Waste of time

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

"The fireman" is a funny short film from Chaplin, although not being among his very best movies. The little tramp here is, as expected, a fireman. Off course everything he does is a disaster, as he is sleepy, clumsy, quarrelsome and sneaky. The outcome is that he is probably the character most times kicked in the ass ever in the history of cinema! Chaplin's slapstick is funny as it uses to be and I always love Eric Campbell as his antagonist (here, as the furious boss, also with the same love interest as usual). The choreographs performed by the firefighters are very charming. The most interesting element in this short film, that makes it somewhat innovative ans special, are the visual effects. Although simple, they are smart and funny. The horse drawn fire pumper moving backward, the quick change of clothes by the firemen... these are all simple visual effects, off course, but they are precise in adding funny moments to the story. I said that everything our favorite fireman did was a disaster, didn't I? Well, not everything. Edna Purviance was there...

A Fire Chief (Eric Campbell) is approached by a man (Lloyd Bacon) who asks that the Fire Department ignores a fire at his house so that he may collect the insurance money. The man insures that his daughter (Edna Purviance) is out during the fire so remains unharmed. The woman is not out though when an arsonist sets the property alight and she gets trapped upstairs. Meanwhile the Firemen which include accident prone Charlie Chaplin are at another house, putting out a fire. When the man realises his daughter is trapped he searches for them, finding Chaplin who attempts to save the day and win the woman's heart.Amazingly The Fireman was Chaplin's 52nd film but was released in June 1916. Despite his age and lack of years in the industry he was by now a pro and it shows here with clever gags and a nice central idea. Unfortunately the film suffers from a similar problem as The Floorwalker in that it just isn't quite funny enough.Although not awash with comedy there are some excellent comic turns to be found. A particular highlight of mine was the dual use of the fire engine as a means of putting out fire and as an over-sized coffee machine. The gag works very well visually and adds a little bit of surrealism which I always like to see. Another laugh comes when Chaplin falls backwards on to a man who is kneeling down, scrubbing a floor. The weight of Chaplin on his back sends the man's head straight into a bucket of water. As well as these sight gags there are the little touches which can often go unnoticed. Chaplin had a habit of using a recurring gag where by he would trip and doff his hat to the curb. Here as a Fireman he salutes. It's a nice in joke and twist on one of his favourites.One interesting point about the film is that it shows a near deserted area of Los Angeles. It's incredible to see footage of the metropolis less than a hundred years ago and compare it to today. There are few streets and fewer houses and just one vehicle in the background of one shot. To me a lot of Chaplin's location work is fascinating for its background detail as well as its focus.Another aspect of the film which I enjoyed was the reversing of film to create some odd looking and humorous scenes. The film is reversed to create the effect of Chaplin sliding up a Fireman's pole (in the literal sense) and is also used on a couple of occasions to create images of horses walking backwards which looks very odd indeed. This is another example of Chaplin's ever expanding inventiveness. Because of this and other clever ideas it's a shame that he resorts to so much that even by 1916 was tired and well used. The kick up the backside gag is repeated here several times and although it's Chaplin on the receiving end it does feel a little overdone. The plot itself feels fairly formulaic and very similar to previous films.Despite the problems with the movie such as tired plot and jack of jokes it ends on a high. The final scene is exciting and sweet and brings the proceedings to a pleasant close. Chaplin's climbing and acrobatics are excellent and even though he has an obviously fake Edna Purviance on his back, the stunts are still impressive. Despite being his second Mutual film it still feels as though Chaplin was finding his feet with the company and though exploring new ideas was relying too heavily on safe material.www.attheback.blogspot.com

One of the many advantages Charlie Chaplin had in the independence, confidence and familiarity of this point in his career was that he had a large crew of supporting players, each with their own slightly different character, whom the little tramp could play off of. Since the Fireman does not show Charlie at his funniest, let's take this opportunity to tip our hats to the gentlemen who were the butts of so many of his jokes.Chaplin's supporting actors came in many shapes and sizes, but they all had one function in common – to be a puffed-up pompous twerp, who it was amusing to see brought down a peg. You see, Charlie's appeal lay in his own lack of pomposity, and his knack of deflating it in others. This even went to the point of Chaplin not always being the centre of attention, but still being the originator of the biggest laughs. And yet it was that army of pratfallers who keep the supply of potential gags flowing and fresh.So who have we here? Most noticeable is of course Eric Campbell, in his second role for Chaplin. Campbell was a real find, having size coupled with sternness, meaning he was suitable play Chaplin's boss as well as antagonist. As the ultimate burly bully and a grim figure of authority, he provides us with the most satisfaction when Charlie gets the better of him. Then we get the jumped-up, self-important boss's pet as played by Albert Austin. After seeing Campbell repeatedly kick Charlie up the arse, Austin gets in one kick of his own, only to have Charlie ceremoniously kick him back. Finally there is Leo White, and I'm sad to say this really was finally for him because it was the last appearance of his recurring posh twit persona, and his penultimate appearance in any Chaplin picture. He is at his best here though, hopping frantically around trying to get the fire brigade round to his burning house. Charlie's languid, unconcerned response is hilarious, but only because White's exaggerated capering gives him such an excellent counterpoint.This is all in all a fairly good Chaplin short, typical of the smoothness he displayed at the Mutual studios. It's also notable for a couple of camera trick gags, such as Charlie appearing to put the horses into reverse, or a jump cut which makes it look like the firemen got dressed in a split second. These are pretty funny, but Chaplin clearly did not consider himself a Melies and would not pursue the approach.And where would we be without our all-important statistic? – Number of kicks up the arse: 15 (1 for, 13 against, 1 other)

Monday September 10, 7:00 pm, The Paramount Theater, SeattleReferring to Chaplin's Mutual films and The Fireman, in his book American Silent Film, William K. Everson explains, "The weakest of them, the purely slapstick entries, such as The Fireman, are still superior to the best of the Keystones and Essanays; and the best of them (The Immigrant, Easy Street, The Rink) could stand with his best work from any period." The Fireman relies entirely upon the physical brutality found in those earlier films for much of its humor. Charlie suffers the indignities of his fellow firemen and flirts with the chief's (Eric Campbell) sweetheart (Edna Purviance). She visits the station with her father who tells the chief, "Let my house burn. I'll get the insurance and you can wed my daughter." Of course, it goes wrong, there is "An honest fire," and Charlie rescues Edna from her burning house while the other firemen are occupied in truest Keystone fashion.