His Prehistoric Past (1914)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. Everybody has to have at least one misfire in their careers, even the best directors and actors have not so good films or films they regret. From his early still evolving period before he properly found his stride and fairly fresh from his vaudeville background, like 'His Favourite Pastime', 'A Busy Day' and 'The Property Man', 'His Prehistoric Past' shows that Chaplin is not immune from this. It is a lesser effort of his, and notable only really for being his last production for Keystone.By all means 'His Prehistoric Past' has a few good points. While a little primitive and not exactly audacious, the production values are far from cheap.There are also a few amusing moments, a little zest on occasions and Charlie does his best with the uninspired material he has and doesn't go through the motions like he did in 'A Busy Man'.Where 'His Prehistoric Past' falls down is that mostly it's not particularly funny. The timing feels limp and there is very little, if any, freshness or originality. There is an over-reliance on slap-stick and it is very broad and very repetitive. There is not much charm here and there is not much to be emotionally invested by. The story is flimsy, so much so things feel over-stretched, there are not many Chaplin short films where a short length feels very dull but 'His Prehistoric Past' is one of them.Charlie does his best certainly and looks engaged, but not much more than that due to his material being pretty uninspired. The cast are not much to write home about.In conclusion, an early career misfire. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Considering the fact that this was Chaplin's last film for Keystone, I wonder if there's any significance in the title and plot regarding how Chaplin really felt about Keystone. It's no secret Chaplin felt constrained by the slapdash slapstick and improvisation of Keystone comedies. Is it possible Chaplin was referring to Keystone in the title: His Prehistoric Past? Chaplin plays a caveman with Mack Swain who is the leader of the cavemen apparently. Chaplin and Swain get into it about Sum-babee, one of Swain's 1000 wives! Chaplin saves her from drowning, and Swain becomes jealous. The final scene seems to comment on the dreamlike year Chaplin had in 1914 making over thirty films for Keystone and becoming famous. Chaplin edited, wrote,and directed the film, which once again shies away from the familiar Slapstick of Keystone for the most part. *1/2 of 4 stars.

In 1914 Chaplin appeared in 34 shorts and the first ever feature length comedy for the Keystone Studios. While there's a notable step up when he takes over directing himself (in particular, the literary The Face on the Barroom Floor), the majority of them are generally pretty awful affairs, full of kicks up backsides and falling into rivers, with precious little else. In fact, many of the earliest ones resemble family home movies of today, with the stars encouraged to ad lib in random locations with no script at all.What's interesting is that at least half a dozen, possibly more, feature Chaplin out of character (sometimes he'll appear as the Tramp, but married, or with a steady job, so it's questionable). In this final short for the Keystone Studios he does appear in character… though as a prehistoric version of The Tramp.A bizarre idea that Laurel and Hardy would adopt thirteen years later for Flying Elephants (though not as monolithic versions of their regular personas, as here) the "cave man comedy" niche isn't really one that works as well as you might expect. There are some nice lines of subtext/innuendo ('A thousand wives for every man? I wish I had brought a bigger club.') and, as usual, Chaplin's work is significantly above that of the usual Keystone fare. Just watching some of the turgid shorts from this period (His Favourite Pastime/The Fatal Mallet et al) helps to get in perspective just how revolutionary Chaplin was in terms of plot, scale and ambition.That said, he's still hampered by the Studio line, and even taking into account the improved technical range with Chaplin's hand on the reigns, only around ten of the Keystone movies are above average. There's a reason why film historians always talk about the sentimental, everyman version of the tramp character, and neglect to talk about the spiteful, woman-beating, cigarette-smoking version found in these films. It's the same reason why people refer to The Kid as being Chaplin's first feature, whereas Tillie's Punctured Romance – admittedly the last film where Chaplin didn't write or direct, but instead just acted – has a longer duration. The films Chaplin did for Mack Sennett under the studio, are, simply, good for historical value only, but offer little worth in terms of entertainment or artistry. His Prehistoric Past is an average and forgettable short that presages his immediate move to the Essanay Studios.

As many films as Charlie Chaplin made, some of them were bound to be below his usual standard. "His Prehistoric Past" is a short comedy that is not very funny, nor does it contain the touches of humanity that Chaplin's best films have.The idea here is that Charlie joins a caveman tribe. The humor is supposed to come from the cavemen's clubs, the caveman king having a harem, and so forth, but none of it is very entertaining.Anything that Chaplin did probably holds some interest to his fans, but almost any of his other films is much better than this one.