Charlot #4: A Thief Catcher

I went from set to set watching the companies at work. They all seemed to be imitating Ford Sterling. This worried me, because his style did not suit me.

Chaplin, My Autobiography

This is a special one. Until a copy was rediscovered in 2010, this film was considered lost. It’s not even on my DVD set of Chaplin at Keystone.

Lost films are films that have no known existing copy, and it’s estimated some absurd number like 75% of silent films are lost. There’s a variety of complex reasons for films to be lost but it all comes down to the fact that film preservation was simply not a priority. Films aren’t even art, legally speaking. I didn’t say that, the Supreme Court did. So if we need more space in the warehouse, why not chuck some reels in the furnace?

And that’s about where this film’s significance ends, to me at least. This is a Ford Sterling vehicle. Sterling was one of the significant comic players at Keystone, so it would be expected for Chaplin to appear in one of his pictures in a bit part—one of the famous Keystone Cops. Chaplin had said in interviews that he once played a cop during his time at Keystone, but it wasn’t until this film’s reemergence corroborated the claim that we could see it for ourselves.

The short, as far as I can decipher, is about a policeman who happens to encounter a group of criminals performing some post-crime housekeeping. He takes a photo, prompting the criminals pursue, eventually cornering him in a barn. Hijinks ensue.

…….Look, this one’s pretty bad. Most scenes begin with two players entering the frame, hitting their mark, and turning to face each other theatrically. The direction puts in zero work to show the relationship between scenes; even adjoining rooms in a house seem spatially disjointed.

Although Chaplin only has a minor role, I’m glad I watched this for the Keystone context. Sterling’s performance encapsulates all the worst cliches of silent comedy. I’m inclined to agree with Chaplin: Sterling’s frenetic movements and goofy expressions may be entertaining, but they also make me yearn for the refined pantomime of the great clown. Sometimes you need a reminder of just how low things can go in order to appreciate how good you’ve got it, I suppose.