The Rink

A raucous day's work for Charlie Chaplin, who waits tables (poorly) when he isn't absconding to the neighboring roller rink to generate chaos and steal kisses. These two-reel comedies aren't long enough to get much deeper than that, but there's no glaring need to. The spotlight is always, rightfully, on Chaplin's well-orchestrated bits of frenetic energy and fluid pandemonium, a hectic machine-gunning of highly polished comic routines that can adapt to fit the frequent changes of scenery.

In the restaurant, Chaplin bounds wildly between kitchen and dining room, spreading ruin in his wake but always, somehow, skipping out on the punishment. He's more assertive in the rink, sabotaging a rival in pursuit of a pretty girl while showing off his premier skill on a pair of skates. That particular aspect is the short's most striking attribute, a brilliant display of mastery that's just as remarkable in a 1916 film as it would be, twenty years later, in Modern Times.

The Rink may be slapstick through and through - lots of accelerated head-over-heel spills and broken plates - but it's efficient, crafty, and takes great care not to repeat itself. Silly and shallow, perhaps, but also highly entertaining.

There isn't a lot of subtlety to "The Rink", but it does have some entertaining slapstick and some traces of some of Chaplin's favorite themes. The first part in the restaurant has both good moments and routine stretches, and then things liven up when everyone gets their skates on - the action combines tangled relationships with tangled limbs. Although he has his character take a good assortment of slips and falls, in so doing Chaplin also demonstrates his physical skill, and his performance anticipates his more famous roller skating scene in "Modern Times". It's probably not among his best short features, but all the same it's one that Chaplin fans will want to see.

The Rink (1916)

*** (out of 4)

Charles Chaplin plays a waiter who when he isn't causing destruction he passes time as a great skater. Everything leads up to him being invited to a party where he runs into a man that he had an issue with earlier.

THE RINK is a pretty darn good film from Chaplin who certainly gets to show off a lot of talent here. I think most people probably remember this film today because certain elements of it ended up being used in MODERN TIMES including some of the cafe gags as well as the skating. Speaking of the skating, man what a talent Chaplin was on the skates! His skating here is certainly the highlight of the picture and especially when you see how graceful he was on them. There are some nice laughs that happen inside the cafe as well.

Charlie plays a waiter with a penchant for roller skating in this very funny short. There isn't much of a plot in this film, but it generates a great many laughs nonetheless. The scenes featuring Charlie as a waiter are amusing enough, particularly as he mixes a drink, but Chaplin really shines in the skating scenes. Although he was always an agile and physical comedian, few of films display his skills as fully as "The Rink." He was so good on skates that one regrets he didn't put them on more often - though he did to great effect in "Modern Times."

The Rink, one of Chaplin's most charming early short comedies, starts out with the little tramp working as a waiter, and there is a hilarious short scene where a customer calls him over for his check, and Charlie comes over and writes up the bill based on the food that the guy has spilled all over himself. It seems to me that this was the film that inspired parts of Modern Times, especially the skating and the kitchen scenes. There are some wonderful uses of the IN and OUT doors leading to the kitchen, which do not seem repetitive even after I've seen Modern Times five or six times.

One of the most charming scenes in the whole movie is a short piece where Charlie goes behind the bar to mix someone a drink (shaken, not stirred…). It's one of the famous scenes from Chaplin's early career. When Charlie gets off work, he changes back into his famous outfit and heads out to the bus stop. While he is sitting on the bench next to a woman, he pulls off some truly vintage Chaplin behavior that is so spontaneous and so well acted that it makes me think of Chaplin just goofing off in real life. This is what I imagine he was really like a lot of the time.

With The Rink, it is easy to see that longer, and more genuine stories are slowly evolving in his early films. It is not a deep story by a long shot, and there is still plenty of high-action physical slapstick comedy, but there is much more here than at most of his previous films.

But most of all, the feature skit of the film is the skating scenes in the second half, which are outstanding. It's amazing to me how good Chaplin was on skates, and some of the skits he pulls off here (such as the bouncing up and down on the fat woman) are truly brilliant pieces of slapstick. I have to say that I wish I knew where exactly the film's closing shot was filmed, since it's an outdoor shot and I am always curious to know what parts of Los Angeles are being shown. Excellent show!