Shanghaied (1915)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Plenty of action here as Charlie gets drawn into a nefarious insurance scam plot hatched by a boat's owner. The owner's also determined, however, to keep Charlie away from daughter Edna. Thank goodness all ends well but not after a LOT of high sea hi-jinks! Someone else commented on the dance routine Charlie does in the galley - yes, he could'a been a ballerina! But I too noticed the backwards shuffle that I'd seen before in Modern Times - I saw the later movie first, but here was its first appearance (first that I'm aware of).Lotsa fun; was hard to follow for me a few times but I chalk that up to a so-so video quality or I'd have rated it higher. Plus a couple of Charlie & Edna's kissing scenes got interrupted so I took a few points off for that, too! lol Anyway, I hope to get this on a good DVD copy, the best I can find, because this one IS a "keeper"!

Charlie Chaplin and his Tramp character gets shanghaied by crooks.This means some harsh work on a ship.This all happens after a shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money.Charlie also happens to be in love with the shipowner's daughter.And she stows away to get to Charlie and gets on board of the ship, that is about to be exploded.Shanghaied (1915), which was shot largely on board of SS Vaquero, was Chaplin's 11th film for Essanay.Alongside Charlie we see who else but the lovely Edna Purviance, who plays Daughter of the Shipowner.Wesley Ruggles plays Shipowner.Bud Jamison is Second Mate, The Other Man.Billy Armstrong is First Shanghaied Seaman, while Paddy McGuire plays the second and Leo White plays the third.John Rand is Ship's Cook.Fred Goodwins is Cabin Boy in Coveralls and Lee Hill is Sailor in Rain Hat.Chaplin does his usual antics and makes people laugh.We see Charlie with a mallet, hitting a bunch of men in the head and therefore they get shanghaied, just like Charlie does a minute later.Charlie tries to serve food during the gale and he becomes seasick.And then Chaplin with the bomb...It's a riot!

Chaplin edited, wrote, directed, and starred in Shanghaied, a comedy at sea. A shipowner, played by future director Wesley Ruggles, wants to destroy his own ship and its contents at sea in order to receive a huge settlement. Chaplin gets mixed up in recruiting sailors for the ship unaware of the plan. Chaplin gets caught aboard the ship as well, and soon he is forced to work on the ship to make do. Meanwhile, the shipowner's daughter, Edna Purviance, stows away aboard the ship. Chaplin falls for the daughter of course, but not before he endures several hardships at sea working as a dishwasher and cook's helper. The film is quickly paced, again with restrained slapstick in favor of a plot; however, the camera's see-saw effect is hopelessly phony. The camera movement changes speeds at times during these scenes, and the sea is obviously no where near as rough as the camera movement would have us believe. Chaplin has several neat bits of physical movement in this one, and get a load of the shipowner's sideburns! **1/2 of 4 stars.

This is a pretty enjoyable Chaplin short from 1915. While certainly not among his best, it is worth seeing and is far from a bad film. In fact, up until the rocking ship segment of the film, it was probably a good bit better than average. Charlie was offered a job helping some sleazy ship's captain from kidnapping a crew for his boat--which the owner already intended to blow up for the insurance money (this is DEFINITELY not a ship you'd want to work). In the end, he, too, is conked on the head and becomes an unwilling crewman.However, despite a good beginning, soon Chaplin chooses to incorporate a rocking boat sequence into the film while he worked as a dishwasher. I've seen rocking boat scenes in two other Chaplin films already before this (including A PERFECT DAY and one other that doesn't immediately come to mind). I really hated this because although Chaplin was known for his attention to detail, these scenes by him were always handled very sloppily. Once again, the boat rocked way too fast and way too quickly--while the ocean appeared very calm. It just looked stupid and didn't make me laugh. A rolling boat COULD have been very funny--but not one that looks like that! Well, after this lousy part of the film, the short got better and involved Charlie saving the boat and the lives of everyone. At least it ended well.