Mabelin kiireinen päivä

While this isn't an exceptional silent comedy in most ways, it is worth seeing just to catch a glimpse of the huge number of future stars in this short. While the film stars Mabel Normand and she was a bona fide star at the time (so much so that she also directed the film), Charlie Chaplin was a bit of a new-comer as 1914 was his first year in films AND there are still quite a few faces you can pick out from the crowd if you know to look. Mack Sennet (owner of Keystone Studios) himself in a small roles, as does Al St. John (Fatty Arbuckle's nephew and his frequent foil on film), Chester Conklin (with his trademark mustache), Edgar Kennedy (of Laurel and Hardy fame) and a very young Charley Chase (who had a significant career as a solo comedian in the 1920s and 30s).

As for the plot, Mabel sneaks in to the race track to sell hot dogs. However, once there, jerks keep stealing her hot dogs. Chaplin, who did NOT interact with Mabel for the first half of the film and just seem to wander about aimlessly, then came to help but the problem continued. There were a few decent slapstick scenes and the film has a lot more continuity than most Keystone films of 1914, but it is still far from great and more a film to see for historical purposes than aesthetic ones.