Day 4 – Favorite Essanay Film – 30 Day Charlie Chaplin Challenge

Chaplin’s Essanay films are the least watched era for me. He is, understandably, still finding himself as a filmmaker (it was his second year in films after all. As much as a genius as he was to become, not even he could be a master of it in such a short time), but the Tramp character starts to emerge more at this time. “The Tramp” and “A Woman” are good examples of this.

This is also the year that Edna Purviance joined Charlie’s ensemble.

The Tramp is great because of the silliness he gets himself into. This was also one of the first Chaplin films I bought, in some department store that had a small selection of VHS tapes. And that version of the film had narration as well. Maybe affected my love for the film. Also a slightly better paced story than A Woman.

I like how (around 9:30) he gets accidentally sacked by a big bag of flour (?) and gets covered in it. And he does that quick look at the camera. Doesn’t matter how many times I have seen it, it always makes me laugh.

But A Woman I love because of the amazing job he does in playing a woman (though this wasn’t his first time. That would be A Busy Day). Also the clever way he flips over his adversaries into a nearby pond.

When I was a young fan, I remember looking through a Chaplin book and, seeing a picture of a woman, thinking it was the leading lady. And then reading the caption and thinking “That’s Charlie?!?” in amazement.