Between Showers (1914)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Chaplin is groomed like the tramp and he looks like the tramp but he could be anybody in this disjointed tale about three mashers, a puddle, and an umbrella.The editing is poor enough to lose the plot from time to time, if there is a plot that extends beyond the individual slapstick-filled scenes.The film has a certain slight charm as an historical curiosity. Here it is -- 1914 in Los Angeles, and what looks like Echo Park might have looked in 1914 Los Angeles.A dog wanders innocently in and out of a scene but nobody cares. The pratfalls are backward somersaults. It's all very casual and lacks poetry.

Charlie Chaplin had only starred in a few movies and had just debuted the Tramp when he appeared in Henry Lehrman's "Between Showers". The plot involves a stolen umbrella, but is mainly an excuse for a bunch of physical humor. Cinema was still in its relative infancy, and the absence of sound meant that people had to do a lot of the acting with their faces. Despite the simple plot, it's a fun 15 minutes. It's ironic seeing a city block in LA surrounded by water, now that California's running out of water.Anyway, pretty fun. Chester Conklin (the policeman) later played the technician in "Modern Times".

Between Showers (1914) ** 1/2 (out of 4) After a rainy day a woman (Emma Bell Clifton) is trying to get across a muddy street when a man (Ford Sterling) offers to help but soon a Tramp (Charles Chaplin) tries to help as well. Soon the two men are fighting and others jump in. This was Chaplin's fourth film as an actor, the third playing the Tramp and in my opinion the first one where he could call himself the star. It's rather amazing to see how far advanced Chaplin was even though he hadn't yet turned the character into the masterpiece we all know him for. Just look at how Chaplin acts compared to everyone else in the film. I'm certainly not saying the others are bad but they are typical of what you'd see in a Keystone film and then there's Chaplin doing his magic. The first five minutes are the best when Chaplin is losing his balance as he tries to flirt with the woman and eventually has one of his feet fall in. The joke that happens when he pulls his foot out is priceless. The rest of the film is rather routine and I doubt too many will find laughter but if you want to see Chaplin evolve then this here is important.

In this comedy short we see a man steal an umbrella from a police officer. After a big shower the man who stole the umbrella wants to help a woman cross the street without getting her feet wet. While he is looking for things she can walk on, Charles Chaplin enters the film. He also wants to help the woman. While Chaplin is looking for useful things as well the woman is carried across the street by a police officer. Chaplin and the man who stole the umbrella have a fight.With some of the usual Chaplin moments 'Between Showers' is entertaining enough to watch, but it misses the magic of Chaplin's later work. We see some little things from his famous tramp, one moment when he is walking away with the umbrella in particular, but it is not enough to really recommend this short. There are many better Chaplin shorts, but if you like his work you probably enjoy this one as well.