Shoulder Arms (1918)

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin (writer)

Release Date:

20 October 1918 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Plot:

Charlie is a boot camp private who has a dream of being a hero who goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines.

Plot Keywords:

Shotgun | Behind Enemy Lines | Axe | Spy | Flood

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	Recruit
Edna Purviance	...	French girl
Syd Chaplin	...	Sergeant / The Kaiser (as Sydney Chaplin)
Jack Wilson	...	German Crown Prince
Henry Bergman	...	Fat German sergeant / Field Marshal von Hindenburg
Albert Austin	...	U.S. soldier / German soldier / Kaiser's chauffeur
Tom Wilson	...	Training camp sergeant
John Rand	...	U.S. soldier
J. Parks Jones	...	U.S. soldier (as Park Jones)
Loyal Underwood	...	Short German officer

Runtime:

46 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) (1959 re-issue) | Silent

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Originally planned at five reels; outtakes were preserved in Chaplin's private collection. True Boardman, Marion Feducha and Frankie Lee played Chaplin's sons in cut domestic scenes intended for the beginning of the film. Peggy Prevost and Nina Trask portrayed draft board clerks, Alf Reeves a draft board sergeant and Albert Austin a doctor in a cut scene at the draft board office.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the woods, where Chaplin runs to hide from the pursuing Germans, automobiles are visible traveling on a highway on the horizon.

Quotes:

Officer: How did you capture thirteen?
Recruit: I surrounded them.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)

Perhaps it's what all soldiers dream of before they go to war.

Chaplin enters the trenches of WWI in this spirited comedy that never belittles the horrors of war. The rain, the mud, the explosions - all these things are present but Chaplin seems strangely oblivious to them all. He's in France for one thing: to fight the Germans, something he does with unbelievable success.

It almost seems like an extended ego trip for Chaplin - a very funny one, at that - until the final minute when it rises to a new level of poignancy and everything makes sense.

Perhaps it's what all soldiers dream of before the go to war.