Category: 1914

His Trysting Place (1914, Charles Chaplin)

The best thing about His Trysting Place is probably Frank D. Williams’s photography. Chaplin’s athletics are impressive, but he doesn’t have much use for them. They’re most exciting during his food fight with Mack Swain. The food fight itself isn’t particularly funny–until the end–but Chaplin looks like he’s flying at times.

Trysting is about two dumb husbands–Chaplin and Swain–who cross paths to bad effect. Chaplin’s married to Mabel Normand and he’s obtuse. He can’t get his relaxing done at home, what with Normand caring for their baby. Swain’s just a buffoon, even a lovable one.

They mix up their coats after the food fight and Chaplin goes home with a note from Swain’s maid to her lover. Normand finds it… antics ensue.

Trysting is lengthy at twenty minutes. Normand’s not particularly good; her performances hurts the film.

But it’s genial and Williams’s photography makes it beautiful.

2/3Recommended

CREDITS

Written, edited and directed by Charles Chaplin; director of photography, Frank D. Williams; produced by Mack Sennett; released by Mutual Film.

Starring Charles Chaplin (Clarence, the Husband), Mabel Normand (Mabel, The Wife), Mack Swain (Ambrose) and Phyllis Allen (Ambrose’s Wife).

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Hearts and Diamonds (1914, George D. Baker)

Hearts and Diamonds involves a lovable fat man (John Bunny) out to marry a rich woman. Eventually it becomes all about baseball, which makes very little sense. It turns out the woman, played by Flora Finch, loves baseball so Bunny ends up holding a game to impress her.

Until the game, which drags on and on, Hearts is mildly amusing. Bunny’s a bit of a jerk; he kicks his daughters out to pose as a bachelor, he assaults his brother who mocks him for pursuing a wealthy spinster. He’s funny.

But the game is a complete drag. Baker’s direction of it is so limp, it’s hard to tell who’s on which team. The clearest sign is when Finch cheers, it’s for Bunny’s team. Except the rest of the spectators cheer regardless.

The contrived finale brings in an escaped lunatic.

Hearts could be worse, but it has nothing going for it.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by George D. Baker; written by Eugene Mullin; released by General Film Company.

Starring John Bunny (Widower Tupper), Flora Finch (Miss Rachel Whipple), Ethel Lloyd (Tupper’s Daughter), Ethel Corcoran (Tupper’s Daughter), Charles Eldridge (Toper Staggs), William Shea (Uncle William), Kalman Matus (Jack), Arthur Cozine (Harry) and Lennie Smith (Misty Catheson).

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His Prehistoric Past (1914, Charles Chaplin)

Chaplin opens His Prehistoric Past setting it up as a dream sequence, which lets the viewer know the outcome can’t be too dramatic. But the setup is immediate–Chaplin falls asleep on a park bench–so the more relatable elements in the dream don’t have much substance.

In the dream (the majority of Past), Chaplin is a macho man, who beats up all cavemen and wows all the cavewomen. But there’s no establishing the character as wanting to beat all the men and wow all the women… though I suppose the latter is implied.

The short drags quite a bit after the initial fight scene, as Chaplin pals around with the king (Mack Swain) and make goo goo eyes at the king’s favorite concubine (Gene Marsh). Marsh’s performance suggests Past has subtle depth–at times she’s frightened of Chaplin’s affections.

The production values are strong, but otherwise, it’s mostly undistinguished.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Written, edited and directed by Charles Chaplin; director of photography, Frank D. Williams; produced by Mack Sennett; released by Mutual Film.

Starring Charles Chaplin (Weakchin), Mack Swain (King Lowbrow), Gene Marsh (Sum-Babee), Fritz Schade (Ku-Ku), Cecile Arnold (Cavewoman) and Al St. John (Caveman).

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The Miracle Water (1914, Eleuterio Rodolfi)

The Miracle Water is so exceptionally confusing–and it’s only ten minutes–I wonder if something had been lost or if the theaters handed out a plot summary.

In fact, it’s so confounding, I read some descriptions online and they characterize the film as family friendly fare. A husband wants children, ships the wife off to the titular miracle waters and gets babies a year later.

