Gentlemen of Nerve

Gentlemen of Nerve is one of Charlie Chaplin's earliest directing efforts. He stars in this with frequent co-star at this time Mabel Normand, herself a fine comedienne and director. They arrive at the races separately, she with a beau, he with a fellow who also hasn't any money. Mabel's beau keeps flirting with another lady while Charlie's temporary partner gets stuck in a fence hole trying to sneak in. That's all of the loose plot I'll mention and just say there are some funny slapstick scenes involving seltzer water, cops, race car propellers, Charlie's hat, Mabel's foot, and a few other stuff that you'd expect from a Keystone short. Mr. Chaplin and Ms. Normand are cute together and pretty amusing though most of the laughs are from Chaplin. Worth seeing for any silent comedy buffs out there.

Here again is Charlie at his brash, fearless best, and I love the parting shots of him and Mabel. Mabel Normand was sometimes called "the female Chaplin", and with good reason. They're even wearing similar hats, making the resemblance even more charming, even if it was unintentional.

Both of them - especially Charlie - are also so funny in their very deliberate retorts and attacks on their antagonists (while you notice other spectators in the film are laughing at the action going on as well).

I guess this was one of Chaplin's first directorial experiences, so I think he got off to a great start.

All I can otherwise say is, I LOVE IT!! :-D

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors.

He did do better than 'Gentlemen of Nerve', still made very early on in his career where he was still finding his feet and not fully formed what he became famous for. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is a long way from a career high, but has a lot of nice things about it and is to me one of the better efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch and one of Chaplin and Mabel Normand's collaborations.

'Gentlemen of Nerve' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and some other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy, not doing enough with a premise that is not particularly new with Chaplin, and the production values not as audacious. Occasionally, things feel a little scrappy and confused.

For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is pretty bad.

While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick. Mabel Normand is charming and has good comic timing, working well with Chaplin. Chester Conklin bags some of the most amusing moments.

Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is humorous, sweet and easy to like with a touch of pathos. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.

Overall, far from one of Chaplin's best but pretty good and perhaps one of his better efforts from the early Keystone period. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Chaplin, Conklin and Mabel appear in this interesting bit of nonsense. The chief scenes are taken at an auto race. The gentlemen spill pop over strange ladies and perform a lot of funny antics of an eccentric sort. This is successful in its way. - The Moving Picture World, November 14, 1914

A rapidly produced and poorly thought out short film. The movie barely allows Chaplin to get going with his newly developed ideas, but does allow Mabel to be……Mabel. The staging of a car race apparently sent the Keystone unit racing to the track, presumably without much of plot.

At the beginning we see Mr Walrus (Chester Cronklin) chaperoning Mabel at the track. It takes just two seconds, while Walrus fumbles for his money at the turnstile, for Ambrose (Mack Swain) to move in, and try to seduce the lovely Mabel. Predictably, Walrus kicks Mack in the rear, and then quickly hustles his charge into the raceway. Once inside, Mabel seems to be disgruntled at Walrus' intrusion, but becomes truly 'Mabelescent' when she sees the race cars getting ready to go. The pair take their seats, but next to a flirty woman of uncertain years (Phyllis Allen). While Mabel gets all enthusiastic over the racing cars, Mr Walrus gets excited about the flirt with the roving eye. Spotting this, Mabel goes through her catalog of moralistic facial expressions, until she sees Walrus hand Phyllis a note, prompting Mabel to give Walrus a few words – something to do with morality it seems. Mabel suggests they leave, and while passing the flirty woman, stamps on her foot. About this time, Ambrose is busy trying to sneak into the track through a fence. His accomplice is Charlie Chaplin, alias Mr Wow Wow (Wow Wow is another of Charlie's throwbacks to his vaudeville days). Some comical scenes ensue when Ambrose becomes stuck in the fence and is freed by Charlie with a few kicks and lubrication from a soda siphon. Now inside the track, Charlie runs into Walrus and Mabel outside a fenced enclosure. Charlie strikes a match on Walrus' backside, which causes some amusement to Mabel. After a violent clash between the two men, Mabel grabs Walrus and runs off, whereupon Charlie begins a hilarious battle royal with spectators behind the fence. While Charlie begins another altercation with Ambrose, Mabel and her guardian have taken a seat next to, would you believe, the lady flirt. Before Walrus can begin any amorous escapades Mabel has hit him in the head, causing him to head-butt Mistress Flirt. Mabel again runs off and trips over a seated Charlie, who is in the process of drinking from Dixie Chene's pop bottle, while she's distracted. Mabel sits down next to Charlie and squashes his derby, but the two remain amiable to each other, and run off like hyperactive kids to closely examine a propeller-driven car. Returning to their seats Mabel gets amorous towards Charlie, and more so when Walrus turns up. Walrus is understandably angry with Mabel, and restrains his now immoral charge. Charlie is quick to throw off his jacket and square up to Mr Walrus, but when he throws a punch, Mabel is bowled over. However, Walrus is soon seen off, and Charlie becomes Mabel's sheikh for the day. The pair sit down and Mabel begins to flirt, but Walrus and Ambrose have fallen foul of the law, and are marched off in front of Mabel and Charlie, much to their obvious delight. The two begin to cozy up to each other, and Charlie tries to kiss Mabel, who shakes her head and offers her hand, which Charlie lovingly kisses, sending Mabel into raptures of a kind later seen in 'Mickey'.

It is noticeable that when Mabel gets carried away laughing she displays her complete set of 'Marie Lloyd' teeth and gums. This is a rare occurrence, as she normally kept them well hidden, although when celebrated as a champion driver in 'Mabel At The Wheel' she again 'forgets' and reveals acres of enamel. The scene where Mabel refuses Charlie's kiss, is reminiscent of a real-life occurrence about this time, when Charlie was rebuked by Mabel, as he tried to kiss her. He had previously been successful, but it seems that Mabel had a rule – one man, one kiss. As Adela Rogers St. John once said, 'Mabel was unusually pure'.

The film is the usual Keystone cut-price job, where a movie is made without a set or expensive scenery. As Mack Sennett usually had a car entered for the race, it's highly likely that none of the cast paid an entry fee – the organizers probably welcomed the free publicity (in later years Mabel also entered cars for certain drivers). Mabel, incidentally, can be said to have been a cut-price actress, as she needed few supporting assets beyond herself. Consequently, she was popular with the smaller studios, although giants like Paramount avoided Mabel, due, shall we say, to her irreverent personality. In fact, Mabel had threatened to brain the founder of Paramount Adolph Zukor and Mack Sennett with a heavy book, during Zukor's visit to Keystone.