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The Fatal Mallet

  • 19141914
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 18m
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
977
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
165,295
15,955
The Fatal Mallet (1914)
ShortComedy
Three man will fight for the love of a charming girl. Charlie will play dirty, throwing bricks to his contender, and using a huge hammer to hurt one of them. But a precocious kid will be the... Read allThree man will fight for the love of a charming girl. Charlie will play dirty, throwing bricks to his contender, and using a huge hammer to hurt one of them. But a precocious kid will be the fourth suitor in discord.Three man will fight for the love of a charming girl. Charlie will play dirty, throwing bricks to his contender, and using a huge hammer to hurt one of them. But a precocious kid will be the fourth suitor in discord.
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
977
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
165,295
15,955
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Mack Sennett
    • Writers
      • Charles Chaplin(uncredited)
      • Mack Sennett
    • Stars
      • Charles Chaplin
      • Mabel Normand
      • Mack Sennett
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Mack Sennett
    • Writers
      • Charles Chaplin(uncredited)
      • Mack Sennett
    • Stars
      • Charles Chaplin
      • Mabel Normand
      • Mack Sennett
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 12User reviews
    • 8Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos23

    Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Mack Swain in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Mack Swain in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin and Mack Swain in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin in The Fatal Mallet (1914)
    Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Mack Swain in The Fatal Mallet (1914)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Charles Chaplin
    Charles Chaplin
    • Mabel's Rival Suitor
    Mabel Normand
    Mabel Normand
    • Mabel
    Mack Sennett
    Mack Sennett
    • Mabel's True Love
    Mack Swain
    Mack Swain
    • Another Rival
    Gordon Griffith
    Gordon Griffith
    • Boy
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Mack Sennett
    • Writers
      • Charles Chaplin(uncredited)
      • Mack Sennett
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film is among the 34 short films included in the "Chaplin at Keystone" DVD collection.
    • Connections
      Featured in Charlie Chaplin, le génie de la liberté (2020)

    User reviews12

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    AKA: 'I've Got a Headache'
    This is typical Keystone with lots of butt-kicking, and the added bonus of skulls being smashed with big hammers. How strange were audiences in those days. Anyhow, we have in this film just about the best casting combination Keystone could muster. We have the coming genius Charlie, the divine Mabel, oafish Mack Swain, and the more than oafish Mack 'The Hick' Sennett. We may wonder why the latter cast himself in so many pictures, but he was there (according to Mack) by popular demand! We might unkindly ask 'Why?', but the truth is that he needed to keep an eye on naïve Mabel and the young and virile Charlie. Would the Englishman procure Mabel for another studio, and lure her from her aging Svengali? Mack was the first producer to realize Chaplin would go through actresses on the lot like a fox in a chicken coop. Charlie could do what he liked with Peggy Pearce, Peggy Page and Virginia Kirtley, but Mabel was Mack's personal property — touch at your peril.

    As usual Sennett is acting the part of Mabel's boyfriend, and the opening scene makes this amply clear. While they stand in what seems to be some sort of a grove, Mack clumsily goes through the amorous stuff. Then, who should come along but the licentious Charlie, someone Mabel seems to know. She introduces Charlie to Mack, but the former takes exception to the latter, and begins to push him around. Suddenly Charlie points off-camera, and while the stupid country boy looks away, he runs off with the fair maid. Behind a shed, Charlie starts to impress the stunningly beautiful Keystone Girl with a range of comical tricks, but Mack creeps up on them, and slyly kicks Charlie in the rear. Charlie is shocked, and obviously thinks Mabel did it, so kicks her in the derriere. Mabel is equally shocked, but soon recovers her composure, and, smiling sweetly, she beckons Charlie forward, then smashes him in the face. Predictably, Mabel runs off, but Charlie soon finds her being pushed on a swing by Mack. As he approaches, Mack, of course, rams the swinging Mabel into him, and all-out war begins. Charlie throws a brick at the couple, hitting Mabel in the face, while Mack gallantly ducks behind a tree. Plucky Mabel throws the brick back, and an angry Charlie confronts the couple. Of course, Mack has to take some action, and Mabel is delighted when her hero pushes up his sleeves ready to knock Charlie out. Unfortunately, it's Mack who gets knocked out, prompting Mabel to run off into the arms of Mack Swain, who has conveniently arrived on the scene. It is highly amusing to see Chaplin mock defeated Sennett by imitating his trademark spewing of tobacco juice.

    To cut a long story short, the film now enters mallet mode where Mack and Charlie first dispose of Swain with a whack on the head, then try to kill each other with mallets and bricks, while Mabel suffers collateral damage. An unusual scene then occurs, when a boy discovers Mabel alone, and takes the opportunity to manhandle (boyhandle?) the forlorn beauty. This is surely the luckiest kid in Edendale, for in no other film has any actor got to fondle the fair Mabel without getting a slap in the face. In any event, Charlie makes short work of the kid by drop-kicking him into performing a 108. Unfortunately, both Chaplin and Swain then end up in Echo Park Lake, while Sennett gets the goods in the form of Mabel the enchanting.

    There is plenty going on in this film, which was clearly padded out with numerous gags from the talented and experienced quartet – the audiences would have certainly have got their money's worth. As for Mabel she gets something of a respite in the picture, although she clearly collected a few bruises. In an interview many years later she said 'I am glad to report that many of those that kicked me and abused my person down through the years, have now been consigned to oblivion'.The lovely dress Mabel wore in the film, seems to be the one worn by Eva Nelson a few weeks earlier in Twenty Minutes of Love (with the bow on the front rather than on the back).
    helpful•0
    0
    • ducatic-82290
    • Dec 12, 2016

    Details

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    • Release date
      • June 1, 1914 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Instagram
      • Official Site
    • Languages
      • None
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Фатальний молоток
    • Production company
      • Keystone Film Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      18 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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