User reviews

Long before he became a smash on the silver screen, Charlie Chaplin had been making a splash in music hall comedy, where he honed his craft and began to discover his comic persona. A Night in the Show is one of the few Chaplin pictures to directly reference those theatrical beginnings, borrowing heavily from the Fred Karno sketch "Mummingbirds", with a sprinkling of Chaplin's own touches.

Appropriately enough, this is also a rare outing for Chaplin's aristocratic drunk act, which predates his little tramp, having originated in his days with the Karno troupe. While not as versatile or sympathetic as the tramp, the drunk could nevertheless be just as funny. With Chaplin's refined directorial style, he makes the most of the character's antics, allowing him to bumble about in a series of long takes. He is joined by "Mr Rowdy", also played by Chaplin, a character I have not seen anywhere else, but who bares a slight resemblance to the screen persona of Ben Turpin, who made a few appearances for Chaplin in earlier Essanay shorts. Mr Rowdy isn't exactly hilarious, although he allows for some interplay between the two Chaplins, as we see the drink Rowdy pours from the gallery landing on the drunk in the stalls in two separate shots, which is a kind of cinematic joke in itself – and one thing Chaplin couldn't have done on stage.

In fact, this whole piece seems to be Chaplin showing off the advantages of screen over stage. Although in the Karno sketch the drunk would be planted in the audience, right by the stage as we see him here, it did not involve the audience any further. In the medium of film, Chaplin can make as many gags as he wants among the on screen audience. In the most bizarre bit of nose-thumbing, there is even a Georges Melies moment, when the demonic fire-eater "appears" on stage with a stop-trick. It is, in many ways, one of the most intelligent shorts Chaplin made at Essanay. And yet, sadly it isn't very funny. It doesn't have the sense of cohesion or build up of gags that we would expect from a Chaplin short by this point.

But there's still time for the all-important statistic - Number of kicks up the arse: 1 (1 for)

Charlie Chaplin made an odd little short indeed! He plays two different characters--neither of which are his usual "Little Tramp". Instead, he plays two really annoying audience members at a live show. Mr. Pest was a drunk rich guy who acted like he was the only one in the audience--having no regard for others at all during the show--even annoying the performers from time to time. Mr. Rowdy was a poorer guy in the balcony who nearly fell off the balcony several times and was prone to throwing or dropping things. Together, they both helped to ruin the show. While this is all the plot there really is in the film, it's so much fun and there's so much silly slapstick humor that I had a fine time. Usually I like more plot, but funny is funny.

In "A Night in the Show", one of Charlie Chaplin's many short films, Charlie plays two roles as two spectators at a music-hall show. It has a few good laughs and also provides an interesting look at old-fashioned theater entertainment.

During the first part, there are some misadventures as Charlie's characters settle into their seats, with one of his characters being the kind of chronic seat-changer that we've all had to deal with. During the second part, the show begins, and the audience and the various performers compete with each other for attention.

Chaplin used a lot of comic ideas in this one, some slapstick and some more subtle. It is also very interesting as a look (though probably exaggerated) at the kind of often off-beat live entertainment that was so popular in the days before television and radio.

This is an interesting short, and worth a look.

Charlie Chaplin plays Mr. Pest and Mr. Rowdy in this Essanay short. Attending a variety show Pest is on the main floor, Rowdy up with the great unwashed in the balcony. Pest dominates the picture with Charlie still doing his inebriated Tramp routine of past shorts with Rowdy spelling him. The acts and the orchestra make for decent foils and there's plenty of pie throwing and Charlie pratfalls, but it's a rather lengthy Chaplin short that soon becomes repetitive with the better material exhausted mid-way.

