Caught in a Cabaret (1914)
Country: US
Technical: bw 30m
Director: Mabel Normand
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Dan Albert
Synopsis:
A boozed-up waiter in a cabaret on the seamy side of town rescues a marriageable heiress from a molester in the park and posing as a head of state gets an invitation to her house. Only having an hour for lunch, however, he must get back to work and, when the toffs decide to go out on the town...
Review:
This relatively sophisticated comedy (multiple locations, more plotting and motivation) has Chaplin as drunk behaving badly, always an impersonation he relished, and Normand as the ingénue not knowing whether to be amused or look shocked. The busy cabaret set, with side-wipe to the bar area, is typical of the 'front-on' mise en scène of the time, with very little use of close-up inserts. The stratified view of society is also very much a Victorian one, which would persist right through to the 1930s in Hollywood comedy and melodrama.
Country: US
Technical: bw 30m
Director: Mabel Normand
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Dan Albert
Synopsis:
A boozed-up waiter in a cabaret on the seamy side of town rescues a marriageable heiress from a molester in the park and posing as a head of state gets an invitation to her house. Only having an hour for lunch, however, he must get back to work and, when the toffs decide to go out on the town...
Review:
This relatively sophisticated comedy (multiple locations, more plotting and motivation) has Chaplin as drunk behaving badly, always an impersonation he relished, and Normand as the ingénue not knowing whether to be amused or look shocked. The busy cabaret set, with side-wipe to the bar area, is typical of the 'front-on' mise en scène of the time, with very little use of close-up inserts. The stratified view of society is also very much a Victorian one, which would persist right through to the 1930s in Hollywood comedy and melodrama.
Country: US
Technical: bw 30m
Director: Mabel Normand
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Dan Albert
Synopsis:
A boozed-up waiter in a cabaret on the seamy side of town rescues a marriageable heiress from a molester in the park and posing as a head of state gets an invitation to her house. Only having an hour for lunch, however, he must get back to work and, when the toffs decide to go out on the town...
Review:
This relatively sophisticated comedy (multiple locations, more plotting and motivation) has Chaplin as drunk behaving badly, always an impersonation he relished, and Normand as the ingénue not knowing whether to be amused or look shocked. The busy cabaret set, with side-wipe to the bar area, is typical of the 'front-on' mise en scène of the time, with very little use of close-up inserts. The stratified view of society is also very much a Victorian one, which would persist right through to the 1930s in Hollywood comedy and melodrama.