The Fireman

In 1914 and early 1915, Chaplin did his first comedy shorts. In general, they were pretty awful--with almost no plot and consisting of him mugging it up on camera and hitting people. However, in 1915 he left Keystone Studio and began making better films with Essenay (though there are some exceptions) and finally, in 1916, to Mutual where he made his best comedy shorts. These newer films had more plot and laughs and usually didn't relay on punching or kicking when they ran out of story ideas.

Compared to other Mutual comedies, this one is a bit of a let-down, as again and again it seems like Charlie and the crew really are given no direction. They just wanter about aimlessly and yell a lot and slap each other, but not a whole lot of plot until the very end. This is a pretty spectacular ending, though, as you really get to see Chaplin's athletic skills!

Monday September 10, 7:00 pm, The Paramount Theater, Seattle

Referring to Chaplin's Mutual films and The Fireman, in his book American Silent Film, William K. Everson explains, "The weakest of them, the purely slapstick entries, such as The Fireman, are still superior to the best of the Keystones and Essanays; and the best of them (The Immigrant, Easy Street, The Rink) could stand with his best work from any period." The Fireman relies entirely upon the physical brutality found in those earlier films for much of its humor. Charlie suffers the indignities of his fellow firemen and flirts with the chief's (Eric Campbell) sweetheart (Edna Purviance). She visits the station with her father who tells the chief, "Let my house burn. I'll get the insurance and you can wed my daughter." Of course, it goes wrong, there is "An honest fire," and Charlie rescues Edna from her burning house while the other firemen are occupied in truest Keystone fashion.

Charlie is a fireman in Eric Campbell's brigade. In the beginning, he oversleeps the alarm bells and therefor is kicked in the ass about a dozen times... I don't know why, but that still cracks me up.

Later on a man is bribing the foreman (with his daughter!) to let his house burn, because he can use the insurance money. But when his place is lit, his own daughter is still in the house! Leave it up to Charlie to save her.

Watch out for the scene where Charlie climbs the house to actually rescue the girl... amazing stuff.

On the whole: pretty good Chaplin classic, not among the very best, but still loads of fun. 7/10.

There's not very much to the simple short comedy "The Fireman" besides the kind of knockabout slapstick that might have been getting a little old even in 1916, but at least in Chaplin's hands it is watchable and it has some good moments. It moves quickly and gets pretty manic at times, and if there had been a little more depth or creativity, it could have been pretty good.

The setting offers many props and story possibilities. A few times these are worked into the action in creative ways, but more often, the movie relies on the same type of humor repeated over and over again. When it comes to comedy ideas such as falling down, kicking someone, and the like, Chaplin is better than almost anyone else of his era in carrying off the gag, but in this case the movie just relies on such things too heavily, instead of working in some more imaginative material.

The cast includes some Chaplin regulars, most notably Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance, who are always worth seeing. And there are the kernels of some good ideas, as well as some stretches when the slapstick is funny. So it had the makings of a very good comedy - but as it is, it's OK but below average for Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin and friends find work in a crooked fire station, where a wealthy businessman makes an arrangement with the chief to conveniently ignore a house fire so he can cash in his insurance policy. Just enough plot to introduce a smidgen of conflict and move us from one setting to the next, lest the scenery grow too static and the props outlive their usefulness.

In the first act, Charlie flops around the fire house. Sleeping through alarm bells, miraculously sliding up poles, booting his coworkers in the ass and grossing everybody out with his cooking. Standard silent movie physical humor. The second half whisks us away to the scene of the emergency, where our insurance scam has taken an undesirable turn and the fire must be put out after all. Here, the stakes mount and Chaplin closes the show with a hilarious window rescue scene involving a three-story ladder and an obvious mannequin stand-in.

Not one of the comedian's most memorable short films, but (as usual) his physical presence elevates what would have otherwise been a very simple, pointless story. A bit over-stretched, as these things go, but there are far worse ways to burn half an hour.