The Adventurer (1917)
The daring convict no. 23, known as The Eel, escapes from prison and, after mocking his inept persecutors, saves the lives of three people in peril: a beautiful girl, her mother and an annoying suitor, only to get exhausted and almost drowned. Once he regains his strength at Judge Brown's home, he participates on an upper-class social party where he competes with the suitor for the favors of the charming Miss Brown. But prison guards are still after him…
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That was an excellent one.
Simply A Masterpiece
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Chaplin, a prison escapee, saves a drowning matron, is invited to her home, courts the comely daughter, is discovered by the police, and escapes.It's among Chaplin's best. His facial expressions, his motions, and his locomotion are memorable. When he suddenly realizes he's in danger, turns around and runs away, he runs chest first, arms pumping, as in a cartoon, and practically leaves zip marks behind.Don't miss the splendidly timed scene in which he traps two pursuers in sliding doors or, for that matter, where he becomes a floor lamp.
In The Adventurer, Charlie plays an escaped convict who briefly manages to enjoy the good life after rescuing a drowning rich woman before the police find him again.The Adventurer is the last of Chaplin's twelve films for the Mutual Company. Lacking any attempt at the pathos and social commentary that Chaplin injected in some of his previous Mutual shorts, this chase comedy almost appears to be a throwback to his rough-and-tumble roots at Keystone. However, there is one major difference, this film much funnier than anything did at Keystone. While I do not consider this to be his best short, it is arguably his funniest. The chases that bookend the film are hilarious. The middle is hilarious too. The film is a laugh fest through and through. If this film doesn't put a smile on your face, check your pulse.
I've seen The Adventurer well over a dozen times and each time it is just as funny as the time before. I repeatedly find myself thinking during the first scenes (where Charlie is on the beach and on the lamb from the police) that those scenes must be the high of the movie and as such that the movie will progessively sink from the close of those scenes on. Yet each time I watch the film I am pleasantly refreshed to the fact that the whole film is equally great.Chaplin is excellent in the film, and his frequent foil in the early movies, Eric Campbell, is also perhaps at his best.This film is well worth watching (several times).
Charles Chaplin plays an escaped convict, who saves a rich girl and her mother, and is treated as a hero.But how long can he hide from the law.The Adventurer is a great short silent comedy movie from 1917.The movie has many funny scenes, like when Charlie is chased by the cops.It is great fun to watch these old silent movies and see how much the movies have changed from those days.