The Masquerader

'The Masquerader' is uneven and coarse. The humor is blunt, consisting mostly of kicks and fallings. Still, there are some clever moments - the scene in the dressing room with Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (who, in this case, outshines Chaplin). The plot might be a little bit difficult to follow, but here's my take - Charles Chaplin plays an actor (possibly himself) who gets hired in the movies. He dresses up as his most famous character, The Tramp. On the set, he misses his cues, flirts with women, and organizes some proper shenanigans which end in him getting fired and kicked out of the studio. The actor (Chaplin) returns, now dressed as a woman (a very beautiful woman). He (now she) attracts the attention of the director right away, and again, he starts another round of mischief.

The film is uneven and thinly plotted, but still, it is an interesting movie, mostly because it offers us a brief glance at the behind the scenes of that era's movie-making. Did I mention how convincingly feminine Chaplin looks in drag?

A little hard to follow at times. Feels like Chaplin aimed too high in some scenes, which ends up looking too chaotic with the limitations of the movie industry a century ago.

Nonetheless a nice little show. A bit more polished than Laughing Gas and probably above the average Keystone production.

I am not really sure whether I liked this Charlie Chaplin short or not. Compared to his more famous shorts from 1915 to 1918 this is not that good but since it is Chaplin I found myself smiling almost constantly.

Here he plays an actor who messes up several takes. He is fired but returns dressed up as a woman. He kind of seduces the movie's director who likes the woman.

The problem with this short is that the only real joke here is Chaplin dressed up as a woman. Of course that is fun to see, but we don't see the real Chaplin and I guess that it makes this Chaplin short a little disappointing.

I've seen quite a few Chaplin shorts from early in his career and I've noticed that his early stuff (done for Keystone Studios) is pretty dreadful stuff. Unlike his wonderful full-length films from the 20s and 30s, the films from 1914-1915 are incredibly poorly made--having no script but only vague instructions from the director. In most cases, the films had almost no plot and degenerated to people punching and kicking each other.

This movie has a very thin plot. Charlie is either working at a movie set or he sneaks in--it's not sure which. And, he makes a mess of everything until he's thrown out,...only to return in drag! The director thinks Charlie's a hot tamale and begins making passes at him/her! Actually, I was shocked just how GOOD Chaplin looked as a girl! He probably could have passed as a woman in public.

FYI--this is the second film in which Chaplin appeared in drag. It also features Fatty Arbuckle in a cameo playing, I think, himself.

Cute meta Chaplin short in which he creates havoc on a movie set after first trying to swipe Roscoe Arbuckle's drink in the dressing room while changing into his Little Tramp costume. It's the usual Keystone formula of kicks and bricks, but enhanced immeasurably by Chaplin's physical dexterity and flawless sense of comic timing.