 |
| I have no idea what is going on here... |
Starring Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Tom Wilson
Produced by First National Pictures
Charlie is a farmhand we can all relate to. He's woken in the morning for work, but just wants five more minutes. He waits impatiently for a hen to deliver his breakfast (directly into the pan no less). And when he should be paying attention at work, he's day dreaming (with predictably catastrophic results).
The only person that keeps his full attention is the village belle. But when a city slicker comes rolling into town, Charlie finds himself in competition with the newcomer for the girl's hand. Will he win her hand? Or was it all just a dream?
Seriously.
Was it all just a dream? Because I'm still confused. This feels like an experiment from Chaplin, but it's one gone awry. It's not funny. It's not interesting. It just meanders about for the first half and then turns into a convoluted mess once the romance is introduced.
There are moments that feel like they should be funny, but they just don't go anywhere. The only truly funny sequence in the story is the opening as the farmer tries to get Charlie out of bed. From there it is all downhill.
One other scene worth discussion is a moment where Charlie is knocked unconscious and dreams of four fairies dancing about him in the woods. It feels out of place and doesn't give you any direction as to how to feel. Is it meant to be funny? It seems like it's trying for whimsy, but not quite getting there.
By the end, I lost track of whether we were in a dream or not. Actually, I think I just stopped caring. And that's the first time I've said that about a Chaplin film.
*1/2 out of *****
Photo from Observations on film art
0 comments:
Post a Comment