OldAle1
Watched from an old VHS tape of 5 1914 shorts, the quality on this as with the others is rather poor and there are dropouts -- not from the tape, but from the film elements -- sometimes enough so that the action is hard to follow though less so in this case than most of the others. Not that it matters a whole lot, as this is for the most part like the other shorts very simple films with lots of knockabout action, broad humor, and very little else."The Masquerader" might be the best of the five, with the action taking place in a film studio and Charlie as an incompetent actor -- so an early example of the self-reflexive nature of film at work here -- only to return after being canned as a beautiful, dolled up actress. Chaplin's mimicry and makeup is really quite amazing here -- he had me fooled, anyway. The film also features Fatty Arbuckle as a rival actor who at one point gives Charlie gasoline to drink! His scene with Charlie, on opposite sides of a dressing-mirror in a dressing-room, is a classic of timing and facial expressions and has the feel of improvisation.
Igenlode Wordsmith
This is the first Keystone Chaplin film that I've actually found funny, and it's not just down to the Chaplin-as-woman gag. (Although, as others have pointed out, the slender Chaplin actually makes a remarkably pretty girl, and does a convincing job of acting feminine too.) The film is interesting in its own right as a backstage look into what I assume was film-making practice of the day -- the director (a notable performance by Charles Murray) acting out his leading lady's role to indicate what he wants, the male cast sharing a dressing-room as basic as that of your average stage chorus troupe -- and was apparently shot on Keystone's own studio lots. It contains a fair amount of standard brick-throwing, arse-kicking antics but also a significant quantity of more subtly-paced and genuinely amusing material, starting with Chaplin and Arbuckle's double act in the dressing-room and ending with a truly dreadful (in the best sense) pun. 'Senorita Chapelino' sneaking a surreptitious exhalation from a puff on 'her' beau's cigarette is worth a mention too.
rbverhoef
I am not really sure whether I liked this Charlie Chaplin short or not. Compared to his more famous shorts from 1915 to 1918 this is not that good but since it is Chaplin I found myself smiling almost constantly.Here he plays an actor who messes up several takes. He is fired but returns dressed up as a woman. He kind of seduces the movie's director who likes the woman.The problem with this short is that the only real joke here is Chaplin dressed up as a woman. Of course that is fun to see, but we don't see the real Chaplin and I guess that it makes this Chaplin short a little disappointing.
Snow Leopard
This is an interesting little short comedy that, while rather uneven, is generally amusing. It's mostly remembered for Chaplin disguising himself as a woman, in an attempt to get into a movie studio. The idea of a man masquerading as a woman, or vice versa, was relatively common in the old silent comedies - this is one of the more believable efforts, as Charlie's disguise is credible enough to make that part of the movie work all right. But that's not necessarily the best or even the most interesting part of the film.The setting in a movie studio is interesting in itself, offering a chance for some good-natured self-parody, and they got reasonable mileage out of the idea. Perhaps the best-crafted scene occurs very early on, when Chaplin and 'Fatty' Arbuckle have a battle of wits in the dressing room. It's no coincidence that it is the one scene in the picture in which Chaplin performs with another highly talented comedian, as the smooth timing and careful movement make it stand out from the more disjointed, frantic pace of most of the rest of the movie. But even as a whole, the movie works all right, despite its lack of refinement. It's hardly one of Chaplin's top efforts, but still entertaining and worth seeing.
AD
