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Shoulder Arms (1918)

Comedy | 45 minutes
3,28 87 votes

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 45 minuten

Country: United States

Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Syd Chaplin

IMDb score: 7,3 (7.937)

Releasedate: 20 October 1918

Shoulder Arms plot

"Unprecedented in film annals!"

Charlie Chaplin is a recruit who goes to war during the First World War. He dreams of being a hero. Then he gets his chance: he is sent on an undercover mission.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Charlie's Comrade / The Kaiser

Short German Officer

Fat Whiskered Soldier / The Kaiser's General / Bartender

Dumb German Wood-Cutter

American Soldier / Clean Shaven German Soldier / Bearded German Soldier

German Crown Prince

Reviews & comments


avatar

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avatar van Movsin

Movsin

  • 8264 messages
  • 8426 votes

The Chaplin phenomenon, at that time already with considerable prestige and power in the cinema world, in just about his first full-length (although 45 minutes is not exactly long).
Surely it showed a certain guts to make a comedy about the battle in the trenches in full WWI.
However, Charlie knows the horror (the constant explosions, the flooded sleeping place, the house shot to pieces...) and the hilariously comical situations (the attacking the enemy with the strong-smelling cheese, the tree scenes ...) so perfectly that the film was eventually accepted. The funny ending also had a soothing effect and the end of the war was near.
Not a masterpiece, but you won't get tired of that unlucky little guy who always manages to get out of the way and meanwhile plays on human and social problems.
Glad to finally have seen this "Shoulder Arms".
I saw the girl, Edna Purviance, in two other Chaplin films, "A Woman of Paris" and "The Kid".

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van mjk87

mjk87 (moderator films)

  • 14514 messages
  • 4510 votes

Nice early Chaplin, I think partly because it is just a bit longer than the half hours that other films from that early period are from him. His best strength turns out to be telling stories and coming up with striking images, for which he now has just a little more time. Whether that scene as a tree, or in that house without walls, both are really powerful scenes. As a comedian I still don't really think Chaplin is great, often too simple and made slapstick. 3.5*.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Fisico

Fisico

  • 10039 messages
  • 5398 votes

Chaplin is a contemporary of Hitler. In fact, they were only a few days apart. Both men experienced the two world wars. However, Chaplin did not shy away from playing both tragic events in a comical way in his films. Of course with his classic in The Great Dictator (Film, 1940), extremely daring but very successful, but also with this film when WWI was still had not ended and the United States could (finally) put its full weight on the European scale.

Obviously no gruesome images in the trenches, but still an impression of what it could have been like. With a joke of course, but still: the explosions, the flooded shelter, the house ...

Edna Purviance is one that regularly returns in the Chaplins. Always a nice innocent appearance. Not his best work, but certainly fun to watch.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original