A Busy Day
| A Busy Day | |
|---|---|
 film scene | |
| Directed by | Charlie Chaplin |
| Produced by | Mack Sennett |
| Starring | Charlie Chaplin |
| Cinematography | Frank D. Williams |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Mutual Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
A Busy Day is a 1914 short film starring Charlie Chaplin and Mack Swain.[1]
Plot
In A Busy Day, a wife (played by an energetic Charlie Chaplin) becomes jealous of her husband's interest in another woman during a military parade. On her way to attack the couple, the wife interrupts the set of a film, knocking over a film director and a police officer. Finally, the husband pushes the wife off a pier and she falls into the harbor.
Notes
According to the 1965 book The Films of Charlie Chaplin, A Busy Day is the first of three films in which Chaplin plays a woman. The other two were The Masquerader (1914) and A Woman (1915). Chaplin used the wardrobe of fellow Keystone player Alice Davenport.
It was typical for Mack Sennett to shoot Keystone comedies using real events—such as a parade—as the background for comic mayhem. This short film (about half a reel) was shot near San Pedro Harbor in less than two hours. In it, one can see interesting glimpses of First World War-era American naval ships in the background. The other part of the reel is an educational short titled The Morning Papers.
Reception
A reviewer from Bioscope noted, "[Chaplin] gives an amazing exhibition of acrobatic humor."
Cast
- Charlie Chaplin as Wife
- Mack Swain as Husband
- Phyllis Allen as The Other Woman
- Mack Sennett as Film director
- Billy Gilbert as Police officer
- Ted Edwards as Police officer
References
- ^ Walker, Brent E. (2010). 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. McFarland Inc. p. 294. ISBN 9780786457076. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
External links
- A Busy Day at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- A Busy Day on YouTube
- A Busy Day at IMDb
- A Busy Day is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive