Were the films of Charlie Chaplin stagey because he employed long takes and few camera moves? No! There is something else you can have on screen that you can't on stage beside camera-work and edits, and that is the field of depth. From early on Chaplin had learnt how to use depth to give his little tramp character the kind of entrances and exits that you couldn't have in the theatre, ones that stretched off into the distance, allowing him to gradually appear on the scene and make the most of that now-familiar walk. In the Tramp, he created his most iconic image, that of the tramp sauntering up and later plodding away down a winding country lane.
Such a great and memorable entrance is important for the more structured story lines that Chaplin was now starting to build. Whereas most of the Essanay shorts this far had simply taken a setting in which Charlie could run wild, the Tramp seems to have been constructed plot first, with the funny business appearing along the way. Far from diluting the comedy, this actually improves the material. For example, the middle section in which Charlie causes havoc on the farm, might a few months earlier have been the basis for an entire short – "The Farmhand", perhaps – but now Chaplin is able to condense the best gags of the situation down to one segment which can be woven into the overall story.
The Tramp ends on a note of poignancy – something that was unheard of in screen comedy at the time. But all that Chaplin is doing is recognising something that has been established for centuries. Shakespeare knew it, and so did Dickens. Tragedy affects us more when it appears amongst comedy, and the moment that Chaplin creates here is touching and bittersweet. He even throws in one last gag to stop the moment from becoming too strained.
This isn't quite the funniest of Chaplin's Essanay pictures, but it is the first mature and truly beautiful thing he had yet created.
And finally, that all important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 5 (2 for, 1 against, 2 other)
Such a great and memorable entrance is important for the more structured story lines that Chaplin was now starting to build. Whereas most of the Essanay shorts this far had simply taken a setting in which Charlie could run wild, the Tramp seems to have been constructed plot first, with the funny business appearing along the way. Far from diluting the comedy, this actually improves the material. For example, the middle section in which Charlie causes havoc on the farm, might a few months earlier have been the basis for an entire short – "The Farmhand", perhaps – but now Chaplin is able to condense the best gags of the situation down to one segment which can be woven into the overall story.
The Tramp ends on a note of poignancy – something that was unheard of in screen comedy at the time. But all that Chaplin is doing is recognising something that has been established for centuries. Shakespeare knew it, and so did Dickens. Tragedy affects us more when it appears amongst comedy, and the moment that Chaplin creates here is touching and bittersweet. He even throws in one last gag to stop the moment from becoming too strained.
This isn't quite the funniest of Chaplin's Essanay pictures, but it is the first mature and truly beautiful thing he had yet created.
And finally, that all important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 5 (2 for, 1 against, 2 other)