A Night Out

Charlie Chaplin's 'A Night Out' is half an hour of the same sort of gag over and over again. Chaplin is drunk and together with another guy (Ben Turpin) he apparently is on a night out. They get kicked out of a bar, have some trouble with a waiter (Bud Jamison) there, his wife shows up as well to give us a little more fun, and out on the street a police officer is doing his rounds.

Basically we see Chaplin smack someone in the face, the waiter or the other guy, or even the waiter's wife, and then he gets smacked in the face. The physical action that follows is quite nice but after five minutes we get the joke, after watching 25 minutes more we are kind of tired of it.

The reason to see this short, besides Chaplin's skill, is because Edna Purviance plays the wife of the waiter. This is her first film with Chaplin and that makes it a little more interesting. I squeeze it with a six (out of ten).

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 Out' is not one of his very best or even among the best of this particular period. 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 'A Night Out'.

'A Night Out' is not one of his all-time funniest or most memorable, other efforts also have more pathos and a balance of that and the comedy. The story is still a little flimsy, there are times where it struggles to sustain the short length, and could have had more variety and less more of the same repeition.

On the other hand, 'A Night Out' 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 funniest or original, 'A Night Out' is still very entertaining with some clever, entertaining and well-timed slapstick. It moves quickly and there is no dullness in sight.

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 of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well, with an amusing Ben Turpin and charming Edna Purviance in her first collaboration with Chaplin.

In summation, worth watching if not to watch over and over. 7/10 Bethany Cox

After this, the second Charles Chaplin two-part Essanay release, it is clear that the comedian lost none of his ability to entertain when he left the Keystone Company. "One Night Out" keeps an audience in an almost perpetual uproar. It is Chaplin at his funniest, and supporting him is a strong company that follows his method as though accustomed to it from long experience. The situations are rather good in themselves and they are used to the very best advantage. - The Moving Picture World, March 6, 1915

Though there are some good moments, mostly later in the feature, overall this short comedy has too much of the same basic material, and it starts to get old rather soon. Charlie Chaplin and Ben Turpin play a couple of drunks who cause a series of difficulties for each other and for those with whom they come in contact. They both do a creditable job (in itself) of performing the material, but it is just too much of the same thing. Drunkenness just is not funny enough to carry even a short feature all by itself, and the use of it as a pretext for the characters to behave in a chronically impolite fashion wears thin relatively quickly.

Things do get a little better in the second half, when the material and the plot become somewhat less one-dimensional. Then too, anything with Chaplin in it will have some good moments - but overall, "A Night Out" is below Chaplin's usual standard. It's probably most memorable for the first of Edna Purviance's many appearances in a Chaplin movie.

It's difficult to examine the acting done in Chaplin's early comedies, because the term "acting" has to be used to so loosely. Chaplin is at his least impressive for much of the film, stumbling around drunk and causing havoc in a fancy restaurant. Definitely vintage slapstick, but this style has, ahem, gotten a little old.

Anyway, Charlie and a friend have apparently had a big night and are struggling to maintain in a nice restaurant surrounded by well-dressed guests, but soon prove to be nothing but trouble. Before long there is a huge, oafish waiter, who looks more like a bouncer, who has to come in and restore order. It quickly becomes clear that this is a very inexperienced actor. There is one scene where he's smacking Chaplin, and his punches are obviously fake, even in fast motion.

I am not the biggest fan of the violence in Chaplin's films, at least when it's overdone, even though it is generally so over the top that, while it does usually look pretty convincing, it can still get a few laughs. But like it or not, the kicks and punches are usually pretty convincing. Not this guy!

Anyway, the film gives us this example of messy acting, more of a drunken Chaplin, a jealous husband, some seedy motel rooms, and a bit with a dog. What more do we really need?