With only some thin material to support a running time of 40 minutes, A DOG'S LIFE is hardly one of Chaplin's best, but there are a couple of inventive sequences, as always, in any Chaplin film.
Here he's the Little Tramp, sleeping on the streets--just like a nearby mongrel dog--and when he's caught stealing food through a picket fence, a wise cop is on his trail. Sight gags begin right at the start, first when he eludes the policeman and then when he applies for a job opening at a brewery. He's outsmarted by all the other scrappy applicants and gets pushed off his seat a number of times by the more boisterous members who dash to the employment window before him.
He befriends the mongrel dog, meets a girl at a saloon/restaurant dive, has to deal with thieves who've stolen a wealthy man's wallet, and ends up dreaming of a better life with his girlfriend and the little mutt. EDNA PURVIANCE, his favorite leading lady, is funny in her flirtatious moment with Chaplin.
Not up to the highest standards he would achieve later, it's watchable but good for only a few chuckles with The Little Tramp and the dog being the only really viable characters. Even shorts can run too long.
Here he's the Little Tramp, sleeping on the streets--just like a nearby mongrel dog--and when he's caught stealing food through a picket fence, a wise cop is on his trail. Sight gags begin right at the start, first when he eludes the policeman and then when he applies for a job opening at a brewery. He's outsmarted by all the other scrappy applicants and gets pushed off his seat a number of times by the more boisterous members who dash to the employment window before him.
He befriends the mongrel dog, meets a girl at a saloon/restaurant dive, has to deal with thieves who've stolen a wealthy man's wallet, and ends up dreaming of a better life with his girlfriend and the little mutt. EDNA PURVIANCE, his favorite leading lady, is funny in her flirtatious moment with Chaplin.
Not up to the highest standards he would achieve later, it's watchable but good for only a few chuckles with The Little Tramp and the dog being the only really viable characters. Even shorts can run too long.