Charlot à l'hôtel

Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914)

** (out of 4)

A woman (Mabel Normand) is walking her dog through a hotel lobby when a Tramp (Charles Chaplin) takes notice and begins to follow her around. The woman escapes to her room to get into her pajamas but soon she finds herself locked out with the Tramp following her some more. This is an interesting short as we see Mabel at the height of her popularity just as an unknown Chaplin is starting to weave what would become the best known character in film history. Sadly the film isn't that good but there are a few nice scenes to be had. I found the opening sequence in the hotel lobby to be pretty funny in large part to Mabel's reactions to the Tramp. The middle sequence with Mabel running around in her pajamas aren't as funny as they should have been and this is where the movie wonders off. Chaplin doesn't quite have his Tramp character working here but it is a starting point.

Mabel's Strange Predicament is the second film in which Charlie Chaplin dresses in costume as The Little Tramp (the first being Kid Auto Races in Venice). In here, he's just a drunk who's infatuated with the title character played by Ms. Normand. She's a lady who has a dog that she takes with her to the hotel room where, after dressing in her pajamas, gets locked out of with dog still inside. After Charlie chases her upstairs, she goes to another room where an elderly man lives and hides under his bed. Also mixed up in this are her suitor and the elderly man's wife. Most of the highlights are from Mabel's under-bed hiding and the slapstick that ensues when she's found out as well as some of Chaplin's falls from either being hit or just simply staggering. Should be amusing enough for fans of early silent comedy and the two stars especially very curious Chaplin enthusiasts.

... and that's illustrated here in this first short that was filmed with Chaplin versus the first short released which was "Kid Auto Races at Venice".

Here, Chaplin's Tramp is not some basically good-hearted character with an endearing amount of mischief, which is who the Tramp evolved into. Instead he is publicly drunk and harassing women he finds attractive as he loiters in the lobby of what appears to be an upscale hotel.

Separately, Mabel Normand is a guest at the hotel, awaiting the arrival of her sweetheart. Once in her room, she changes into her pajamas and begins to play with her dog. When the ball she is using to play with her dog bounces into the hall, she goes to retrieve it, but her hotel room door shuts behind her. The Tramp, who has wandered into this part of the hotel, sees Mabel in this state of undress and decides to take chase. Complications ensue.

You can see why audiences responded immediately to Chaplin. In these first film appearances he is, as Walter Kerr perfectly stated, "elbowing his way into immortality." With inebriation he can dictate a deliberate, slower tempo while retaining his dignity and show off his brilliant mime, while still getting laughs. His performance easily steals the show from Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, and the rest.

The real truth about the time line of Chaplin's tramp costume is as this. The first scene he "filmed" in the TRAMP costume was the hotel lobby scene from the film "Mabel's Strange Predicament". After this film completed shooting, Chaplin filmed Kid Auto Races In Venice. This film was easy to edit in comparison to Mabel's Strange Predicament and because of this, Kid Auto Races was released first. This is why people think the first time Chaplin wore the tramp costume was Kid Auto Races. It may be the first time Chaplin was seen by the public this way, but the first time he donned the costume in front of a camera was definitely, without a doubt, "Mabel's STrange Predicament". Making this film very important indeed!

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors.

He did do better in acting than 'Mabel's Strange Predicament', which is not also one of his and Mabel's better collaborations. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'Mabel's Strange Predicament' is a long way from a career high, but does have historical significance for obvious reasons.

'Mabel's Strange Predicament' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and a good deal of other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy and the production values not as audacious. The comedy, though more frequent and knockabout, is amusing really at best and not enough to be hilarious.

For someone who was new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'Mabel's Strange Predicament' is not bad at all.

While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on, though his style and Tramp character was still evolving and not properly found or settled yet (the promise is big though), and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick. Mabel's acting and directing contribution is more than competent and she holds her own.

Although the humour, charm and emotion was done better and became more refined later, 'Mabel's Strange Predicament' does have moments where it is very humorous, sweet and easy to like, though the emotion is not quite there. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.

In conclusion, interesting and worthwhile but not one that makes one leap out of their chair. 6/10 Bethany Cox