Nice and Friendly

Vanity projects have never been very good. And how else you call a movie that is made as a wedding present to your friends, who also star in the movie than not a vanity project. 'Nice and Friendly' stand as this little curiosity in Chaplin's career, that is neither funny nor sad. This movie might even rank lover than some of his weakest earlier works for Keystone.

The main plotline is that Lady Mountbatten has a valuable pearl necklace and everybody wants to steal it. She confronts many different criminals. His lover is played by Lord Mountbatten who tries to save her. His friend calls a 'specialist' - Charles Chaplin as the Tramp. Chaplin enters the house and saves the day. Oh yeah, Jackie Coogan also appears, but it is left unclear who his character is supposed to be.

I'm sure that it was a fun day for all the people involved but unfortunately, for the viewers, the movie is not that funny. Incoherent plotting and jokes aren't anything spectacular either. On the other hand, this movie wasn't meant for the wider audiences anyway. Might be a little boring, but this homemade movie is still worth checking out. The plus of the short movies - they aren't very big time wasters.

Like the last title card said: "All of which goes to prove something very profound but we are not quite sure just what it is." - Chaplin must have had this thought about the movie.