User reviews

Chaplin took so long to direct this 3 reel comedy, his longest to that old date. Once in France and dealing with with Chaplin as a Boot Hill soldier who still looks like an awkward tramp . At the military quarter he doesn't obtain letter from home, at last, he achieves a pack containing limburger cheese. After that, he has the cheese from a mousetrap. Later on, he volunteers to wander behind German lines and posing as a tree takes 13 prisoners , surrendering them from the enemy trench . Finally, with the help a beautiful French girl, Edna Purviance, captures the Kaiser, Syd Chaplin, and the Crown Prince.

The picture had success at boxoffice and the public liked it, specially the following scenes : when Charlie under a gas mask eats the cheese and subsequently he throws it over the enemy lines, as Charlie disguises as a tree trunk and kicks German soldiers in the seat of their pants , and when he takes the Kaiser and is given a statue of victory . In the picture appears two Chaplin's regular : Edna Purviance and Syd Chaplin in a double role as The Kaiser and Charlie's comrade.

This was the longest film to that date and it premiered only 3 weeks before the end of the WWII. This was a 3 reel comedy, he previously directed 1 or 2 reel short movies, such as : Our hero, Night at the show, The fireman, The adventurer, The count, The floorwalker, The circus, The cure, The inmigrant, Burlesque on Carmen, 3 Charlies and one phoney, among others. Shortly after, he directed long time films as The gold rush, the Kid, City lights, Modern times, The great dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King in NY, and his last one : A countess from Hong Kong. Rating 7.5/10. Better than average Chalie movie. Essential and indispensable watching for Charles Chaplin fans. Well worth seeing

The big names in cinema tried to do their part for the war effort, and Charlie Chaplin was no exception. This patriotic and propagandist picture, "Shoulder Arms", is part of his contribution, although the war was nearly over by the time of its release. The Tramp goes to the front, humorously accomplishes acts of heroism and kicks the Kaiser in the bum. It's a very funny film, although I don't think it nearly one of his best. It's with "A Dog's Life" as his better output for First National before he made his early masterpiece "The Kid". They were his first three-reelers, which contain sustained, more elaborate gags than he could usually orchestrate in his two-reel shorts at Mutual.

It can be difficult to balance a pro-war message with slapstick antics and scenes of burlesque in battle, but one wouldn't think so watching "Shoulder Arms". It's also preferable in many respects to a "more serious", dramatic work with a similar message, such as Griffith's "Hearts of the World". Chaplin had become a true virtuoso of screen comedy by this time; he makes it look effortless. He knew very well by then that a film with fewer gags--with more elaboration, refinement and careful timing--could be better than any knockabout, Keystone-type farce with a dozen pratfalls a minute. The sequence where Chaplin is disguised as a tree is a pertinent example. Even with wars raging, Chaplin can lift the spirits of millions.

One of the prices of superstardom is that you have to become adaptable. When the US joined the World War in 1917 Charlie Chaplin was at the height of his popularity. Naturally, he was expected to make some sort of contribution. Chaplin had already set his short films in all sorts of locations, even at different time periods, and had given his little tramp all manner of occupations, so soldiering in the trenches shouldn't have been too big a step. However, Shoulder Arms is, if not a propaganda piece (it was released a bit late for that), at least one that had to have a certain outlook. As a result Chaplin was constrained somewhat, and it shows.

The first half of the picture, which is set during Charlie's training and among his comrades in the trench seems a little muted compared to other Chaplin pictures of this period. The reason for this is clear – it wouldn't have had the right effect if there were seen to be too much antagonism between soldiers. Characters like the burly drill sergeant or Charlie's buddy (played his brother Syd) would make ideal bugbears in any other picture, but here all we get is a bit of appropriately brotherly tussling between Charlie and Syd. When you see how weak these opening ten minutes are you realise how much of Chaplin's comedy depended upon playing off others and pricking pomposity.

Fortunately, Chaplin gets to make up for all this when his little tramp goes out to face the German foe. Here he can go all out with making his enemies look ridiculous, getting the most out of his varyingly-sized supporting players. We have Henry Bergman as a roly-poly German, Albert Austin as a gangly one, and best of all Loyal Underwood as a short but self-important German officer. This is Underwood's finest moment, and he really puts a lot of energy and spirit into the part. And Chaplin gets to set up some great routines, with some ingenious ways of defeating foes, not to mention one of his best ever entrances when he appears out of the landscape in his tree disguise.

And Chaplin was clearly savvy enough to realise that the beginning of the picture contained some fairly poor material. Consequently he edits in a handful of shots of antics in the German trench (with Underwood at his most animated), which serve as nothing more than a little touch of uproar, and a promise of things to come.

And now we must have that all-important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 7 (1 for, 0 against, 6 other)

Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp or Little Man character wins World War I, called The Great War at the time, single handedly, even capturing the Kaiser, something the entire Allied armed forces were unable to do. Too bad it all turns out to be a dream, which is somewhat of a cop out and the weakest part of this mesmerizing silent short (almost a feature film at 46 minutes).

