Early Chaplin: Programme 4

Opening with Charlie Chaplin in drag in A Busy Day, our fourth programme then sees Charlie fight over Mabel, referee a boxing match, and helping and hindering in Mabe's Busy Day. Introduced by Bryony Dixon on Sat 30 Aug.

Featuring piano accompaniment by John Sweeney on Thu 28 Aug, and Andrew Youdell on Sat 30 Aug.

Our fourth Keystone programme opens with A Busy Day and Chaplin in drag. He plays a neglected wife at a seaside parade in pursuit of husband who has been lured away by a young woman. During the festivities, the female Charlie encounters a film crew and socks the director, played by Mack Sennett himself. Mack also appears in The Fatal Mallet in which two Macks (Sennett and Swain) duke it out with Charlie over the lovely Mabel. This involves them hitting each other repeatedly with bricks and for once the 'repeat till funny' formula works.

Chaplin's next film Her Friend the Bandit is the only Keystone film not to have survived, and so we move on to The Knockout. This two-reeler is a vehicle for Arbuckle and his regulars such as Al St John. Charlie makes a brief impressive appearance as the referee in a boxing match. We conclude with the delightful Mabel trying to sell a trayful of hotdogs at the racetrack, with Charlie helping and hindering, in Mabel's Busy Day.

Running time:

c86min

Certificate:

U