Dual roles in a single setting for Charlie Chaplin, who invades an inept theatrical performance as both a snooty, sneering front-row aristocrat and a woefully drunken hobo up in the balcony. Neither has much interest in the show, what with the search for a fitting seat and/or a roaring good time, but it doesn't look like they're missing much. The rest of the house is far more entertained by the clumsy interruptions of their fellow spectators than the main act, and the whole scene quickly flies way off the handle. Despite playing multiple parts, Chaplin actually saves a fair amount of screen time for his support acts: a bumbling orchestra section, a food-toting man child, a nervous singing duo and many more bite-sized bits. The gags never let up, not even for a second, with several laughs greatly enhanced by the rapid film speed. Not a lot of story to go around, but plenty of material, if that makes sense.

This is one of the first Charlie Chaplin films I ever watched, and still holds as one of my favorites. This is a film you have to watch very closely to appreciate. While there is plenty of the signature slapstick comedy you would expect to see in a Chaplin film, there are many more funny scenes that happen quickly through gestures and facial expressions. To fully experience the hilarity this film offers, you first have to fully understand what is going on, and to remember that the people in the audience are in the wealthy upper-class.

I could be wrong, but I believe this early Chaplin comedy was based on one of his music hall sketches for Fred Karno (and for which a young Stan Laurel served as understudy). Chaplin plays two characters in this one: Mr Pest and Mr Rowdy, both of whom create chaos in a theatre. One of them (I forget which) is dressed in an evening suit, suggesting a character of some breeding, while the other is sat high up in the cheap seats. There's only a few scattered laughs in this one, and quite a bit less physical and slapstick comedy than you'd expect from the little man. Chaplin makes a convincing lush, however, and is barely recognisable as the guy in the cheap seats..

"A Night In The Show" (1915, Chaplin) "A Night In The Show" is Charlie at his best in this early stage in his careeer. Early being his 48th overall film and 32nd directing, all within 1914 and 1915, and one of 49 in that time period. From the very beginning, the film just flows from one comedic segment into another. The beginning is rather lackluster which may only bolster the opinion of a rising laugh overall. Charlie starts trouble and adds on to future troubles all at once. All the sketches are played out with perfect timing. In the middle of the ruckus that Charlie causes as he moves around the theater is another tramp in the first seat of the aisle in the balcony. He spills beer onto the people below, throws cream puffs at a dude and a little person act, and in the grand finale, uses a fire hose to put out a fire which is part of the act on stage.

This is one of the few of these early films that could withstand repeated watching of it.

A Night in the Show starts off with a stunt that is less than characteristic for a Chaplin film, because it's just not very imaginative. Charlie cuts in line to get into a show, and is told by the guard to get to the end of the line and wait his turn. So he calmly agrees to do it, but then he goes out and stands behind a statue while everyone else files away. Why did he do this? Is he supposed to be drunk or something? His antics within the auditorium seem to indicate that he is, as he staggeringly wiggles his way down a couple of crowded aisles, lights a match off of a bald man's head, and throws his match into a nearby tuba, and claps at all the wrong times. These are the kinds of things that Chaplin is so well-known for, these situations where he seems to upset everyone around him without even really realizing that he's doing anything wrong.

Of course, it's not always his fault, as in this case, he is led to the wrong seat, causing him to make his way down these crowded aisles repeatedly, upsetting more people every time. The film begins to delve into simplistic but hilarious violence as Charlie ultimately proceeds to belligerently punch everyone in sight with his characteristic roundhouse punches, bringing the whole house to their feet and having to be forcefully removed. He is seated in another section while the conductor of the band in the show (the first person he attacked) puts himself and his equipment back together in an effort to begin the rest of the show.

There is an element of foreshadowing in the film as we witness another person who is not unruly, but who is a little unstable on his feet and who resembles the Tramp far too much to be anything but a person who is going to cause some trouble at some point in the film, with the expected result that everyone will take him as the Tramp and Charlie will take the blame for whatever he does. This guy turns out to be a mildly amusing character as he cheerfully dumps a beer from the balcony onto the audience below, where the Tramp, fresh from shoving a fat lady into a tub of water, is flirting with a flapper girl who he caught eyeing him from across the room.

