The Cure

Charlie goes to a spa with a suitcase full of liquor, as he's obviously an alcoholic. Other guests are Eric Campbell, who has apparently broken his foot (you know what is stepped on numerous times in this film) and Edna, who takes the liking of both men.

Funny scenes include several with a revolving door, in particular at the end, when Campbell takes a dive from his wheelchair into a small pool with special water... how did they manage to do that!

The ending is pretty good as well, as 'The Girl' is Charlies cure for alcoholism. In short, nice little Chaplin (in which he isn't The Tramp for a change) flick, which I'll give 7/10.

In "The Cure", one of those 12 marvelous shorts he made during his time at Mutual Films, Charlie Chaplin turns away for once again from his 'little tramp' image that had already become his 'trademark', and returns to a role he'd played LOTS of times back in England in his theater days: that of the wealthy drunkard. And of course, not only his great experience in this field, but also all the HILARIOUSLY funny ideas he fits into those two reels of sheer, GREAT comedy, provides today's audience with JUST the same amount of laughter as it did 100 years ago - Chaplin's films NEVER 'age'...

So our tipsy 'gentleman' arrives at the sanitarium, where he's supposed to get used to drinking water instead of whiskey; he makes us ROAR with laughter with the unbelievable things he does with the revolving entrance door, he flirts with Edna Purviance, just like huge Eric Campbell does (and for a short while, Charlie actually thinks it's HIM who's Campbell's love interest!), turns the massage by Henry Bergman into a wrestling match... While at the same time, the porter starts emptying the liquor bottles Charlie's brought along with him just in case - but that's not all: he throws the remainders of the bottles out of the window right into the sanitarium's water well...

In short: "The Cure" is certainly one of the VERY best silent comedy shorts; and so it's not only a REAL treat for Chaplin fans, but also an IDEAL way for today's audiences, both grown-ups and kids, to discover the magic world of silent movies!

Charlie, an alcoholic, goes to a health spa for the water cure. He does so, however, only half-heartedly since his luggage is filled almost entirely with alcohol. Once at the spa, he flirts with the always-delightful Edna Purviance and battles with always-menacing Eric Campbell, who finds himself at slight disadvantage in this film since his character suffers from gout. This film, Chaplin's tenth under his twelve-film Mutual contract, doesn't quite scale the heights of his previous one, "Easy Street," but remains one of his most consistently funny shorts. A revolving door is used repeatedly for great comic effect, but the highlight of the film is the massage sequence where Charlie desperately tries to avoid the rough treatment masseur Henry Bergman deals out. Charlie interestingly abandons his normal tramp persona for this film. Although he felt rich drinkers were ripe targets for comedy, he felt that alcoholism in the working class was a serious problem which wasn't suitable for comedy. (Don't ask me for attribution, but I know he said that somewhere.)

"The Cure" has Chaplin arriving tipsy to a health clinic to supposedly dry out, but he shows up with a trunk full of booze. This film has some memorable scenes but the premise of it is very funny. There are plenty of run-ins with Eric Campbell's character with the foot cast. Campbell is also Chaplin's rival for the girl as well, although, poor girl, has to(?) choose between an ogre and a recovering alcoholic who is failing miserably at the recovering part.

Outside of the hotel is some sort of little fountain or well that has a stone terrace around it and stone benches. Mostly women it seems sit around the 'ol water cure hole and drink. At some point in the movie, a dude that Charlie had been rough with earlier comes back. The man goes into Chaplin's hotel room and throws every last bottle of booze (that is the ones that the crazy long-bearded old bellhop didn't drink) directly into the water hole below. So much for health clinic security! Before long, the entire hotel is trashed.

There's a good sequence when Chaplin goes into the spa for a massage with a large guy who looks like he's practicing wrestling moves on people. "The Cure" seems to lack a number of good sequences but makes up for it a bit with the overall funny factor. It still doesn't appear to be his best of the Mutual period (this was the 10th film for Mutual, 45th time directing and 67th overall)

This is one of the more dated of Chaplin's short comedies, but it still has some funny parts. A great deal of the humor comes from elements that either do not seem quite as funny today (habitual drunkenness) or that are not as familiar today (gout, "taking the cure"), but there are other parts that demonstrate Chaplin's usual comic genius. Charlie is a rich idler who is at a spa to "take the cure", but he is most reluctant to give up his dissolute ways. The best moments are probably the scenes with a wobbly Charlie and a gouty Eric Campbell trying to negotiate a revolving door - they get a lot of laughs out of a simple gag.

While dated, there are still enough very funny parts to make "The Cure" worth a look.