were more sophisticated and the slapstick was more restrained. Wesley Ruggles and Snub Pollard have supporting roles in this one. **1/2 of 4 stars.

One of my favorite things about watching these old short comedies that Chaplin was making before he really understood what his own message was is to watch the development not only of his style and on screen talent but also the development of his understanding of his audience. The tramp is the cinema's most famous everyman, and as far as I know this is his most criminal outing yet. The movie opens with him being released from jail and immediately two things happen: first he is swindled by someone claiming to be trying to get him on the right path, and second, he stumbles across a drunk with a nice gold watch hanging from his vest, begging to be stolen. He fumbles with it a bit, but never once indicates that the thought of stealing it ever enters his mind, even though he could easily get away with it.But before you go thinking that the tramp was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was convicted of whatever crime he was just released from prison for, he immediately becomes involved in a plot to rob a wealthy mansion in cahoots with none other than his old cell-mate. Apparently he didn't learn his lesson so well!Luckily, the tramp lives in a world where mansions are populated by his old pal Edna Purviance who, when bothered by the robbers intrusion, calls the police, who are so indifferent to the emergency call that they hang out at the police station chatting and sipping drinks before responding. In true Chaplin form, the tramp manages to win Edna's sympathy, and when the police finally arrive (in true Chief Wiggam form, as it were), he convinces them that he is her husband, and the tramp cheerfully enjoys a quick smoke with the three officers, tapping ashes into one of their hands on the way out, just as the one officer who knows what's going on arrives and throws himself against the door. The tramp has already slammed the door shut by this point, so he casually drop kicks his cigar as only Chaplin can and relishes in the fact that he has won. The unpleasantness that is sure to follow is unimportant, because soon Charlie falls in love and learns that there are more important things in life than robbing people. This is also one of the earliest films where Chaplin so clearly illustrates his almost Robin Hood-like contempt for the police's oppression of the people. Great stuff!

Chaplin is released from prison and immediately everyone wants to help him go straight. He runs into his old cell-mate and together they break into a house. Edna Purviance lives in that house and she even helps the guys, but only when they are quiet since her mother is very ill.This Chaplin two reeler is boring in the beginning but once they enter the house it gets pretty entertaining. It is definitely not his best though.