Mutual Film Corporation

A Mutual two-reeler and one of the best of Chaplin's 1916 run. Charlie is a tailor's apprentice who burns a count's trousers with a hot iron and gets fired; the tailor then sneaks off to impersonate the count at a society party, and Charlie turns up in the same borrowed identity. Eric Campbell, Chaplin's towering half-courted villain of the Mutual years, plays the rival suitor, and Edna Purviance is the object of everyone's attention. The party sequence — Charlie dancing, wolfing food off other people's plates, and dodging Campbell — is some of the purest slapstick he ever filmed. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Comedy · Silent

A short Chaplin two-reeler. The Tramp works as a waiter, makes a mess of things, then goes to a roller skating rink where he causes more chaos. The skating scenes are genuinely impressive; Chaplin was a skilled skater and does his own stunts. The film was based on a sketch called "Skating Rinks" that Chaplin had performed on stage before he went into films. At 24 minutes it is a quick watch and a good introduction to Chaplin's silent short work for anyone who has only seen his features.

Comedy · Silent

One of the earliest screen adaptations of Henrik Ibsen, this silent film was produced by D.W. Griffith and directed by George Nichols. Henry B. Walthall, fresh from *The Birth of a Nation*, plays a dual role as both Captain Arling, a dissolute father, and Oswald, the grown son who inherits his father's alcoholism and disease. When Oswald falls in love with the family maid, Regina, not knowing she is his half-sister, the family doctor intervenes to stop the marriage, and the sins of the father are visited upon the son. Erich von Stroheim, then a young technical assistant at Griffith's studio, served as wardrobe assistant and appeared in a bit part. The film was rereleased in 1919 under the title *The Curse*. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A D.W. Griffith silent feature built around the life of John Howard Payne, the impoverished songwriter who wrote "Home, Sweet Home," and three episodic stories in which the song redeems its hearers. Henry B. Walthall plays Payne, with Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Robert Harron in the surrounding tales. Shot by G.W. Bitzer and advertised at the time as the first "all-star" cast, the film was produced at the Reliance-Majestic studio and distributed by Mutual. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

The last of Charlie Chaplin's twelve Mutual comedies, directed by and starring Chaplin. He plays an escaped convict who rescues a wealthy family from a cave-in and is taken in as their butler. His new respectability is threatened when a detective recognizes him, leading to a spectacular chase through the city and down to the docks. The film features some of Chaplin's most celebrated physical sequences, including the famous opening escape along a cliffside and the dockside finale where he balances on a rolling barrel. The Mutual shorts are widely considered the finest work of Chaplin's early career, and The Adventurer is a fitting capstone. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Silent

A D.W. Griffith silent feature inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, particularly "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Annabel Lee." A young man (Henry B. Walthall) lives under the tyrannical rule of his uncle, whose murder he plots and commits. But guilt gnaws at him—apparitions of Poe's vision haunt his waking hours, and the beating of a dead heart seems to echo from beneath the floorboards. Griffith blends psychological horror with pastoral romance, intercutting the nephew's torment with scenes of courtship with his sweetheart (Blanche Sweet). Cinematographer G.W. Bitzer's inventive use of tinting and irises gives the film a dreamlike, Expressionist quality that anticipates the German Expressionist movement. Released August 2, 1914, the film is in the public domain.

Horror · Drama · Crime · Silent

A Charlie Chaplin short from his Mutual period, directed by and starring Chaplin. He plays a wealthy alcoholic who arrives at a spa to dry out, bringing a trunk full of liquor instead of luggage. His attempts to "cure" himself are undermined by his own ingenuity, as he shares his stash with the other patients and undermines the spa's strict regimen. The film features one of Chaplin's most celebrated comic devices—the revolving door—and a famous sequence where he accidentally gets everyone drunk at the health spa. The film's gentle satire of wellness culture and its inventive physical comedy make it one of the highlights of the Mutual series. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Silent

A short Chaplin two-reeler. The Tramp works as a waiter, makes a mess of things, then goes to a roller skating rink where he causes more chaos. The skating scenes are genuinely impressive; Chaplin was a skilled skater and does his own stunts. The film was based on a sketch called "Skating Rinks" that Chaplin had performed on stage before he went into films. At 24 minutes it is a quick watch and a good introduction to Chaplin's silent short work for anyone who has only seen his features.

Comedy · Silent

Tillie's Punctured Romance is a 1914 silent comedy film directed by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios, distributed by Mutual Film. The first feature-length comedy ever made, it stars Charlie Chaplin (in his first feature role), Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand. Chaplin plays a city con man who seduces a farmer's daughter (Dressler) for her money, only to abandon her when he discovers she's been disinherited. The film was based on Dressler's stage success Tillie's Nightmare and was a massive hit, helping establish Chaplin as a major star. As a 1914 work, the film is in the public domain.

Comedy