Gentlemen of Nerve (1914)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A Brilliant Conflict

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Blistering performances.

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. He did do better than 'Gentlemen of Nerve', still made very early on in his career where he was still finding his feet and not fully formed what he became famous for. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is a long way from a career high, but has a lot of nice things about it and is to me one of the better efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch and one of Chaplin and Mabel Normand's collaborations. 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and some other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy, not doing enough with a premise that is not particularly new with Chaplin, and the production values not as audacious. Occasionally, things feel a little scrappy and confused.For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is pretty bad.While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick. Mabel Normand is charming and has good comic timing, working well with Chaplin. Chester Conklin bags some of the most amusing moments.Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'Gentlemen of Nerve' is humorous, sweet and easy to like with a touch of pathos. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short. Overall, far from one of Chaplin's best but pretty good and perhaps one of his better efforts from the early Keystone period. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Gentlemen of Nerve is one of Charlie Chaplin's earliest directing efforts. He stars in this with frequent co-star at this time Mabel Normand, herself a fine comedienne and director. They arrive at the races separately, she with a beau, he with a fellow who also hasn't any money. Mabel's beau keeps flirting with another lady while Charlie's temporary partner gets stuck in a fence hole trying to sneak in. That's all of the loose plot I'll mention and just say there are some funny slapstick scenes involving seltzer water, cops, race car propellers, Charlie's hat, Mabel's foot, and a few other stuff that you'd expect from a Keystone short. Mr. Chaplin and Ms. Normand are cute together and pretty amusing though most of the laughs are from Chaplin. Worth seeing for any silent comedy buffs out there.

1914 was an amazing year for Charlie Chaplin. It was his first year in films and he appeared in more than 30 films! While most of these films weren't particularly good, they did give him a chance to slowly evolve his screen persona. However, by this film, the familiar "Little Tramp" character was still in development. Sure Charlie looked the part, but his character still lacked the sweetness and decency that he later developed. Instead, Chaplin often hit, kicked or did other nasty things to people for seemingly no reason at all.As for this very slight film, it is interesting to watch for the cast. While they are not familiar today, Chaplin stars along with Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin and Mack Swain--all exceptionally popular stars with Keystone Films. The problem with this film is that while it has a few nice scenes, the plot seems very vague and improperly developed. Chester and Mabel got to the race track (a very common theme in Keystone productions--it must have been located near a race track). Charlie and Mack show up and sneak in. Mack is chased by the police for doing this while Charlie slaps Chester around and steals his girl. In the end, for no apparent reason, the cops take Chester and Mack away--leaving Charlie with Mabel (who, oddly, didn't seem put off by Charlie's boorish behaviors).Unless you are a huge silent comedy buff or film historian, this is a very forgettable film that is only important in the evolution of Chaplin. What he and the other actors actually do on stage, while not unusual for a Keystone film, isn't particularly funny when seen today.

It would probably be inaccurate to claim that Mack Sennett's Keystone-comedies of 1914 only provided either havoc in a park or havoc at an auto-race track, but I would have understood it if someone had that impression. Taking place during a genuine auto-race, GENTLEMEN OF NERVE resembles several previous Keystone-films quite a bit, notably THE SPEED KINGS as well as Chaplin's own KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE and MABEL AT THE WHEEL. Here, Mabel and Mack Swain look forward to a day at the races when Charlie turns up and causes plenty of annoyance to Swain, as he openly flirts with Mabel.Nothing truly new under the sun, perhaps, but GENTLEMEN OF NERVE still ranks among the more amusing Keystones Chaplin appeared in. One funny bit involves Mack trying to enter the raceway through a hole in a fence but gets stuck, only to get a policeman behind him at that very unpleasant moment. Chaplin is completely confident in his role as "the little fellow" by this time; though still far less lovable than in later films, his playful agility and facial expressions are worth the time for their own sake. It's also interesting to note that the crowds of people surrounding him in this film, many of whom have presumably turned up only to enjoy the auto-race, often seem to recognize Chaplin by this time, less than a year after he entered the medium of film. Such location shots in Chaplin's films would become less and less frequent through the next year and then disappear altogether, but while making GENTLEMEN OF NERVE, he still has to cope with the curious crowds while trying to be creative as a performer.In sum, the film is not a master piece, and was never intended to be; on the other hand, it's still quite funny.