The Idle Class (1921)

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1921 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

Chaplin plays a tramp who sneaks into a upper class golf resort. The tramp meets a rich woman (Edna...

Plot Keywords:

Golf | Costume Ball | Mistaken Identity | Suit Of Armor | Horseback Riding

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	Tramp and Husband
Edna Purviance	...	Neglected Wife
Mack Swain	...	Her Father
Henry Bergman	...	Sleeping Hobo / Guest in Cop Uniform
Al Ernest Garcia	...	Cop in Park and Guest
John Rand	...	Golfer and Guest
Rex Storey	...	Pickpocket and Guest
Lillian McMurray	...	Maid
Lita Grey	...	Maid
Loyal Underwood	...	Guest
Mrs. Parker	...	Guest
Lolita Parker	...	Guest
Howard Olsen	...	Guest
Edward Knoblock	...	Guest
Granville Redmond	...	Guest

Also Known As:

Vanity Fair (USA)

Runtime:

32 min | Spain:29 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Charles Chaplin Productions

Trivia:

The film was made by First National Pictures.

Goofs:

Plot holes: The movie begins with "The Summer Season" and yet the telegraph the absent minded husband holds at the beginning is dated November 2.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Big Show (1923)

Distinct Classes

The post-war period, until the depression, must have been a class-conscious period in America, with some people very rich and most others (eg., farmers) poor. Charlie is the tramp character so he's poor. The plot is said to have been developed by him after he wandered around the prop room and spotted a bag of golf clubs. The story is certainly simple enough. Chaplain finds himself on a golf course and a series of gags ensue, after which he's chased by a cop and runs into a mansion where a costume party is in progress. He's taken for the host, who is a ringer. The other guests believe that the host's tramp outfit is simply a costume for the party. The real host, meanwhile, is encased in a suit of armor whose visor has dropped and jammed shut so no one can see his face. Charlie gets out of it okay and ends the movie by kicking the security guard in the pants and running away.

To me, the funniest gag, in a movie filled with funny gags, has to do with Charlie as the real host. (He has a double role.) The high-class host is a drunk. In his natty evening dress, but without trousers -- don't ask -- he comes home to find a note from his wife. "I am taking up other quarters until you rid yourself of your drinking habit," says the note. Charlie reads it and slowly turns away from the camera and bends over a table, his shoulders racked with sobs. What remorse! But, no. When he turns again towards the camera we see he is matter-of-factly shaking a cocktail mixer! It's called a "garden path" joke, and it efficiently explodes our expectations.

It's hard to imagine how Chaplin could have found any humor in alcohol use, given his family history. His girl friend at the time, Edna Purviance, was to become bloated from alcohol abuse too.

Well, as I say, though, the story isn't much. It's really two stories: (1) the golf course sequence, and (2) the mixed identities at the costume party. Both of them are good. There's more slapstick in the second part and probably more gag continuity in the first.

I saw this only a few hours ago and I'm still laughing, enough to be compelled to add a description of one more joke. On the golf course, Charlie has hit a ball that lands in the open mouth of a fat man asleep on his back. As the fellow snores, the white ball appears and disappears in his mouth. How does Charlie manage to hit the ball again? He steps on the guy's belly, the ball pops a few feet up in the air, and he hits it in mid air using his golf club like a baseball bat. If the joke loses something in the course of its transposition into print, well, blame it on Charlie's "genius," in the original sense.

It's pretty consistently funny.