A Night Out

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?

Upon finishing "His New Job," Chaplin had enough of the cold midwestern weather and decided to return to California where Essanay had a small studio 30 miles outside of San Francisco. Part studio owner and cowboy actor Max Anderson had earlier established a facility to shoot and edit his Westerns for the mountainous typography.

For his next film, February 1915's "A Night Out," Chaplin was yearning to find a leading comic actress similar to Keystone's Mabel Normand, but without all the drama associated with filming with her. There are varying stories how Chaplin discovered a 19-year-old secretary, Edna Purviance, to be selected for that acting position. Either through an audition, spotting her in a San Francisco lobby, or through an introduction, Chaplin was intriqued with her looks and picked Purviance despite his reservations she never had acted in front of a camera before.

Despite her humble opinion she had stunk up the joint in her first film, Purviance performed well enough in "A Night Out" to continue a stretch of 33 films where she was that funny lady opposite of Chaplin. To boot, she also had a romantic relationship with him for the next three years.

"His Night Out" is also noteworthy as being the first movie where Chaplin met cameraman Rollie Totheroh, who was working with Anderson and his Westerns.. Totheroh would soon become Chaplin's director of photography throughout his career, all the way until the mid-1950's.

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

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).

One of Chaplin's better efforts from his early days at Essanay – which isn't really that much of a recommendation, as both Chaplin and his creation were far from the finished article when this was made. With his exaggerated motions and heavy-eyed contemplation of things he can't quite understand due to his inebriated state, Chaplin exquisitely captures the behaviour of one who has had more than one too many. He's partnered for the first time with Edna Purviance here, and they work well together. The story itself is typical of the violence with which Chaplin's work seemed to be obsessed at this time. He had obviously found a formula that worked…