Not exactly the best stuff from Chaplin, but one of the funniest scenes in the film is the one in which the Tramp goes to hold the girl's hand and winds up holding the hand of her beefy date, fluttering his eyelids at her all the while, completely oblivious. He moves again when he discovers his plunder, only to begin getting himself in trouble yet again. He ultimately manages to get himself into a fight right on the stage where the show is taking place, only to be moved yet again.

Charlie seems to be more vexed than usual with people in general in this film, which is understandable near the end when he gets seated next to a horribly aggravating fat kid, as the movie is reduced to a food fight, and the show gets the biggest applause after Charlie has gone on stage to put a pie in the face of the guy singing. It's pretty clear that Charlie is making a comment with this film about the quality of the average stage production in 1915, because all of the acts in the film are pretty bad. No wonder the Tramp's upset for so much of the film.

As is pretty traditional with these early Chaplin short films, A Night in the Show does not end with much of a conclusion, but rather with another comedy skit, the grand finale, if you will. This is by far the funniest scene in the film, in which the Tramp look-alike in the balcony takes a fire hose and proceeds to hose down everyone in the auditorium. What a great scene! There are some truly great laughs in that scene, although I remain unsure about why there was a fire hose in the middle of an auditorium. I'm sure I just don't know enough about the fire standards of 1915, but regardless of why it's there, it makes a great prop for the film.

A Night in the Show is definitely not one of the best or most memorable of Chaplin's early films, but the quality is there and it is, as they all are, a cinematic curiosity piece in that it was made by one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of the medium.

If you're in the right frame of mind for it, "A Night at the Show" is Charlie Chaplin at his slapstick best. I like my early Chaplin tipsy, abusive, mischievous, amorous, and a little put off by the world around him, and he's all of these things in this one. He's also two characters.

Mr. Rowdy (Chaplin) is an abusive drunk with an overblown mischievous streak. We learn little about him, and he's there for the laughs he provides. He does provide them, and one can imagine that he was just a fun character to play.

Mr. Pest (Chaplin), on the other hand, has the universe revolving around him. Everyone else in the theater is there for his amusement, and it strained credulity a little bit – which is fine – that he wasn't just thrown out of the place.

The show which Chaplin attends is intolerable until Chaplin takes matters into his own hands. Some people in the audience, you'll feel, deserve to be smacked, and of course, they are knocked around by a master.

I'm a big fan of his Keystone stuff, but "A Night at the Show" is Chaplin freed at Essanay. The world is his oyster, and he sups on seafood. It's a blast!

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 Essanay period after leaving Keystone, 'A Night in the Show' (from my understanding it is indeed based on his vaudeville years with Fred Karno) is not one of his very best but is one of his best early efforts and among the better short films of his. 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, from 1914, The Essanay period is something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. Something that can be seen in the more than worthwhile 'The Bank'.

The story is still flimsy and actually one of the most lightweight ones of the Essanay period, there are times where it struggles to sustain the short length, and could have had more variety.

On the other hand, 'A Night in the Show' looks pretty good, not incredible 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.

While not one of his most hilarious or touching, 'A Night in the Show' is still very funny with some clever, entertaining and well-timed slapstick and is one of his first to have substance and pathos after 'The Bank' and 'The Tramp'. It moves quickly and there is no dullness in sight. The ending is great fun.

Chaplin directs more than competently, if not quite cinematic genius standard yet. He also, as usual, gives an amusing and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality and substance of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well.

In summary, very good and one of the best from Chaplin's Essanay period. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This 1915 short comedy is much like Chaplin's last comedy Limelight as he and Buster Keaton share the final stage before his curtain call. In both scenes, Chaplin finds himself falling off and back on stage during his performance. In A Night in the Show, Chaplin introduces himself to the audience as the show. It is he who they are coming to see. Chaplin plays two characters that are both trying to win the attention of the audience. One is portraying an Artist while the other is trying to make the crowd laugh by any means necessary. Both win as the Jester and the Artist make the mob laugh and cheer for more. I consider A Night in the Show fair warning from Chaplin about what the next 40 years was going to be like.