Easy Street is the ninth film Chaplin edited, wrote, directed, and produced for the Mutual Film Corporation. Chaplin attempts to combine slapstick with social commentary in this film. For the most part, he's successful, but the film just isn't as funny as other Mutual films. Chaplin finds salvation at a religious revival and becomes a policeman. Yet he's not so coincidentally dressed as a Keystone cop, and we know we're in for some fast-paced comedy. The streets are ruled by bully Eric Campbell, who once again serves as Chaplin's foil. Edna Purviance is the religious girl Chaplin saves from a drug fiend en route to cleaning up the neighborhood. There are many moments in the film that are equally comic as well as social commentary. The lack of respect for law and order, justifying stealing from sleeping shopkeepers, and the inevitable conclusion that order and respect trumps disorder and chaos. The highlights of the film involve Chaplin's attempts to subdue Eric Campbell, first with a gas lamppost and then with an end table through an open window. The film is generally recognized as Chaplin's most well known or best from his Mutual period, but I feel that other films like The Pawnbroker and One AM are more comically inventive and funny. This was one of Chaplin's first films to utilize social commentary. **1/2 of 4 stars.
Review of Easy Street
