Easy Street **** (1917, Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell) – Classic Movie Review 2538

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

Chaplin starts as The Derelict, a tramp tempted to steal at a mission, but he is reformed when he sees The Mission Worker (Edna Purviance), and then joins the police force as a constable. He fights and settles up with the huge local bully (Eric Campbell) who dominates an inner city street.

The Derelict also feeds children, steals veggies for a poor woman and deals with anarchists and drug takers. And so, ‘Love backed by force, forgiveness sweet, bring hope and peace to Easy Street.’

Serious-minded yet light-hearted and entertaining, Easy Street keeps a sharp yet equivocal eye on social matters that gives it considerable power and weight. It is clearly a humorous fantasy since of course it couldn’t actually happen, yet it is uncomfortably ‘real’ too. The film, like Chaplin himself, is intriguingly difficult to pigeonhole.

Also in the cast are Albert Austin, Lloyd Bacon, John Rand, Leo White, Loyal Underwood, Tom Wood, Henry Bergman, Frank J Coleman, James T Kelley, Charlotte Mineau and Janet Miller Sully.

The lamppost used in his scene with Campbell fell on Chaplin during filming, landing him in hospital.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2538

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