Charlot et les saucisses

Another funny short film by Charlie Chaplin. In this one, he gets to fight with Mabel Normand, the lady who sells hot-dogs! Quite different since he's not really the savior that he usually plays. In this one, he actually steels the hot-dogs from Mabel before fighting with her.

Out of 100, I gave it 76. That's **½ on a *** stars rating system.

Seen at home, in Welland, on November 21th, 2001. Marko Roy.

Mabel's Busy Day is a quick story of a vendor at a sporting event and the troubles that she encounters throughout her day. Chaplin actually plays the part of a more well-to-do individual, but he is still very recognizable, with the traditional look that Chaplin always seems to have. Also, he still manages to get into plenty of the high-paced and very amusing scuffles that are almost as much of a trademark in his films as that outfit.

What really makes this film unique is that Charlie actually plays the part of the antagonist. When the server girl - the vendor who the film is about - gets picked on by hordes of people, Charlie comes to the rescue, but he ends up hitting on her and then getting turned down. Not only did he not get the girl, but he also ends up stealing all of her products (which happen to be sausages) and handing them out to all of the people who are nearby. This is totally uncharacteristic, but it does not take away from the quality of the comedy delivered by this short film. The fight sequences, although dated very badly because of sheer physical deterioration, were particularly entertaining and amusing.

In this comedy the usual strenuous work of the Keystone artists, headed by Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, almost makes the screen on which it is thrown visibly, wobble. The scenes are located in the enclosure of a race course and Mabel is peddling hot-dog sandwiches. Chaplin is a butter-in and mixes things up generally; hot dog is his favorite fruit and he bankrupts Mabel's business. An exciting auto race lends to the picture; it is worth seeing. - The Moving Picture World, June 27, 1914

The respectfully dressed but violent cad played by Chaplin would pare down in later movies with Normand to a dignified tramp capable of effective outbursts of combat although less so against Mack Swain or an inflated dummy from which he would protect Mabel. In Caught in a Cabaret he would rescue Mabel from an attacker in the ubiquitous park. Here not yet a Tramp the cad provides support with Conklin for the prima Mabel whose spinning haymakers are as wild as any at Keystone. Mabel attained the top box office attendance ever in Mickey to be exceeded by Snow White twenty years later. Here with Chaplin briefly on second fiddle is the most talented twosome Sennett had.

Whenever you have both Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin in the cast, you can be fairly sure that there will be something worthwhile in the movie. While most of the material in "Mabel's Busy Day" isn't very imaginative, the two stars give it enough energy and personality to make it worth watching.

There really isn't much to the story, which has Mabel working as a hot dog vendor at a race track, and with lesser performers it probably would have worn thin pretty quickly. There's plenty of action, but not all of it makes sense, and sometimes the pace is a little too frantic for some of the gags to come off well. But it's not bad for its era, and to fans of the old silent comedies, this kind of silly but innocuous feature always has a certain charm.