His Favorite Pastime

Although Charles Chaplin played the alcoholic convincingly and there were a couple of funny and clever moments (when the drunkard falls over the railing, lands on the couch and so very elegantly lights his cigarette), 'His Favorite Pastime' wasn't my favorite at all. There are loveable drunkards and then there are those annoying creepy ones. Chaplin, unfortunately, managed to be the latter one. I never felt sympathy towards his character and was waiting when he gets the proper beating as the bully deserved. This is actually quite a pity because 'His Favorite Pastime' is one of the best structured and logical of the early Chaplin's movies. 'Fatty' Arbuckle's appearance at the beginning was quite joyous though.

This Charlie Chaplin short was the first I watched on the 2 DVD collection of his courtesy of the Platinum Disc Corporation. In this one, he's the familiar Tramp character who's drunk the whole time so anything he does here is the result of his inebriation. As a result, I actually found most of it funny especially early on when one of the people he encounters is fellow comic Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as a fellow bar patron who tries to get his drink without Chaplin looking. Since Arbuckle wasn't yet a star, that's all we see of him though he makes a good impression here. Most of the time, it's just Charlie as he stumbles through missing punches or getting punched, going into someone's house and getting the residents' reactions, or scaring some dark-skinned servants (obviously caricatured by Caucasian humans though not as offensively portrayed since there's no white lips or other stereotypical characteristics). Quite funny for an early effort so on that note, I recommend His Favorite Pastime.

One of the few farcical comedies in photoplays that gets continuous laughter. The comedian, whose favorite pastime is drinking highballs, is clever, ia fact the best one Mack Sennett has sprung on the public. He is a new one and deserves mention. The situations in this offering are finely handled. This is a real comedy. - The Moving Picture World, March 21, 1914

It appears this is unpopular, even compared to other early Chaplins.

I found it funnier and more advanced than a number of Chaplin's films from this period.

It suffers compared to later films of his, of course, because I find these early films are rather primitive. However, several of his films before and after this are less funny and less interesting.

Chaplin's drunk act is excellent throughout. Fatty Arbuckle does a decent performance too. The sequence where Charlie fights with a saloon toilet door is funny and much copied. When he jumps onto a moving vehicle it is well done and interesting,

All in all, not a bad little film.

His Favorite Pastime (1914)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Charles Chaplin plays the town drunk who walks into a local bar and starts throwing them down. Soon he can't walk straight but that doesn't stop him from getting on everyone's nerves. The annoying drunk had been done to death by 1914 and it had been done to death by Chaplin even though this was only his seventh movie. I'm really not sure what Chaplin thought of these films but this one here is pretty darn weak from start to finish with very few laughs. Once again we get to see Chaplin stumble around, pick fights and flirt with women who belong to other men. None of this is funny and what's worse is that it appears Chaplin is just sleepwalking through the film. You certainly can't blame here because I didn't see a single attempt at anything even trying to be funny. Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle has a small role at the start of the film but just stumbles around as another drunk. Even if laughs could come from drunks, this one here features rather mean drunks, which again just isn't funny.