Work (1915)

Charlie and his boss have difficulties just getting to the house they are going to wallpaper. The householder is angry because he can't get breakfast and his wife is screaming at the maid ... See full summary »

Director:

Charles Chaplin (uncredited)

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Billy Armstrong, Marta Golden

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Izzy A. Wake's Assistant

Storyline

Charlie and his boss have difficulties just getting to the house they are going to wallpaper. The householder is angry because he can't get breakfast and his wife is screaming at the maid as they arrive. The kitchen gas stove explodes, and Charlie offers to fix it. The wife's secret lover arrives and is passed off as the workers' supervisor, but the husband doesn't buy this and fires shots. The stove explodes violently, destroying the house.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | maid | wagon | extramarital affair | cuckold | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was restored in 2014 through the Chaplin Essanay Project thanks to the financial support of Ilan Doshi.

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Alternate Versions

Footage shot for this film was later used in Triple Trouble (1918), a patchwork film compiled by Essanay after Chaplin had left the studio.

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Connections

Featured in Sosialismi (2014)

User Reviews

Funny Chaplin short

The first scene of Chaplin in this movie is of him drawing a carriage while his masters sit in the back as he tries to take them up a hill to amusing results. That's all you need to know to appreciate this treatise on work and the pains that man goes to achieve it. We all have to work to pay the bills, but the characters homes he visits in the movie don't have to work, the way he does, that is the hard labor of using one's hands and seem precarious of it. Chaplin loved to spoof the rich or the idle class as they are known. Maybe, he felt being born with a golden spoon is bad. There is nothing wrong with that. It's how one lives with such advantages and disposes of his willed upbringing that castigates the self. But not to Chaplin, who goes on to wreck havoc in a series of set pieces that ends with destruction and a wink to the camera; an act of farewell and goodbye. Is it farewell to work and a hooray for idleness, I cannot say but like a cartoon character who has preyed the deed, he takes us along and makes us laugh, even if I do not agree with his accusations.

Details

Official Sites:

Instagram

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

21 June 1915 (USA)

Also Known As:

Charlie the Decorator

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

29 min 41 min (Ontario) 22 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1