Charlot est content de lui

"Kids Auto Races At Venice" (1914, Lehrman) This film marks the second film Charlie acted in and the first time we would see the famous 'tramp' character. It's six minutes of Charlie at a racing cart/box/derby race thing walking onto the racing track and in front of the cameraman. He is constantly shoved or knocked out of the picture. It's neat that the film gives us the 'camera' eye as well as a couple of other points of view. So we get to see Charlie intentionally blocking the camera and getting manhandled for it repeatedly. Charlie is like a fly that won't shoo. But, alas, six minutes of one routine is a bit much. And yet, this film is as much a part of our film history as any other 'important' picture. It's 1914 dudes!!

The Keystone period of Chaplin's work (1914) always suffers in comparison to his later films, especially the Mutuals and First Nationals. This is because he was still learning his craft, but mostly because Mack Sennett kept making the same film over and over again. While the majority of Keystones are indistinguishable from one another, this short subject, only Charlie's second, towers above the others. Here Chaplin attends an actual event in Venice (California) as a spectator pretending to be unaware that he is constantly getting in the cameraman's frame. Time has been positively affectionate to this film; appearing on camera is now a national pastime, and being a split reel it clocks in at about the same length as a Saturday Night Live skit. This film deserves your attention. It won't take long.

Tramp's first appearance and... he's a punk. Fun and meta at first, at least in the way that it's a movie about movie-making at a time when that was a fresh idea, but wears out its welcome as it's a one-note gag. There's not really any of Chaplin's great comically timed physical gags, it's just him being an a-hole getting in the way of a camera crew as they try to get footage of cars racing by. I wish there was more to it as Chaplin clearly already owns the role, but there's none of the charm or innocence yet. Guess these things would take time to alter, though unlike, say, Mickey Mouse's early appearances (comparing to iconic comic figures of the early 20th century), being an ass doesn't suit the Tramp so well, at least not to this extent (if maybe he'd just interacted with another character or built upon something that'd be one thing).

Kid Auto Races at Venice is far from Chaplin's best moment on film, but it might be his most important. In an early combination of the reality short subjects that dominated early cinema, and fictional comedy, this short piece features Chaplin as a tramp who annoys several camera crews at a car race.

As the first appearance of Chaplin's Tramp character, this film's place in movie history is secure. As a comedy, it's mildly amusing. Obviously ad libbed, it has an amateurish quality that holds up surprisingly well. It also provides a few thrills as Chaplin is nearly hit by the vehicles several times -- I doubt any of the near-misses were scripted!

There is no denying that this short film is not an example of Chaplin's best work on film, but every serious Chaplin fan, or cinema historian, needs to see it at least once.

Kid Auto Races in Venice is historical in that it marks Charlie Chaplin's first appearance as The Tramp. In this short film, The Tramp is a spectator in a soap box derby race that is being filmed. Throughout the short, Charlie keeps getting in front of the camera and getting pushed off by either the cameraman or other spectators. In addition, he almost gets knocked off by some of the kid racers! Obviously not much to mention of the plot of this six minute short but for some reason I was constantly amused by Chaplin's constant wandering in and out of the path of where the race cars were going as well as the cameraman's attempts to get him out of the way. Worth a look for film history buffs and the easily amused.