There are inventive gags galore including Charlie having to put on a gas mask to eat Limburger cheese sent from home, then using the cheese as a weapon against the Germans; Charlie sleeping underwater in a flooded trench next to a soldier he continues to annoy; Charlie disguising himself as a tree--one of his best sketches ever--and Charlie pretending to beat up his friend who has become a POW, then hugging him when the enemy is out of sight.

One amazing feature is how much Charlie, when he is behind enemy lines dressed as a German, resembles Hitler over ten years before Hitler and his Nazi thugs rose to dominate German politics. Obviously Hitler patterned his appearance after Charlie's from this film.

It's a comedy about the trench warfare just as WWI is about to come to an end. Charlie Chaplin is a doughboy in boot camp. In a series of scenes, he defeats many Germans. Then he wakes up.

It's a pretty long film at 45 minutes. There are some pretty funny scenes. The limburger cheese gag is somewhat weak. Capturing the 13 Germans could have used more slapstick. I do love the part where he's in enemy territories disguised as a tree. The Germans try to chop him down for firewood. That is by far my favorite part. The movie's success probably had a lot to do with the timing and the subject. However I can see the immense risk Chaplin was taking by making a comedy about trench warfare.

One of Charlie Chaplin's very best shorter features, "Shoulder Arms" is a wonderful combination of comedy, commentary, and adventure. Charlie plays a soldier who heads off to World War I, and in the course of 40 minutes or so, it provides a light-hearted but in many respects believable portrayal of what life was like in the trenches. The story also combines some fine slapstick with some exciting adventures.

In this movie, Chaplin hits the perfect balance between humor and substance, helping us to sympathize with those who bore the burdens of the war, without ever becoming sentimental. The other characters are nicely conceived and acted, with the engaging Edna Purviance, the versatile Syd Chaplin, and other talented supporting players pitching in.

The story has many creative turns, plus a couple of good surprises. It's great entertainment, and thoughtful as well. Make sure to take a look if you enjoy Chaplin or silent comedies in general.

Charlie is a boot camp private who has a dream of being a hero who goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines.

"Shoulder Arms" proved to be Chaplin's most popular film, critically and commercially, up to that point. This is understandable given the interesting themes and visual gags. The tree is pretty funny, and the underwater sleeping arrangements are amusing.

What I find particularly interesting about this film's success is how it seems to be now more or less forgotten. I mean, of course any Chaplin film or silent comedy fan will know it. But compared to "The Kid" or "Modern Times" or "City Lights", it is far removed... is this now even one of the top ten most popular Chaplin films?

In these modern times (as subject known quite well to the director of the short film that this German count is going to talk about…), politically correct films are the "leitmotiv" of the modern young filmmakers' projects. "Shoulder Arms" directed by Herr Charlie Chaplin during WWI (the film was released only a few weeks before the armistice) is an obvious example of why the early cinema pioneers were a very bold people, certainly! To direct a humorous film inspired in the terrible, bloody First World War was a complicated matter that only few directors with those dangerous and daring ideas could be allowed to do… to venture upon such delicate enterprise and with success was reserved only to geniuses.

As this German count said, "Shoulder Arms" was made during WWI, that time in where definitely the whole world lost its innocence (fortunately not the German fat heiresses of this aristocrat…) and it is a hilarious, inventive social satire about that and any war. The film it is full of great gags and entertaining film continuity for a story in where that tramp will live though risky and courageous adventures in the front …whether a hero for the allies… or not.

To mock the war trenches, the unhealthiness, the frontal attacks and the Germans (how you dare!!... by the way, there are a lot of inaccuracies in the film … the German soldiers by that time had moustaches and longer beards not to mention that the Kaiser lacks many medals in his uniform…) in an elegant, funny and delicate way it is even today a film miracle impossible of being surpassed. Keeping in mind those terrible wartime circumstances, the difficult task is only possible thanks to a lot of creativity and talent. Obviously Herr Charlie Chaplin had very much of it.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must go back to the Schloss trenches.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

Chaplin's sense of humor in depicting an Army private dreaming of heroism was apparently enough to boost the morale of Americans everywhere just before the Armistice that ended WWI.

But the film, running only 46 minutes and a salute to the guys in the trenches, while containing moments of inventive sight gags (sleeping in water filled bunks, impersonating a tree trunk to fool the enemy, etc.), certainly doesn't rank among Chaplin's best works. There's a hurried feel to the editing which makes one suspect a lot of cutting was done in order to trim the movie down to size, exhibitors wanting a short film--not a feature.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN has the tramp-like appearance throughout (especially in the marching scenes where he can't seem to put his best foot forward), and EDNA PURVIANCE is once again his leading lady, doing nicely as a French gal who helps him defeat the enemy.

Too bad he didn't redo this one later on when his films had more polish.

Shoulder Arms may well be the first war comedy ever released while the conflict was still going on. Opening before the Armistice Charlie Chaplin pokes fun at trench warfare and German officers from the Kaiser to field officers with Napoleonic complexes. In that it had never been done before Chaplin may well have put his career on the line with its release since the public's positive response was not a given.

