Charlie Chaplin’s penultimate film for Essanay is regarded
as amongst the best of his output for the company. The film was actually
released after his first film for the Mutual Film Corporation The Floorwalker, over five months after
his previous Essanay film Burlesque on Carmen. Another interesting release related fact is that Police released over two years before
his finally Essanay film Triple Trouble which
was created in part by Chaplin regular Leo White by piecing together unused
shots from other Chaplin films including this and the unfinished feature Life.
Police stars
Chaplin as a recently released convict trying to make it in a cruel and hostile
world. The initial plot follows along the same lines as much of Chaplin’s work.
There were portions of Police that
reminded me of Modern Times and the
idea of the Tramp struggling to survive was used by Chaplin time and time
again. It has been suggested that Chaplin borrowed the plot from Broncho
Billy’s His Regeneration for which he
had an uncredited cameo and I agree that the character development at least is
shared between the two.
