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The Champion

  • 1915
  • 31m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
The Champion (1915)
ShortComedySport

Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose,... Read allWalking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight t... Read allWalking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daught... Read all

  • Director
    • Charles Chaplin
  • Writer
    • Charles Chaplin
  • Stars
    • Charles Chaplin
    • Bud Jamison
    • Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    2.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Charles Chaplin
    • Writer
      • Charles Chaplin
    • Stars
      • Charles Chaplin
      • Bud Jamison
      • Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson
    • 21User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos50

    The Champion (1915)
    Charles Chaplin and Edna Purviance in The Champion (1915)
    Leo White in The Champion (1915)
    Charles Chaplin, Lloyd Bacon, and Bud Jamison in The Champion (1915)
    Charles Chaplin, Lloyd Bacon, and Bud Jamison in The Champion (1915)
    Bud Jamison in The Champion (1915)
    Leo White in The Champion (1915)
    Charles Chaplin and Leo White in The Champion (1915)
    Edna Purviance in The Champion (1915)
    Leo White in The Champion (1915)
    Leo White in The Champion (1915)
    Charles Chaplin and Edna Purviance in The Champion (1915)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Charles Chaplin
    Charles Chaplin
    • Challenger
    Bud Jamison
    Bud Jamison
    • Bob Uppercut - Champion
    • (uncredited)
    Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson
    Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson
    • Enthusiastic Fan
    • (uncredited)
    Billy Armstrong
    Billy Armstrong
    • Sparring Partner
    • (uncredited)
    Lloyd Bacon
    Lloyd Bacon
    • Second Sparring Partner
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Bill Cato
    • First Sparring Partner
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Frank Dolan
    Frank Dolan
    • Second Stretcher Bearer
    • (uncredited)
    W. Coleman Elam
    W. Coleman Elam
    • Bit Role
    • (uncredited)
    Eddie Fries
    • Bit Role
    • (uncredited)
    Daniel P. Kelleher
    • Second Cop
    • (uncredited)
    Paddy McGuire
    Paddy McGuire
    • Sparring Partner
    • (uncredited)
    Edna Purviance
    Edna Purviance
    • Trainer's Daughter
    • (uncredited)
    Jess Robbins
    Jess Robbins
    • Bit Role
    • (uncredited)
    Carl Stockdale
    Carl Stockdale
    • Sparring Partner
    • (uncredited)
    Ben Turpin
    Ben Turpin
    • Ringside Vendor
    • (uncredited)
    Ernest Van Pelt
    Ernest Van Pelt
    • Spike Dugan
    • (uncredited)
    Leo West
    • Bit Role
    • (uncredited)
    Leo White
    Leo White
    • Crooked Gambler
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Charles Chaplin(uncredited)
    • Writer
      • Charles Chaplin(uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film was restored in 2014 through the Chaplin Essanay Project thanks to the financial support of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum.
    • Connections
      Edited into Chase Me Charlie (1918)

    User reviews21

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    "To the winner - - the reward"
    The real leap forward that Charlie Chaplin made in screen comedy, the thing that put him ahead of his peers, was that he staged his comedy within a straight and serious world. His first two Keystone pictures had little plot but allowed his little tramp to interact (chaotically) with a realistic environment, albeit with a handful of supporting comedy characters thrown in. With the Champion he moved on to develop stronger story lines which were not funny in themselves, but which gave the tramp a world to be funny in.

    The set-up of an up-and-coming boxer who fights his way to the top, is then bribed into throwing a fight and has to choose between his integrity and the payoff was an established cliché even back then. This well-known sequence of events allows Chaplin to mess around with stereotypes or subvert conventions. For a start, there is the fact that Charlie is a scrawny little feller, who essentially cheats his way to the championship. Then there's the farcical training routine, which Chaplin cross-cuts with the opponents more serious routine to give it more comedy impact, followed by the tramp's nonchalant seeing-off of Leo White's over-the-top sinister villain.

    Throughout Chaplin is showing more confidence in his staging and arrangements. He allows himself to become a more marginal figure in some sequences – for example when Spike Duggan is knocking out one challenger after another, Charlie isn't doing very much, and is off-screen half the time, but it's his reactions to the growing number of defeated men that is funny. The other characters simply act naturally, whereas Chaplin is the originator of all the comedy.

    In Chaplin's previous picture, A Night Out, he came dangerously close to becoming a double-act with Essanay's resident comic Ben Turpin. A large part of Chaplin's humour was based on reacting to other comedy characters, so he needed to have his supporting cast of burly bullies and pompous twerps to antagonise. However in the Champion you can see he is being careful not to let any of them have too much screen time. Although Bud Jamison, Leo White and Ernest van Pelt all do a great job, each of them is a walk-on, walk-off character; none of them shares the picture with Charlie. Ben Turpin has a tiny part as a vendor, but even in this one-shot role he manages to violate Chaplin's rule of the tramp being at the comedic centre of attention, stealing the laughs as he scrambles over the crowd to reach a customer. This would be Turpin's last picture with Chaplin.

    And now, we finish with the all-important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 1 (1 for, 0 against)
    helpful•4
    0
    • Steffi_P
    • Sep 24, 2009

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    FAQ1

    • List: Wacky boxing

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 11, 1915 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Instagram
      • Official Site
    • Languages
      • None
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Charlie the Champion
    • Filming locations
      • Santa Clarita, California, USA
    • Production company
      • The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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

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