His New Job (1915)

Excellent, a Must See

Best movie of this year hands down!

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. The first effort from his Essanay period after leaving Keystone, 'His New Job' is not one of his very best or even among the best of this particular period. It shows a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career, from 1914, The Essanay period is something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. Something that can be seen in the more than worthwhile 'His New Job'. 'His New Job' is not one of his all-time funniest or most memorable, other efforts also have more pathos and a balance of that and the comedy. The story is still a little flimsy, there are times where it struggles to sustain the short length, and could have had more variety.On the other hand, 'His New Job' looks pretty good, not incredible but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious.While not one of his funniest or original, 'His New Job' is still very entertaining with some clever, entertaining and well-timed slapstick and a sly satirical element. It moves quickly and there is no dullness in sight. Chaplin directs more than competently, if not quite cinematic genius standard yet. He also, as usual, gives an amusing and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well, including a cameo from Gloria Swanson.In summary, well worth your time if not a Chaplin classic. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Chaplin's first Essanay Picture was released in February 1915. Chaplin is at a film studio looking for a job. After several bits of humorous business he is hired as an extra but after being a nuisance on set is instead demoted to Carpenter's Assistant. Through a mixture of wit and luck, Chaplin regains his position in front of the camera and ends up accidentally wearing the lead actor's costume. All hell breaks loose when he arrives on set to find Chaplin in his clothes and Chaplin again uses a mixture of wit, luck and this time also violence to continue in his job and get revenge on several characters who had wronged him.The film marks not only Chaplin's first film with Essanay but also his first with fellow comic actor Ben Turpin. The two share a couple of great scenes together, the first of which involves a fight to get through a door and is excellent. It's such a shame that the two actors couldn't find a way to work together because on screen at least, they made a great partnership. Unfortunately a mixture of Turpin's impatience with Chaplin's methodical methods and Chaplin's jealousy of Turpin's ability to get laughs, their partnership went no further.The film contains a few moments of great 'business' but they lack the inventiveness of Chaplin's later work. Most of them involve some sort of hit to the head and are fairly generic. The opening a door into someone's face gag was repeated about seven or eight times and a lot of the jokes can be seen a mile off. The sets also look paper thin but the film allows us a glimpse behind the scenes of a 1915 film set, something that I for one found fascinating.Towards the end of the film there is a nice tracking shot which follows Chaplin and a co star as they walk deeper into a move set. The shot was still in it's infancy at the time and gives the scene a bit of depth. It's a nice little addition and shows Chaplin is experimenting with new ideas and techniques. One of the fight scenes also contains a sequence which bears resemblance to Chaplin's great boxing scene from 1931's City Lights. The sequence is not as successful here but funny nonetheless.Overall the film is not amongst Chaplin's best but is one of the better of his early films. It features the Tramp getting into trademark mischief and bother and a nice cameo from fellow silent star Ben Turpin. Most of all though it gives a slight glimpse behind the scenes of a 97 year old film set and for that reason alone it is worth a watch.www.attheback.blogspot.com

One of Charlie Chaplin's many comedic talents was a sly satirical steak. In naming his first short for Essanay studios "His New Job", Chaplin was having a subtle dig at his previous contract holders, Keystone. Many of Chaplin's Keystone pictures had been assigned titles like "His Recreation", "His Musical Career", "His Prehistoric Past" and so forth. "His New Job" is thus a big raspberry at Keystone and its naming system, and was of course the last "His…" title of Chaplin's career.As he would in many of his Essanay shorts, Charlie emerges from the back of the set, before plodding his way into the foreground. Whereas most of the Keystone pictures were silly through and through – ridiculous situations, ridiculous characters – Chaplin's tack at Essanay is to begin with a normal setting, populated largely with serious characters (although there are one or two silly ones for him to play off) and then to have the tramp emerging from the background to create chaos within that environment. Most of the gags come from messing with the conventions of the setting, using and abusing its props, and pricking the pomposity of those serious characters. It all equals bigger laughs than, say, everybody accidentally walking off with each others wives then hitting each other over the head with mallets.You can see how Chaplin's style as a director has developed since his earliest Keystone pictures as well. Chaplin's method is entirely based around one principle – that he is centre of attention. Even when he is not foreground and centre-screen, he still frames himself neatly to draw attention, like for example in the shot when the leading lady has come to sign her contract. Charlie has become a marginalized figure in the background, but he can still be fully seen and our eye is drawn to him. Another hallmark of Chaplin's style is these very long takes (as oppose to the frequent editing back and forth in Keystone pictures not directed by Chaplin), which allow him to draw out his comedy business and build up a series of gags. His New Job still features a lot of the Keystone-ish two-shot gags where someone is thrown or pushed off the screen, cutting to another shot of them falling over a few feet away.Although he no longer had the collaboration of Mack Swain, Fatty Arbuckle or Mabel Normand, Chaplin was starting to put together his own team of regular supporting players. Most notable here is of course Ben Turpin, playing Charlie's rival. Turpin moves and pratfalls like a comedy star, and Chaplin would soon ditch him for being too good. Also worth noting are Charlotte Mineau, who went on to star in about a dozen Chaplin shorts, usually as a slightly older woman in whom Charlie has no interest, and Leo White, one of the funniest and littlest-known of Chaplin's character actors.And there is another very important element here, one that would eventually be integral to Chaplin's later work – the mixing of comedy with poignancy. Towards the end of His New Job, the tramp plays a scene in which he begs the leading lady not to leave him. It is shot and acted exactly as if it were the finale of a romantic drama… right up until the point where Charlie blows his nose and wipes his eyes on the hem of her skirt. While it's only a little moment and has very little to do with the overall picture, it indicates a very important principle in Chaplin's style – that poignancy can enhance comedy and vice versa.And finally, the all-important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 4 (3 for, 1 against)

Film " His New Job " was Chaplin's created on a film studio "Essanay" the first film where it has received almost full creative freedom after success Keystone's of comedies where it strongly depend from Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. Chaplin's art becomes independent, rather distinct from other Hollywood production of those years."His New Job " - the first film in which Small the Tramp finds a human face and own destiny is a wanderer, the jobless, unfortunate person, all shifts trying to find work. And it receives it on a film studio where it should suffer mockeries of the director, the partner, to be at war with the personnel and other actors. Certainly, all this is still very far from the present satire and from the best Chaplin's tragicomedies.It still the comedy of tricks full of hilarious fights, jumps, gestures. A comedy using only miracles of a pantomime in which Chaplin already then has reached improbable heights. Chaplin's laughter meanwhile cheerful and carefree - final stages, stages of fight where Chaplin wins all and everything, brightly speak about it, but the first steps by " New times " have been already made.Faultlessly made comedy of tricks and now can deliver a lot of pleasure and laughter as till now was not in world cinema of the image, able will be compared to image of the Tramp on capacity, dimensions, vitality...