Chaplin's "Work"

2008-02-01 00:57:39

“Work” (1915, Chaplin)

With the Keystone Studio 1914 over with and the Essanay 1915 underway, Charlie’s character was truly more of a sophomore effort. “Work” seems to be an average film of this year. There are more complicated laughs and Charlie isn’t such an asshole to folks anymore. It’s other people that treat him as such. The beginning of “Work” has Charlie pulling a loaded cart and a big fat dude whipping him, even up a hill! The big fat dude turns out to be Charlie’s lazy unprofessional boss.

“Work” has its moments and definitely shows the maturation of Charlie’s character. This film was Charlie’s 43rd film overall and 28th directing. A favorite scene has to be when the woman of the house distrusts the two painters (Charlie and boss) so that she gathers up her silver and puts it into a safe. Charlie’s reply is to ask his boss to empty his pocket’s components of a watch and coins, together with Charlie’s timepiece, and placed all into one of Charlie’s pockets right in front of the woman of the house. Nice!

Click here to see the movie related to this post