Charlot veut se marier

This is one of 5 Chaplin that are on the first DVD of Chaplin's Essanay Comedies. In general, compared to volume 2, the shorts on volume 1 aren't as well-made--because the DVDs are arranged chronologically. Chaplin's skill as a film maker and actor appeared to improve through his stay with Essanay Studios.

The first half of this film consists of Charlie trying to rescue his love from a forced marriage to a rich swell. He impersonates the swell and the film runs smoothly--especially since there is a real plot--something many of the Keystone and early Essanay shorts lack. However, after Charlie's ruse is discovered, the film becomes standard slapstick--with chases and violence, etc. It's like two very different shorts fused together without regard to the whole.

Edna (Edna Purviance) has been betrothed to a rich Count by her father (Ernest Van Pelt) but she already has a secret love, The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin). Edna persuades her love to save her and he impersonates the Count at tea with Edna and her father. Once the Count (Leo White) turns up with his fantastical facial hair The Tramp is thrown out. Later in a park the foursome come together again and the two young lovers attempt to elope in an act that brings about a prolonged car chase.

There are two very distinct halves to this film and I believe that the first half is amongst Chaplin's best Essanay work to date. Having come off In the Park which was fast and a little bit messy, the first half of A Jitney Elopement was surprisingly slow, calm and more reminiscent of his later feature films. The second half though features a full on frenetic car chase which takes place in and around San Francisco and makes this Chaplin's most sprawling film to date. The title incidentally comes from the type of vehicle that the couple attempt to run away in – a kind of shared taxi.

I have to say that although this is one of Chaplin's less well received Essanay films, I really enjoyed it. It shows the two sides to Chaplin; the slow, methodical craftsman and the fast paced clown and both halves made me laugh. I do prefer the first half however. It's a joy to try and watch The Tramp fit in to unfamiliar circumstances and he gets up to the usual nonsense including using a butler as a cloak stand and dropping sugar cubes into his soup. Later in the chase scene we get to see various parts of San Francisco and its surrounding areas and this is interesting in its own right. The roads are mostly made of mud and the whole are is very sparse. The cars themselves are barely recognisable as cars and Chaplin's especially looks like a cross between a carriage and some sort of 19th century coffee machine.

Although Chaplin was under pressure from Essanay to speed up his output and sometimes the quality of his films suffered I don't think that is the case here. Yes the chase is a little bit too Keystone for Chaplin but he shows that he can still formulate great ideas and execute them well in a short time frame and A Jitney Elopement is a clever and funny effort.

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Now well into his tenure at Essanay studios, this is the point where Charlie Chaplin really starts to gain confidence and build a blueprint for his short features. What's significant about a Jitney Elopement is that it represents the most serious thought he has put so far into developing a story, and trying his hand at straight dramatic direction.

The picture opens, not with the tramp, but with a scene establishing the set-up and a background story for the action to take place in. Chaplin here demonstrates what he has learnt from DW Griffith, with some neat, functional shots, and making nice use of tree branches to frame Edna Purviance. As his little tramp character has developed, he is giving him more attention-grabbing entrances, this time appearing from an iris in an iconic pose, framed starkly against a brick wall.

However, a Jitney Elopement is often thought as one of Chaplin's weakest Essanay efforts, and it's not hard to see why. In spite of this promising opening, Chaplin seems to have skimped on good comedy. The dining-table routine is a bit lifeless, and we then descend into a Keystone-ish farce-in-the-park and car chase. There also seem to have been some problems with editing, as a few two-shot gags are poorly timed looking very unprofessional. Great supporting players like Leo White and Bud Jamison are underused. Chaplin would make a more successful job of blending gags with a romantic storyline in his next appearance – The Tramp.

And now, the all-important statistic –

Number of kicks up the arse: 2 (1 for, 1 against)

This Chaplin comedy is a combination of the type of unfinished knockabout humor from the Mack Sennett-style comedies along with a couple of the themes that Chaplin would later refine and use to much better advantage in later movies. A lot of the film is routine, but it is made more watchable by a couple of ideas that Chaplin always liked: identity mix-ups, and the attitudes of the upper classes. Both come into play as Charlie's character (not yet the 'tramp', but somewhat similar) has a rich rival for the hand of his girl (Edna Purviance - she and Chaplin always make a likable leading couple). Overall, "A Jitney Elopement" is only fair, but a sign of things to come.

Chaplin at Essany Studios, the one he was at before moving to Mutual studios had Chaplin creating his love for spoofing the upper classes. In this movie, he does not play the tramp. Instead a working class fellow who is in love with a upper class girl but problems ensue when a Count asks for hand in marriage. His beloved asks to be saved and Chaplin comes in to impersonate the Count. The Count arrives while he is there and Mayhem ensues. I cannot pan a Chaplin movie or short. The worst rating I have ever given a Chaplin movie is an 8/10. This is because of his inventive slapstick and physical grueling and innovative comedy routines. In this one, we get a great car chase and a scene where Chaplin holds the camera still while the cars go round and round in circles recalling a scene from the first Pink Panther movie, A Shot in the Dark. Though not perfect, great fun, none the less.