The Cure ***** (1917, Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell) – Classic Movie Review 2537

This now restored 25-minute classic silent comedy short from 1917 is one writer-director-star Charles Chaplin’s best.

Unusually not in his famous Tramp costume and guise, Chaplin plays a drunk (The Inebriate) who goes to dry out at a spa sanitarium, but takes along a case of drink that is dumped in the curative waters with hilarious results.

It’s a superb and gracefully handled essay in how to be clever with slapstick comedy, helped by adding a sharp back taste of sourness through bad-taste jokes such as trampling on the gouty foot of poor eternal villain Eric Campbell, his rival for the girl, Edna Purviance, as usual. As a measure of Chaplin’s brilliance with physical comedy, just watch him negotiating the revolving doors and the escalator.

It’s satisfying to report that The Cure is still clever, witty and above all still funny after 100 years.

Also in the cast are Henry Bergman (Masseur), John Rand, James T Kelley, Albert Austin (as Sanitarium Attendants) and Frank J Coleman (Head of Sanitarium).

The film was restored in 2013 through the Chaplin Mutual Project thanks to the financial support of The George Lucas Family Foundation, The Film Foundation and The Material World Charitable Foundation.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2537

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