''The Fireman'' is the second film Charlie Chaplin distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and

Edna Purviance Olga Edna Purviance (; October 21, 1895 – January 13, 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with hi ...

as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon.

Plot

A group of firemen, led by their foreman ( Eric Campbell), practice in the fire station, but one is missing ... Charlie. He is still sleeping. The bell eventually wakes him and he slides down the pole to join the others. He reverses the pair of horses onto the fire engine and drives off, but without the others. He reverses the horses back again. Their first task is to polish the engine, but a lot of butt-kicking ensues. During their meal break Charlie uses the engine as a giant water urn and serves an unappetising soup to the others. A young woman comes to the station with her aristocratic father, and the foreman sends Charlie away so he can talk with the father. Charlie and the girl flirt on one side of the station while the girl's father (Bacon) arranges with the local fire chief to have his house burn down so he can collect the insurance money. In exchange for the chief's complicity in the arson, the father will permit the fire chief to marry his daughter. However, a real fire breaks out elsewhere in the town. The owner uses a public alarm to signal to the station but Charlie and another fireman continue to play draughts and ignore the alarm, putting a cloth in the bell to stop it ringing. The worried man then phones the fire station but they still ignore him. Finally he goes to the fire station in person. Eventually Charlie understands the predicament, and finds the fire chief at the girl's house and the company rush to extinguish the fire. Charlie mans the hose but his aim is poor and the chief has to take over. Meanwhile, the father deliberately sets a fire in the basement of his own house without realizing that his daughter is still inside the house on the upper floor. Upon knowing his daughter is in mortal danger from the fire, he rushes to find the fire chief to cancel the arrangement not to extinguish his house fire. The fireman (Chaplin), who is also in love with the daughter, abandons the first house fire (taking the fire engine and water) to rush to the second one. The water tank falls off during the rush. He heroically scales the outside of the building to save her, carrying her back down the face of the building, but then fainting. When he revives he and the girl go off arm in arm.

Reviews

A critic for the ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' wrote, "''The Fireman'' is the second of the Chaplin Mutual comedies, presenting that well-known hero in a whirl of fun and laughter that compares favorably with the best work he has yet done on the screen." A reviewer from the ''Chicago Tribune'' was more critical in his appraisal of ''The Fireman''. He wrote, "There is more of soup-spilling and Keystone kicking than is necessary for successful slapsticking, but there is also a certain novelty of situation and a jolly humor in its expression that moves to much mirth. Charles Chaplin is a true comedian who doesn't need to resort to the conflict of the physical to make fun. He has a sufficiently mobile expression to do that."

Production background

The film shows some early morning street scenes in the surrounding

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

area. The film makes use of reversing the film several times for comic effect: sliding up the fireman's pole, reversing the horses, hurrying back to station (in reverse) when he forgets the crew etc. The huge water tank in the station also comically has a second function as the coffee machine. A lot of the kicking in the film is clearly unfaked and fairly violent.

Cast

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consid ...

as Fireman *

as Girl * Lloyd Bacon as Her Father * Eric Campbell as Foreman of the Brigade *

Leo White Leo White (November 10, 1882 – September 20, 1948), Leo Weiss, was a German-born British-American film and stage actor who appeared as a character actor in many Charlie Chaplin films. Biography Born in Germany, White grew up in England where ...

as Owner of Burning House * Albert Austin as Fireman * John Rand as Fireman * James T. Kelley as Fireman * Frank J. Coleman as Fireman

Sound version

In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by

Gene Rodemich Eugene Frederick Rodemich (April 13, 1890 in St Louis, Missouri – February 27, 1934 in New York) was a pianist and orchestra leader, who composed the music for numerous films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, mostly cartoons and live-action sho ...

and

Winston Sharples Winston Singleton Sharples (March 1, 1909 – April 3, 1978) was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career, Sharples s ...

and sound effects, and re-released them through

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fireman, The 1916 films American black-and-white films 1916 comedy films Silent American comedy films Short films directed by Charlie Chaplin Films about firefighting American silent short films 1916 short films Articles containing video clips American comedy short films Mutual Film films 1910s American films