Only these descriptions ignore the wife and her doctor lusting for each other, something seemingly consummated at the miracle water place.

The confusion stems from director (and star) Rodolfi not doing establishing close-ups. Instead, he relies on the title cards to announce people. His patient, played by Gigetta Morano, doesn’t get a close-up until the end.

Rodolfi either intentionally confuses or it’s missing footage.

Besides a cool shot of a cross section of an apartment building, there’s nothing to recommend the short.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by Eleuterio Rodolfi; written by Arrigo Frusta; released by Società Anonima Ambrosio.

Starring Eleuterio Rodolfi and Gigetta Morano.

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Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914, Henry Lehrman)

Okay, Kid Auto Races at Venice makes a little more sense now… it was ad-libbed. Charlie Chaplin really was just doing annoying gags in front of people who are watching a baby-cart race.

Most the film consists of Chaplin acting like a jerk. He’s funny and appealing enough, but the short’s particular because of its handling of the camera. Initially, with Chaplin mugging for the camera, it appears he’s breaking the fourth wall. It then becomes clear he’s acting out in front of a camera.

Kid Auto Races director Lehrman plays the suffering director in Kid Auto Races, adding another layer to the whole thing.

It’s amazing Chaplin and Lehrman are able to keep it fresh, since it’s really just Lehrman eventually getting fed up and dragging Chaplin out of the shot.

The short also raises the historical question–did jerks often interfere with silent era newsreel photographers?

2/3Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by Henry Lehrman; written by Lehrman and Charles Chaplin; produced by Mack Sennett; released by Mutual Film.

Starring Charles Chaplin (Tramp) and Henry Lehrman (Film Director).

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Max Sets the Style (1914, Max Linder)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a silent comedic actor ever mug for the camera quite as much as Max Linder. In Max Sets the Style, he’s a bumbling (we assume… it’s never clear) fellow on his way to a party. It might be a wedding, but it seems more like a party. It’s unclear.

After setting his shoes on fire, he buys a pair off a bum. He then has to convince his girlfriend’s brother (or father; it’s not clear) his oversized shoes are the new style.

So it’s a nine minute short with something like fifteen events. Maybe twenty. It’s amazing how Linder paces Style, but it doesn’t work.

And his performance is uneven at best. He mugs when he’s not even in close-up, as if he forgot who he told the cameraman to film.

It’s not bad (it’s only nine minutes), but it fails to impress.

1/3Not Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by Max Linder; released by Pathé Frères.

Starring Max Linder.

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The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914, J. Farrell MacDonald)

I was going to say it was odd Frank Baum wrote the screenplay, but I guess he wrote a bunch of them back in the teens. The Magic Cloak of Oz is a silly little film–I’m assuming the target audience was children–and a lot of fun. Baum has a good time with the title cards (the villains are motivated by an irrational desire for soup), but director MacDonald shows a lot of creativity as well, particularly in the first act. The rest of the film is populated with silly characters (in sillier costumes), but the first act contains the most scenes shot inside, which gives MacDonald a real chance to create the Oz setting and he succeeds well enough.

The main action of the film is a bunch of grown men dressed up as animals (these animals, ranging from crow to elephant, are all the same size) either fighting each other or men not dressed up as animals. The battle scenes are funny–the mule’s a lot of fun–and some of the costumes are fantastic.

The secondary action involves a couple kids becoming the King and Princess of a land of Oz through absurd means. There’s some funny scenes, but for the most part, they’re all filler. The meat of their story is the villainous (well, mildly villainous…) Queen from another land, who turns out to be incredibly helpful in the end.

Imaginative filmmaking–a few of the composites are better than ones I’ve seen in big budget films today–helps a lot too….

I’m not sure it’s a wonderful world of Oz (the location shooting of a village at the end hurts), but it’s a fine one.

2/3Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by J. Farrell MacDonald; written by L. Frank Baum, based on his novel; director of photography, James A. Crosby; produced by Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk; released by Paramount Pictures.

Starring Mildred Harris (Fluff), Violet MacMillan (Bud), Fred Woodward (Nickodemus), Vivian Reed (Quavo) and Juanita Hansen (Queen Zixi of Ix).

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