"Shoulder Arms" is an American silent (don't be fooled by the music) movie, black-and-white obviously and stars Charlie Chaplin as writer, director and lead actor. He cast his regular Edna Purviance as lead lady and half-brother Syd is in here again as well. It is not among his shorter works at 45 minutes, but also not among his longest films, not even close. In my opinion, the same is true when it comes to quality. Not one of Chaplin's best, not one of his worst. The year is 1918, so this one will soon have its 100th anniversary. It was made at the end of World War I and Germany are already the enemies in this film. Yep, Chaplin made (like the Stooges) a couple anti-German propaganda films, and here his target are still the enemy forces from World War I, later on from World War II when he went more into full features. I believe the action in "Shoulder Arms" is fairly uninteresting compared to his finest pieces and the emotion is also not really effective. The comedy is okay I guess. The most interesting aspect, however, are the political references. If anything makes these 45 minutes worth a watch, then it is these. As a whole, still fairly underwhelming and I do not recommend it.
Review of Shoulder Arms
