The Professor

If you want to see this unfinished Chaplin film, then get a hold of the DVD for "Limelight" (1952)--a wonderful drama Chaplin made late in life. Why Chaplin never got around to finishing it, I have no idea--but he did incorporate some of the ideas in "The Professor" in "Limelight".

The film begins without credits. Chaplin is almost unrecognizable in a new non-Tramp persona. He looks a bit swarthy and has an exaggerated mustache and mop-like hair. You sure can see some of the Little Tramp in his walk and mannerisms, though. He goes to sleep the night at a flophouse--along with his act, his flea circus. When the fleas accidentally escape, all finds of comedic reactions occur.

It's really a shame this was not completed--it is funny and clever. Perhaps Chaplin or his financers were uncomfortable with his new character or didn't' want to mess with the tried and true formula.

Five years after his 1914 debut in the short "Making a Living", comedian Charles Chaplin was already a successful movie star, an experienced director (directing 53 shorts in 5 years) and probably the most popular comedy actor of his time, and it was just the beginning of the most successful stage of his career. After creating United Artists along with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith, Chaplin found himself with enough power and influence to do practically anything he imagined, and he most certainly did.

Probably among the first ideas he put to work with this recently gained freedom, was this short that showcases an incomplete idea Chaplin had that even when it was never completed entirely, he would use the elements of this short for his first feature, "The Kid" (1921), and more famously, for his autobiographical "Limelight" (1952) almost 35 years later. "The Professor" is the story of Professor Bosco, a poor street performer who travels with his circus of trained fleas. As he arrives to a hostel to get some sleep, problems arise when his fleas begin to create havoc among the other tramps at the hostel.

"The Professor" follows the same common themes of looking for happiness in adversity and life in poverty that Chaplin was so keen to use. However, unlike the Little Tramp, professor Bosco is an old and somewhat bitter man, who is more worried about his fleas than about his own health. This probably was an attempt to make a change from the Tramp, and Chaplin is quite convincing, they don't even look like the same person. The realism of the scene (despite the comic effect of the fleas) would return in "The Kid" and it seems that Chaplin used the very same locations in both films.

As the film is incomplete, it consists of only a couple of gags, all based on pantomime showcasing Chaplin's complete domain over that technique. The most famous gag, was later used in "Limelight", when Chaplin's character Calvero (an actor), acts like a flea trainer. With the difference that in "The Professor" the fleas are supposed to be real and in "Limelight" are just part of an act, the gag is exactly the same, but that apparently subtle difference makes an enormous change in both films.

It's uncertain why suddenly Chaplin stopped working on this project (probably he felt that Professor Bosco would not be accepted by his fans), but fortunately, Chaplin kept the best of this short in his head for future projects. While this is by no means Chaplin's best short, it's charming and worth a watch not only for historical reasons. Nowadays it can be found in the "Limelight" DVD. 7/10

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.

From his period after Mutual, 'The Professor' is not one of his very best and not even among the best of this particular period. As said with many of his post-Keystone efforts, it shows a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career. The Essanay and Mutual periods were something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. After Mutual the style had properly settled and the cinematic genius emerged. Something that can be seen in 'The Professor' though other efforts do it better.

The story is slight and a bit too busy and manic in places. It is an unfinished effort and the incompleteness shows in some of the clarity of the story and flow where it is on the choppy side at times.

On the other hand, 'The Professor' looks good, not amazing but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious.

'The Professor' is very funny and charming. The humour is not much but what there is is very well timed and close to hilarious and the charm doesn't get over-sentimental. It generally moves quickly and there is little dullness in sight. It is also very touching, perhaps the most poignant of his 1919 efforts.

Chaplin directs more than competently and the cinematic genius quality is emerging. He also, as usual, gives a playful and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality and substance of the role. The support is good and the chemistry charms.

Overall, good but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Chaplin looks old in this movie. Even it is not completed this film can be seen in Limelight DVD set. In Chaplin's human drama masterpiece Limelight, Calvero the tramp comedian performs several acts, one of those is the "performing fleas" act. This act was performed by Chaplin originally in this movie "The Professor". Chaplin was related to whole music hall life, vaudeville, singing, Harlequinade and circus. In limelight (which is highly autobiographical) Chaplin is in all. The Professor is I think a quite artistic film. Chaplin is not the usual tramp in this film. He is a flea trainer. There is a scene similar to the scene in The Kid, Chaplin rents a bed just in the same place he does in the kid. And performs his great flea act in this film. I wander why he stopped making this film.