The Film Daily (1918)

,32 DAI&.V Sunday, November 17, 1918 Sure Fire Timely Fun That Will Delight Any Audience Charlie Chaplin in is interested in trench life whether they know anything "CUrkTTT HUD A da/IOj about Jt or not' and the fun registered by Charlie is so onUULUrlK /YrvlVlO irresistible that it will win any house, and yet it never Chaplin Special — First National oversteps to the point of ridiculing the service. niDcrTAD ^. . The °PenmS is a whale. Without a title, the first two uiKtV" ' UK • Charlie Chaplin thousand feet showing Charlie trying to keep pace with AUTHOR Charlie Chaplin the awkward squad, is enough to send any audience pampdmam ., _ into an uproar. The action then swings quickly into tAffitKffiAiN Not Credited life in the trenches, and Charlie gets real fun out of this AS A WHOLE One of best Chaplins ever made. witn an occasional little touch of pathos that makes the Certainly timely. laughs that much better. The bit where he uses a nut cthdv m~ *i u i j l * • . ' ... meS Srater to scratch his back because of the cooties, blUKY. . .Mostly hokum and gag about trench life, the expressions when bursting shells come near, the in tureCof £ • " y Unny F,n,shes with cap= cident of the flooded dugout, with the candle sailing over Kaiser. to a comra(ie>s foot) and the hokum business with DIRECTION Kept it moving and made laughs al= Charlie in a camouflaged suit to make him look like a most continuous. dead tree, were marvellous bits of funmaking. PHOTOGRAPHY Generally verv eood In about tfte thir<1 reel> Miss Purveiance floated in as I irHTiivrc *he SDero' and Charlie, in trying to save her from the Liun l llMUb A few good effects Germans, found himself locked in a cupboard of a room CAMERA WORK Good tll:1^ ^e Kaiser visited, and by some funny adventures, CT<n he managed to get in the position of chauffeur in the K One and only Kaiser's car. with the result that he drove his satanic SUPPORT Good; several funny types majesty at full speed into the Allies' line. Then Charlie RVTCDiftDc r* j • woke up. He had been dreaming after his strenuous tx I fcKlORb Good; incident in forest excellent drill with the awkward squad. INTERIORS _ G00d To those who are not familiar with the technical diffi DFTAll e culties of making rapid fire comedy that really registers, c L Scores of funny bits it may seem that the turning out of a production like CHARACTER OF STORY. . .Nothing to offend, only one ^his should be no particular effort. But anyone who has bad touch in warming up Kaiser, but'it will be ever tried to make good comedies, will realize the fact accepted. that getting all the laughs that are registered in this was LENGTH OF PRODUCTION tji42 Feet a very serious J°b Tlie result, however, more than ' *'5 4 justifies the expenditure of expensive time. The idea of having Charlie wander into the German lines camou IF anybody wants evidence of the advisability of tak flaged in a suit that made him look like a dead tree was ing time to make good feature productions, this latest surely an inspiration. They get an awful lot of fun out release by Chaplin should be thoroughly satisfying. of this, and the scene where Charlie was chased by a fat To those who know the technical difficulties of making German soldier through a wood, where he would occa a hokum comedy that can run three reels and keep sionally hide while the German stabbed the various trees going, it is clearly demonstrated here that time, thought trying* to find him was great stuff, because the audi and care are absolutely essential to the making of real eiice had an awful time with each new flash trying to special productions. locate the comedian. Whoever doped out the suit worn Boy, if you don't clean up with this Chaplin, you by Charlie and picked the location for this particular should get out of the show business. Everyone today bit, pulled a new stunt for sure. Play Up Title and'Fact That It Is Star's Latest Production Box Office Analysis for the Exhibitor You can't possibly go wrong on this. My advice would be to play it as a feature, using only some short stuff to till in. making arrangements to turn your crowd over as rapidly as possible. There is certainly no necessity of putting a live reel feature into the same program with this three reel Chaplin. The wisdom of making a few good Chaplin comedies instead of grinding them out by the yard, is surely proving out by the tremendous business that is being done whenever a new Chaplin comedy is offered. The timeliness of this subject makes it a sure fire clean-up, and you can go as far as you like in your ads, even offering rewards to anyone who can't laugh at this latest offering of the million dollar fun-maker! I would tie up with the war on this by such lines as "Do you wonder what trench life is like? See Charlie Chaplin in 'Shoulder Arms.' " "Do you know how the boys scratch their backs when the cooties bother them? See Charlie Chaplin in 'Shoulder Arms.' " "Can you imagine Charlie Chaplin camouflaged as a tree inside the German lines? See 'Shoulder Arms.' " I would not lay much emphasis on Charlie's capture of the Kaiser because this imaginary, much-to-be-desired stunt has been pulled in several war offerings and will not sound in print nearly as good as it actually is in the film. You might use this angle: 'Everyone says soldiers look alike when in uniform, biit you'll have no trouble picking out Charlie Chaplin when you see him in 'Shoulder Arms.' " I would place considerable emphasis upon the fact that Mr. Chaplin is devoting many weeks to the construction of a single picture despite the fact that this care on his part makes each production very expensive to him, because of his arrangement, whereby he receives a sum per picture instead of a weekly salary. It is also important that you emphasize the fact that this is Mr. Chaplin's latest production to make it clear that you are not offering a film which has been seen before.