His Favorite Pastime (1914)

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. Everybody has to have at least one misfire in their careers, even the best directors and actors have not so good films or films they regret. From his early still evolving period before he properly found his stride and fairly fresh from his vaudeville background, 'His Favourite Pastime' shows that Chaplin is not immune from this. While an important milestone period for him, his Keystone years/films were watchable and interesting enough overall but patchy, none being among his best work.'His Favourite Pastime' has a few good points. While a little primitive and not exactly audacious, the production values are far from cheap. Fatty Arbuckle does bring some zest to his role.There are also a few amusing moments, the highlight being Chaplin's saloon toilet door fight which is actually very funny and in a different league to the rest of the material. Where 'His Favourite Pastime' falls down is that mostly it's not particularly funny. The timing feels limp and there is very little, if any, freshness or originality apart from that aforementioned scene with the saloon toilet door. There is not much charm here and there is not much to be emotionally invested by. The story is flimsy, so much so things feel over-stretched, there are not many Chaplin short films where a short length feels very dull but 'His Favourite Pastime' is one of them.Found myself uncharacteristically disappointed by Chaplin, which was not expected because generally even in lesser efforts he was one of the better things about them. Here he does not look interested and goes through the motions, there is none of the comedy/directing genius that he is deservedly hailed for. Arbuckle aside, the rest of the cast are not much to write home about.In conclusion, an early career misfire. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This is Chaplin's eight film and the third one ("Mabel's Strange Predicament" and "Tango Tangled")where he did his famous drunk routine. It was his drunk routine that got him hired at Keystone in the first place, so it is not surprising to see it being used so frequently early in his film career. Chaplin continued to use his great drunk mimic ability throughout his whole career ("One A.M." and "City Lights" to name two other films). While the film does not really go anywhere beyond laughing at a drunk, there are a few memorable moments.The movie begins in a bar with Chaplin, drunk, mistaking a sausage for a cigar and trying to light it. It is the first use of food for something else that appears in a Chaplin film. The shoelace as spaghetti gag in "The Gold Rush" is perhaps the most famous. Immediately, we have a nice bit with Roscoe Arbuckle playing another drunk. Chaplin teases poor Arbuckle with the prospect of sharing his drink. Together Chaplin and Arbuckle improvise quite nicely. Unfortunately Arbuckle disappears from the film after two minutes. Surely, the improvisation should have continued with Arbuckle getting some revenge on Chaplin to balance things out.The funniest bit in the whole movie may be Chaplin battling with restroom swinging door. Drunk Chaplin loses the fight and ends up crawling under the door.Outside there's a quick beginning to a romance between Peggy Pearce and Chaplin. Pearce seems to have been chosen because of her resemblance to Mable Normand. Unfortunately, she's not really good at improve comedy as Normand was. As with the Arbuckle character, the budding romance plot just shuts.There are a couple of wonderful acrobatic moments. The first is Chaplin riding outside a streetcar, holding on with one hand. He goes flying off when the streetcar stops, but he makes a perfect landing. The second is a wonderful flop over the railing of a staircase onto a couch.The movie does have some unfortunate bits of racism. Helen Carruthers and Billy Gilbert play their small parts in black-face. Gilbert, waiting with palm out for a tip gets burnt by Chaplin's match and Chaplin registers shock when he discovers that the woman he thinks he has found is her black servant. Carruthers does give Chaplin a good thrashing.At the end, the entire family of Chaplin's would be love come and kick him literally out of the house. There's a scene in the movie "Chaplin" (1992) where Chaplin first puts on his tramp costume that appears to be based on this scene. However it is changed quite a bit and Henry Lehrman is directing. The director was actually George Nichols.This is Nichols second of four Chaplin films. He directed from 1908 to 1916, but only worked for Keystone for about seven months from late 1913 to April, 1914. It is interesting that Sennett gave Chaplin to Nichols. It may be a mark that after six weeks at Keystone, Sennett felt Chaplin was not making it as a top comedian and relegated him to second tier Keystone films.Again, the film certainly does not rank with Chaplin's best work at Keystone, but there are a few brief, very nice moments.

It appears this is unpopular, even compared to other early Chaplins.I found it funnier and more advanced than a number of Chaplin's films from this period.It suffers compared to later films of his, of course, because I find these early films are rather primitive. However, several of his films before and after this are less funny and less interesting.Chaplin's drunk act is excellent throughout. Fatty Arbuckle does a decent performance too. The sequence where Charlie fights with a saloon toilet door is funny and much copied. When he jumps onto a moving vehicle it is well done and interesting,All in all, not a bad little film.

Chaplin in his seventh film, appears to be heading nowhere fast. The film repeats his drunken heel characterization from earlier films, and it repeats the exaggerated fighting, pushing, and shoving found in earlier films also. Fatty Arbuckle has a brief stint in the opening scene playing another rabble-rouser at the bar. Chaplin gets into trouble in the bar of course and then follows a lady to her home only to find out it's the maid, obviously played in black face. That scene and the lit match dropped in the bathroom porter's hand surprisingly spotlight racial humor of the time, which is anything but funny today. Chaplin has a few neat bits like riding the streetcar and somersaulting over a banister and lighting a cigarette without missing a beat. Otherwise, this is certainly one of Chaplin's lesser earlier efforts. *1/2 of 4 stars.