Charlot à l'hôtel

... 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.

This is a short featuring the Divine Madcap Mabel (Normand) and her newest protégé, a young British vaudeville comedian by the name of Charles Chaplin. Chaplin does an early version of his little tramp character, but he's just a supporting actor. Mabel is the star here.

Mabel is playing with her dog in her hotel room, and gets locked out in the hallway in her pajamas. Chaplin's drunken buffoon sees her, and begins to chase her around. She runs into the room across the hall occupied by an old couple. She hides under the bed, avoiding the old man. Enter the old lady, Mabel's lover, and the drunken buffoon, add plenty of mix ups, and things get hairy. The ending is classic Mabel, with everyone frantically beating the snot out of each other while she comes out on top in the end, as she always does.

She's just adorable here, only 19 years old, fresh from modeling for Charles Dana Gibson (Yes, Madcap Mabel was a Gibson Girl. Who'da thunk?) with her saucer like eyes and expressive face. Unfortunately, this is not one of her best shorts. It's a bit amusing in parts, but not laugh out loud funny. If you want to catch Mabel in all her madcap glory, check out her shorts with Fatty Arbuckle; the two of them worked together wonderfully. Or her full length movies: Tillie's Punctured Romance, Mickey, and The Extra Girl.

Walt Disney stated that his prime inspiration for creating Mickey Mouse was Chaplin's Tramp character. However, the Mickey seen in 'Plane Crazy (1928)' and 'Steamboat Willie (1928)' bears little resemblance to the gallant hopeless-romantic whom Chaplin made famous in 'The Kid (1921)' and other classic features. Instead, the early "evil" Mickey Mouse probably took a few leaves from the book of Chaplin's early "evil" tramp, who is here portrayed as a drunken scumbag who tries to take advantage of a pajama-clad Mabel Normand. 'Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914)' was, in fact, the birth of Chaplin's Little Tramp character, though 'Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)' was released two days earlier. As the title suggests, the star of the film is actually Normand, who was a leading comedienne in her day, and this was the first film in a series of collaborations for the pair.

In a hotel lobby, an intoxicated tramp sloppily flirts with Mabel, somehow deciding that yanking on her dog's tail is a surefire way of attracting the girl's attention. Mabel huffily storms off to her room, but later runs into Chaplin in the hallway, after having locked herself out of her room wearing only pajamas. What follows is an amusing farce that resembles something the Marx Brothers would have cooked up, as Mabel evades the Tramp by taking cover under the bed of another man, whose wife arrives home and comes to the natural conclusion. This isn't high-class comedy, but Chaplin is clearly the shining light of the film: he staggers drunkenly from room to room, with an exasperated sneer beneath his moustache, and every time he falls down it is actually uproariously funny. Don't ask me how he did it, but nobody (except maybe Buster Keaton) could ever take a tumble like Chaplin could.

A drunken Tramp (Charles Chaplin) causes havoc in a high class hotel lobby. Mabel and her dog cause too much noise for her neighbor who complain to the desk. Mabel gets accidentally locked out of her room in her sleepwear. To her embarrassment, the drunken Tramp tries to help.

This is the first time Chaplin constructed and played the Tramp. It's a work in progress and it's definitely not the Tramp that we're all familiar with. He's drunk and looks a bit ugly. The story doesn't make sense. A guy like that would either be kicked out or forced to sleep it off in his own room. It's interesting to see his first attempt. He shows off his physical humor. It's cinematic history. It's also not that good but one can see the goodness within it.

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.