The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914 film) explained

The Face on the Bar Room Floor
Director:Charlie Chaplin
Producer:Mack Sennett
Starring:Charlie Chaplin
Cecile Arnold
Fritz Schade
Vivian Edwards
Chester Conklin
Harry McCoy
Hank Mann
Wallace MacDonald
Cinematography:Frank D. Williams
Studio:Keystone Studios
Distributor:Mutual Film
Runtime:14 minutes
Language:Silent film
English (Original intertitles)
Country:United States

The Face on the Bar Room Floor is a short film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1914.[1] Chaplin stars in this film, loosely based on the poem of the same name by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy.

Plot

A devastated tramp (Charlie Chaplin) visits a crowd-filled bar and recounts the story of how he fell in love with a woman and then had her taken by a friend of his. Drunk, he keeps trying to draw the woman's picture on the floor with a piece of chalk, and gets into fights with other men in the process. He eventually passes out “dead drunk” (thus deviating from the poem, where the protagonist actually falls “dead”) at the end of the film.

According to Chaplin expert Gerald D. McDonald, "The subtitles of the film were lines from the poem, but the original verses were altered to match the Keystone credo that life is a funny game at best."

Cast

Reception

A reviewer for The Moving Picture World gave the film a favorable review, writing "Chas. Chaplain [sic] wins new laurels in the leading part. This is bound to please."[2]

See also

References

  1. Book: Walker . Brent E. . Mack Sennett's Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel . 2010 . McFarland Inc. . 9780786457076 . 299 . 20 February 2024.
  2. https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor21newy/page/1242/mode/2up "Comments on the Films"