This 1915 movie "The Champion" runs for half an hour and celebrated its 100th birthday this year. Accordingly, it is still a black-and-white film and also silent and by many considered one of the films Chaplin made during his peak. There's really only 2 options: either his short film period or his feature film period, which of course also included political messages in contrast to the short films. Anyway, I personally believe that this is not one of his finest works. Maybe, at age 25 he was simply still too young. Also in here is the very young Edna Purviance who was maybe 20 when this was made and she was at the very beginning of her career. There aren't really any memorable moments in this short film and Chaplin frequently manages to put nice focus on his dramatic and comedic scenes as well. But not here. The longer the film goes on, the more chaotic it gets and the more it would have needed at least a slight ounce of order. The last shot was nice though. Charlie gets his reward for winning the fight (against the world champion??? seriously?) and we see that it was deemed inappropriate to have people watch you during kissing. An interesting snippet looking at how things are today. That one shot is obviously not enough thou to let me recommend this half hour. Watch another Chaplin film instead.
Review of The Champion
