Chaplin's "The Rink"

2008-10-20 23:43:39

"The Rink" (1916, Chaplin)

"The Rink" has a good rhythm to it. The first part is Charlie's hectic, calamitous style of waitering, endearing him to no one; and the second part sppeds along on the strength of Charlie's roller-skating skills to pay the bills. The man was good. Charlie don's his tramp outfit for the latter half but is really the prognosticator of altercations wherever he goes. Plenty of butt-kicking, fat woman slapping and falling down on, david and goliath on rollerskates, type action.

"The Rink" is emblematic of this period for Charlie and is average fare in the Mutual films period, of which this was the fifth. It's a great example of how Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell play off of each other.

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