A Night Out

'A Night Out' stands out only as Edna Purviance's debut. There isn't much plot - the film plays as one running gag concentrating on the antics of drunken Tramp. Drunk Tramp is not usually the most pleasant character and this is the case in this one. And the film doesn't differ much from previous pictures where Charles Chaplin has portrayed trouble making drunk. Although, I have to admit, that this movie is a little more balanced between slapstick and lighter humor. Scenes are staged better and with more attention to detail - not all the energy has gone into drunken slapstick, although, there is plenty of that. Mildly amusing but not overly hilarious. The biggest problem was that it became repetitive rather quickly and thus felt like the movie dragged too much. Ben Turpin knows how to take the fall but that is the only thing he has to offer to this movie. There wasn't much dynamic between him and Chaplin like there was in their previous collaboration 'His New Job'. It is clear that Chaplin still learned the ways of making interesting movies and his progress as a director is showing but 'A Night Out' is still a work of a prentice who's just learned the basics of the craft.

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?

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).

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.

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