Recruit Charlie drives his drill instructor crazy with his inability to drill properly. Driven to exhaustion Charlie collapses in his tent but is soon on the front lines dealing with the deprivations of fox hole life. On the battlefield he encounters an arrogant German officer, meets a pretty French farm girl and captures the Kaiser.

Shoulder Arms serious subject does not get in the way of Charlie's mirth making. A flooded trench with men sleeping in a foot of water, shooting the enemy and keeping score and the over the top charge to the wire are played for laughs and get them. After a hilarious segment with Charlie camouflaged as a tree the films pace slows a little when he impersonates a German officer and captures the Kaiser. Pace killer that it is, it more than likely must have brought cheers from a war weary audience in 1918.

In one of the best of Charlie Chaplin's lengthier short films, he places the Little Fellow in the trenches of WWI, where he brings his intolerable politeness and endless patience to the drudgery of trench life, where troops lived for months at a time before finally going over the top to overtake the enemy, and usually to their deaths. It takes someone of Chaplin's skill as a comedian to make something as dreary as trench warfare into such a brilliant comedy, but the irony that he uses in the film makes even the most uncomfortable conditions highly amusing.

Like all of the best of Chaplin's films, short films and otherwise, this one is packed with brilliant and memorable scenes, such as the scene where he marks off kills with a piece of chalk on a board in the trench, erasing one when he gets his helmet shot off, the scene where he and his fellow soldiers are sleeping underwater, the opening of the beer bottle and lighting of the cigarette, and of course, the overtaking of the enemy. All of these scenes are show-stoppers, reminiscent of the most wonderful Chaplin scenes. This one should not be missed!

A burgeoning Charlie Chaplin tackles World War I, before the gunsmoke had even cleared from the trenches. Actually, this was released two weeks before the Armistice(!), which serves as a pretty darn good frame of reference. Nobody was really sure how ready the public might be to laugh at such a fresh conflict - most studios opted to steer far clear - but Chaplin, ever the bold one, was perfectly willing to jab at it.

Here he portrays the usual: a sad sack caught in the midst of chaos, racing to stay a half-step ahead of his own inevitable destiny. He stumbles through boot camp, mires in flooded field barracks, mourns a lack of care packages, goes undercover (as a tree) and confronts the enemy; a breakneck tour that maintains a charmingly light attitude despite the grave subject matter. On sharpshooter duty, he notches kills with chalk on a nearby fence, then scrubs the mark when an unexpected return volley blows off his helmet. It's gallows humor that doesn't allow itself to get too hung up on the gallows.

The whole production is stuffed with this brand of quaint, silly, observational irreverence, but it's short on really big, resonant laughs. Comedy with a light foot, then, which makes sense considering the aforementioned misgivings about the topic. Shoulder Arms is fascinating from a historical perspective, and important in a developmental one, but several steps below the silent movie star's best material.

This is one of Chaplin's First National films from the period between his glorious Mutual shorts and the more mature United Artists features. More opulent than the Mutual films, it continues Chaplin's quest for perfecting his comic expression. Most people forget that the film is actually a dream that Charlie has while awaiting being sent off to the front.

There is plenty of slapstick via the Limburger cheese being used to gas the enemy, and Chaplin's foray into enemy territory dressed as a tree.

By this stage in this career, the great man had become so immersed in filmic expression that his films give the impression of making themselves. Doubtless this was not the case, but still, it gives as convincingly realistic view of life at the front as I can remember, albeit from an ironically humorous perspective.

As far as I am concerned, familiarity with the entirety of Chaplin's work should be a prerequisite for all cinephiles - do not delay!

Short but effective film, Chaplin never disappoints with his slapstick comedy. The first part and the third part are really good while the middle part is not that interesting. It's not his best work, yes it's enjoyable movie but it didn't make big impact on me. Chaplin kicking buts since 1910's.

(1918) Shoulder Arms SILENT COMEDY

Edited, music, produced, written, directed and starring Charles Chaplin during the first World War which some of the sight gags are somewhat outdated, but were much more relevant during it's time. Some of the sight gags also include Chaplin wearing a tree disguise behind enemy lines, Chaplin sleeping while there's water in bunker, and the use of smelly limburger cheese to name a few. The movie was quite amusing but not as effective as his other movies, clocking in at 46 minutes. This is the 28th of 33 movies Charlie Chaplin starred with actress Edna Purviance.

Considering all of the comedies with a military situation that have been done in history, someone had to be the first. One could make a case that in Shoulder Arms, Charlie Chaplin invented the genre.

Hard to believe that back then this was a daring move. When you consider that some of the best films involving such people as Bob Hope, Abbott&Costello, Laurel&Hardy involved military service and made during war time, it's just something you accept and laugh at.

In the First World War Chaplin along with fellow stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford went out on bond tours. He was a great supporter of the Allied cause, unusual for someone of his left wing views. It would seem only natural that the Tramp would be drafted and unfortunately would flummox around and wreak havoc on all.

A lot of things you'd see in the service comedies of World War II got their start in Shoulder Arms. Chaplin had no more imitators because within a few weeks of the film's release, the war was over.

But a comedy art form had been established by one of comedy's greatest geniuses.