This film made me laugh, a lot, but overall it was messy –
much like the on screen action. I didn’t really get any sense of who any of the
characters were and to be honest apart from inhabiting the house at the centre
of the story, Billy Armstrong and Marta Golden’s characters weren’t really
necessary. They and Leo White were only really used during the films frenetic
ending which is somewhere between a chase and a farce. That being said, there
is still much to like about this Chaplin Essanay effort.
I liked the clever camera angle that Chaplin used to give
the sense that he was pulling his bosses cart up a steep hill. It looked pretty
good and added a bit of humour to a scene which was stagnating a bit. The cart
pulling scene contained some good moments but dragged on too long for my
liking. Chaplin wiping sweat from his forehead then ringing out an obviously
pre soaked handkerchief was a highlight. When the action turns to the house
there are many great moments. As you can imagine, Chaplin plus wallpaper paste
creates some hilarious business. The film on the whole made me snigger in
several places rather than laugh throughout and as I said previously the plot
felt somewhat forgotten and was confusing. A confusing plot isn’t something you
want from a film that is under thirty minutes in length.
The romantic plot also took a bit of a back seat here and
didn’t really come to the fore until close to the end. Chaplin and Edna Purviance’s
Maid had a couple of cute scenes though. Overall this short is much more
slapstick driven than plot driven and while funny in part, is slightly disappointing.
5/10
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