IMDb RATING
5.3/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
A brat's magic lantern show exposes an indiscreet moment between a landlady and her star boarder.A brat's magic lantern show exposes an indiscreet moment between a landlady and her star boarder.A brat's magic lantern show exposes an indiscreet moment between a landlady and her star boarder.
Phyllis Allen
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Jess Dandy
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Billy Gilbert
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Wallace MacDonald
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Rube Miller
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Lee Morris
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
William Nigh
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
Al St. John
- Boarder
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is among the 34 short films included in the "Chaplin at Keystone" DVD collection.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Film Breaks: Charlie Chaplin (1999)
Featured review
Good, Realistic Situation Comedy
This is Chaplin's 10th film and the fourth and last one that George Nichols directed. Only Mack Sennett directed Chaplin in more movies.
This is also the fourth film where he appears drunk ("Mable's Strange Predicament," "Tango, Tangled," and "His Favorite Pasttime" are the other three). It is the third film that he has Minta Durfee as a love interest ("Making a Living," and Cruel, Cruel Love) and the third film he fights with an enraged Edgar Kennedy ("A Film Johnie" and "Cruel, Cruel Love"). Both Durfee and Kennedy are excellent in their roles.
This is the first film in which Chaplin holds a pie. What is interesting is that nobody gets hit by the pie. Instead Chaplin just sits on it. This indicates that pie throwing in March of 1914 had not yet become a standard device in silent film comedies.
The film does not go for big laughs, but it does have a steady stream of small ones. Especially good is Gordon Griffith as a boy with a big, hysterical laugh who snaps naughty pictures of Durfee and Kennedy with different partners.
The film sets up some nice characters in a rooming house, but it does not go any where. It it is pleasantly more restrained and gentler than most Keystone Films. There is, however, the obligatory raucous ending.
Chaplin had done ten films in about ten weeks at Keystone at this point in time. He would take a small break and the following month come back with the two-reeler "Mable At The Wheel."
This is also the fourth film where he appears drunk ("Mable's Strange Predicament," "Tango, Tangled," and "His Favorite Pasttime" are the other three). It is the third film that he has Minta Durfee as a love interest ("Making a Living," and Cruel, Cruel Love) and the third film he fights with an enraged Edgar Kennedy ("A Film Johnie" and "Cruel, Cruel Love"). Both Durfee and Kennedy are excellent in their roles.
This is the first film in which Chaplin holds a pie. What is interesting is that nobody gets hit by the pie. Instead Chaplin just sits on it. This indicates that pie throwing in March of 1914 had not yet become a standard device in silent film comedies.
The film does not go for big laughs, but it does have a steady stream of small ones. Especially good is Gordon Griffith as a boy with a big, hysterical laugh who snaps naughty pictures of Durfee and Kennedy with different partners.
The film sets up some nice characters in a rooming house, but it does not go any where. It it is pleasantly more restrained and gentler than most Keystone Films. There is, however, the obligatory raucous ending.
Chaplin had done ten films in about ten weeks at Keystone at this point in time. He would take a small break and the following month come back with the two-reeler "Mable At The Wheel."
- jayraskin1
- Dec 17, 2012
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Fatal Lantern
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime16 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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