The Chaplin Revue

THE CHAPLIN REVUE

Consists of three of Chaplin's early movies:

A DOG'S LIFE

SHOULDER ARMS

THE PILGRIM

Three silent comedies

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Charlie Chaplin talking.

This is Hollywood, California in 1915

with its sun-kissed oranges and lemon groves,

before it was visited by the 3 horsemen of the apocalypse:

Oil, movies and aeronautics,

who strolled the earth uprooting the orange and lemon trees,

and in their stead built factories and motion picture studios.

I was one of the offenders.

I wanted a studio in a hurry.

In the States, they do things in a hurry.

And, as if by magic, I got it.

This is not Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace.

Believe it or not, this is a motion picture studio.

Now you see my arrival, that's me.

I look much younger there.

That was taken at least 10 years ago.

Now let me take you backstage.

In those days I never worked with a scenario.

It started with an idea and developed on the set.

This is Miss Edna Purviance, my leading lady.

She's put on a little weight during the building of the studio.

In the next scene, we ran into trouble.

We must have rehearsed it 50 times.

On the 32nd take the little fellow became quite a dead weight.

It was very trying on the muscles of my arms.

So now let me take you back to the good old silent days.

There will be no talk, no realistic sound.

I think it would spoil the mood.

I have composed 2 hours of music which I hope

will be more agreeable than the sound of footsteps on the gravel path.

Or a lot of yackety-yak talking as I'm doing now.

There'll be music and action, a sort of a comic ballet.

And now I shall retire behind my curtain of silence.

A DOG'S LIFE

Dawn.

Scraps... A thoroughbred mongrel.

Wanted! Strong men for Sewer Work. Bring Recommendation

Men wanted for Brewery

A tender spot in the tenderloin.

THE GREEN LANTERN

NO DOGS ALLOWED

A new singer sings an old song.

"If you smile and wink, they'll buy a drink."

"I'm flirting."

"How about the lady?"

"There are strangers in our midst."

Back to the Green Lantern.

"We will settle down in the country."

When dreams come true.

The next picture is a comedy of the First World War.

These are actual scenes of the fighting,

taken from the archives of the Imperial War Museum.

Fighting was different in those days.

They lived in trenches for months,

languishing in dugouts and mud

until the fatal Zero Hour

when they went over the top and captured the enemy's trench.

Half of them made it,

half of them didn't.

There were no atomic bombs or guided missiles.

Then, it was only cannons, bayonets and poison gas.

Those were the good old days.

So now, Shoulder Arms.

SHOULDER ARMS

The awkward squad.

"Put those feet in."

Over there.

The enemy.

A quiet lunch.

"Make yourself at home."

Later.

Changing guard.

"The password... 'It's wet'. "

News from home.

"This must be yours."

"To the day!"

Bed time.

"Stop rocking the boat!"

Morning.

"Over the top in fifteen minutes!"

The captured trench.

13 not so unlucky.

"How did you capture thirteen?"