Charles Chaplin, with his big feet performing their usual mirth-provoking perambulations, wanders down to the sea shore. There is some wind blowing, so Chaplin anchors his hat to his head with a cable. He meets a pedestrian whose hat is similarly attached. The two bump, their hats fly off and they scramble for them. When the hats finally are recovered, each has the wrong one. This causes considerable embarrassment when the two cables go taut as the two men separate. Anger soon takes the place of embarrassment when the cables become hopelessly entangled, and they battle all over the beach. After they have fought themselves weary, they shake hands and decide to have a drink. They get ice cream cones and each insists the other have the honor of paying for them. This is unsatisfactory to the drug clerk and another row starts. They smear each other with ice cream and incidentally bespatter a six-foot dandy, which precipitates still more trouble. While the battle is still in progress ... Written by Moving Picture World synopsis
Charlie is enjoying a day by the sea, with several people to annoy and kick butt with and some women to fall in love with.
The best scene is when Charlie's hat as well as the hat of a (then) innocent bystander fall of, and they somehow get entangled with each other. That really is some hilarious stuff...
As this, on the whole, is a funny tramp short in which Charlie does some nice tricks with his hat and other object that come in his way. The ending is great, when all characters are sitting in a bench, as it's flipping over...
If you're into the physical Chaplin humour you will sure like By The Sea. 7/10.