Charlot aime la patronne

Charlie Chaplin was still working out the kinks in his Little Tramp character with this rather tame comedy of errors. This one generated barely a chuckle from me, perhaps due to the lack of chemistry between Chaplin and his so-called leading lady in this film, playing a landlady whom everyone thinks Charlie is in love with.

Perhaps had Mabel Normand been given the role of the landlady, there might have been a bit more spark. Certainly Chaplin's later leading lady, Edna Purviance, would have been perfect in the role. But such as not to be.

There are a few funny moments, such as when Charlie bats a tennis ball out of sight (reflecting perhaps the real-life Chaplin's growing interest in the sport?), and a pointless though funny sequence in which Charlie raids a fridge and gets drunk.

The best and funniest sequence comes near the end when the landlady's son, who secretly photographed the comedies of errors between his mom, his dad, and Charlie, puts on a special "parents gone wild" slide show and the usual Keystone mayhem ensues. The boy, incidentally, is played by Gordon Griffith, who appeared in a number of Chaplin's Keystone comedies before making a name for himself as Tarzan's son.

The Star Boarder falls somewhere in the middle ground of Chaplin's Keystone comedies. There's enough humor to hold one's interest, but it can't be considered one of his better works.

This is one of 35 Keystone comedies Charlie Chaplin appeared in during his first year in the movies, made just before he was granted creative control of his output. Unlike some of his earlier shorts The Star Boarder has the feel of a Chaplin film, so much so we get the impression he was already taking charge behind the scenes. The story is straightforward and easy to follow, slapstick violence is kept to a minimum, and, best of all, Charlie himself comes off as a basically likable figure. In some his other early movies he's a scoundrel, but here he's the fellow we recognize from the films he would soon create on his own.

As the title implies, Charlie is the favored lodger in his boarding house. He flirts with the landlady (Minta Durfee) who dotes on him, but their relationship seems to be chaste. The landlady's husband (Edgar Kennedy, wearing a silly mustache) is unhappy about the situation, but he has a little something going on the side, too. Their son happily snaps photos of the grown-ups in compromising situations, then reveals his work at a magic lantern show and embarrasses all parties, leading to mayhem -- rather restrained mayhem, actually, by Keystone standards. We're pleased to observe that the kid gets a good spanking, too.

Charlie is introduced in a nicely composed shot, smoking in bed and peering over the tops of his famous shoes. He isn't a bad sort here, especially compared to the obnoxious sadist he plays in some of the other Keystones. His worst transgression in The Star Boarder is a raid on the boarding house ice box, where he helps himself to some cold beer. He makes a mess and gets a little drunk, but otherwise no harm done. As for infidelity, we are given the impression that the landlady is merely fond of him, and that Charlie is being opportunistic and turning the situation to his advantage. Even when he began directing his own work Chaplin wasn't always interested in gaining audience sympathy (as when he torments his elderly assistant in The Property Man), but ultimately, of course, he came around to a warmer and more humane characterization.

The Star Boarder is a little slow to get started, but the magic lantern show finale is worth waiting for. Over all this is an enjoyable short, not terribly funny or memorable, but a fairly pleasant viewing experience, especially if you're put off by the wildly rowdy entries from Chaplin's Keystone series.

This is Chaplin's 10th film and the fourth and last one that George Nichols directed. Only Mack Sennett directed Chaplin in more movies.

This is also the fourth film where he appears drunk ("Mable's Strange Predicament," "Tango, Tangled," and "His Favorite Pasttime" are the other three). It is the third film that he has Minta Durfee as a love interest ("Making a Living," and Cruel, Cruel Love) and the third film he fights with an enraged Edgar Kennedy ("A Film Johnie" and "Cruel, Cruel Love"). Both Durfee and Kennedy are excellent in their roles.

This is the first film in which Chaplin holds a pie. What is interesting is that nobody gets hit by the pie. Instead Chaplin just sits on it. This indicates that pie throwing in March of 1914 had not yet become a standard device in silent film comedies.

The film does not go for big laughs, but it does have a steady stream of small ones. Especially good is Gordon Griffith as a boy with a big, hysterical laugh who snaps naughty pictures of Durfee and Kennedy with different partners.

The film sets up some nice characters in a rooming house, but it does not go any where. It it is pleasantly more restrained and gentler than most Keystone Films. There is, however, the obligatory raucous ending.

Chaplin had done ten films in about ten weeks at Keystone at this point in time. He would take a small break and the following month come back with the two-reeler "Mable At The Wheel."

Star Boarder, The (1914)

** (out of 4)

Lower Keystone short features Charles Chaplin playing the landlady's pet, which doesn't sit too well with the other tenants and it certainly doesn't go over well with the woman's jealous husband. While this film doesn't really work it at least features a couple funny sequences with Chaplin doing his magic. Even though we still don't see the Chaplin the world would end up loving, these early shorts at least show him growing as an artist. One of the better scenes in the film is when Chaplin is trying to learn how to play tennis. The facial expressions of anger are quite funny as is another scene where Chaplin notices the woman's husband is standing behind him yet he tries to play dumb as if he didn't see the husband. The rest of the film is pretty weak without too many laughs, although the ending is a pretty nice kicker.

An early situation comedy that's not overly funny or memorable. Charles Chaplin's The Tramp is the favorite lodger of the landlady (Minta Durfee) in the boarding house. Her husband (Edgar Kennedy) doesn't like them two spend too much good time together. But he has his own thing going on with a female lodger. Their son secretly takes compromising pictures of them while they are having their "dates". In the evening he shows the pictures to the whole house at the magic lantern show. And the usual group fight will go off. Everyone will get their fair share of hits and kicks.

'The Star Boarder' is somewhere in the middle ground with the quality in Chaplin's Keystone movies. The story is clear, but not very funny. You can even call it a dame compared to some other Keystone slapstick fights. I find this one of the least amusing early Chaplin's films.