Making a Living (1914)

An out-of-work swindler takes a job as a reporter. After witnessing a car go over cliff, he grabs a rival reporter's camera and races to the newspaper office to enter the photo as his own. ... See full summary »

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Emma Bell Clifton, Chester Conklin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Swindler

Storyline

An out-of-work swindler takes a job as a reporter. After witnessing a car go over cliff, he grabs a rival reporter's camera and races to the newspaper office to enter the photo as his own. His rival is delayed when he gets caught in a woman's bedroom by her jealous husband. The swindler follows the distribution of the paper containing his 'scoop' around town where he is once again chased by the rival reporter. Both end up on the cow-catcher of a streetcar.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | keystone kops | public domain

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 February 1914 (USA)

Also Known As:

Take My Picture

Company Credits

Production Co:

Keystone Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

13 min 13 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chaplin's character is named Edgar English, but most of the characters he played (usually in the persona of the Tramp) would be either nameless, or would informally be given the name Charlie.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood (1980)

User Reviews

Chaplin's first contains little promise but it's fun if convoluted

Like all of the very early Chaplin works on this VHS, the quality is rather poor and there are dropouts -- not from the tape, but from the film elements -- sometimes enough so that the action is hard to follow. Not that it matters a whole lot, as these are for the most part very simple films with lots of knockabout action, broad humor, and very little else.

In this his first film appearance, Charlie wears a different (droopy) mustache than usual and isn't dressed as the Tramp. But he does seem to be a down-and-out fellow, a swindler who somehow (it's pretty hard to follow) becomes a reporter on the scene at a car crash by stealing a real reporter's camera and pretending the pictures taken are his own.

Lots of fighting and falling down, hardly memorable as anything other than Chaplin's debut, but good for a couple of laughs and it certainly doesn't wear out its welcome