Behind the Screen (1916) User Reviews (24)

pretty good Chaplin effort

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 6 July 2006]

In 1914 and early 1915, Chaplin did his first comedy shorts. In general, they were pretty awful--with almost no plot and consisting of him mugging it up on camera and hitting people. However, in 1915 he left Keystone Studio and began making better films with Essenay (though there are some exceptions) and finally, in 1916, to Mutual where he made his best comedy shorts. These newer films had more plot and laughs and usually didn't relay on punching or kicking when they ran out of story ideas.

This film is one of these later Mutual Films and has a pretty decent amount of plot. Charlie is a carpenter's assistant on a movie set and his boss mostly sits around doing nothing--making Charlie do all the work. Later, the crew goes on strike and Charlie gets to act (although in real life, Chaplin's sympathies would have definitely been with the workers). In addition, a lady sneaks onto the set and disguises herself as a male laborer. Charlie realizes this and falls for her, though everyone else thinks she's a guy. I particularly liked the scene where Charlie is making out with the lady and really smooching it up good--and his boss looks on with horror! Overall, this is a pretty typical Mutual film--neither better or worse than the average one and worth a look if you get the opportunity.

An interesting scene was the one where Charlie picks up the MANY chairs and then the prop piano. This exact same scene was replicated by Syd Chaplin (Charlie's half-brother) years later in THE BETTER 'OLE.

"Dressing the scene"

[Steffi_P · 8/10 · 13 February 2010]

Charlie Chaplin sometimes repeated himself when it came to ideas for his comedy shorts, but only when his skill and technique had improved significantly in the meantime. Behind the Screen treads similar ground to Dough and Dynamite (made at Keystone) and His New Job (made at Essanay), being a comical expose on the film-making process itself, but it demonstrates all the development his style had made since those older pictures.

One major difference is the audacity and satiric bite of Chaplin's comedy by this point. Unlike the earlier examples, Behind the Screen bases most of its jokes on the artificiality of cinema, with "marble" pillars being shifted by hand, an "invisible" trapdoor that causes mayhem, and eventually the dramatic department having its dignity invaded by errant custard pies from a comedy set. He also has a sly dig at pompous directors and lazy stagehands. All this from an era before the majority of people in the audience wouldn't have really known exactly what went on behind the cameras. Still there is enough broad slapstick here to entertain the viewers who don't get the in-jokes.

Chaplin's management of the comedy is also now incredibly refined and to-the-point. In the earliest scenes, he shows how he can make himself the centre of attention without necessarily being in the foreground. Whilst everyone else on the set stays fairly still, Charlie bustles about all over the place leaving chaos in his wake. It's funnier this way because we see the little tramp upsetting the order of his environment.

The comedian had by now also accumulated a regular crew of supporting players – comic actors who were more buffoonish and ridiculous than funny in their own right, thus providing suitable antagonists for the little tramp. Eric Campbell is as usual the burly bully – the tyrant of a small pond who it is satisfying to see knocked down. Henry Bergman, in only his second of what would be many appearances with Chaplin is the perfect awkward fat man. He must have been a real find, and Charlie seems to take every opportunity to knock him down to get that undignified and helpless flailing of arms and legs that Bergman was the master of. And of course he now has Edna Purviance – by now often the only one allowed to be a completely straight actress. Her features are too feminine to be a convincing tomboy, but at least she gets the chance to be involved in some of the comedic action this time round.

Which leaves me only to give out the all-important statistic –

Number of kicks up the arse: 7 (5 for, 2 against)

Behind the Scenes

[tgooderson · 6/10 · 8 September 2012]

Behind the Screen stars Charlie Chaplin as a stagehand on a movie set. Chaplin is overworked and under-appreciated and his boss (Eric Campbell) spends most of the time asleep, leaving Chaplin to do the heavy lifting. Meanwhile a young woman (Edna Purviance) is trying to get her big break as an actress but is turned down so dresses up as a male stagehand in order to have at least some involvement in the movies. At the same time the fellow stagehands go on strike for being woken up by a studio boss and plot their revenge… This isn't one of the funniest Mutual shorts but it certainly has one of the better plots. It's multi layered and features side plot as well as the main narrative. It is also an opportunity to see behind the scenes of an early movie set in much the same way as His New Job, Chaplin's first film for Essanay a year earlier. What the film is most famous for now though is its forthright joke about homosexuality, a subject which was barely mentioned in cinema for another fifty years.

The scene in question comes late on when Chaplin discovers that the new stagehand is actually a woman. In a cute scene, Chaplin sneaks a couple of pecks on the lips. The start of a romantic relationship is interrupted though by the appearance of Eric Campbell who not knowing Edna Purviance is a woman, believes the two hands to be gay men. He starts prancing around in an effeminate way which today feels quite offensive. The fact that homosexuality was even mentioned though, no matter how insignificantly, was very bold. The same scene also features probably the defining image of the film, Chaplin's and Purviance's faces squished together, looking forward towards the camera, Chaplin with a trademark cheeky grin.

In terms of comedy, the film is a little short. There are of course funny moments which include a use of a trap door and a pie throwing finale. For me the funniest scene came when the stagehands were eating lunch. Chaplin was sat next to a man eating onions and to escape the smell put on a knights helmet, lifting the visor briefly to stuff bread into his mouth. During the same meal Chaplin tries to steal the meat which the same man is eating and when discovered, pretends to be a begging dog. There is plenty of slapstick to be found here also with large props producing most of the laughs. One fantastic act sees Chaplin pick up about eleven chairs and sling each one over his arm, giving him the appearance of a hedgehog or porcupine. This isn't enough for the poor stagehand as in his other arm he also carries a prop piano. It's very clever and looks incredibly difficult. The scene felt familiar to me but I don't know if that's because Chaplin repeated the stunt for a later film or because I've seen that clip before.

One interesting thing about Behind the Screen is getting a glimpse of an old movie set. A surprising aspect of this is finding two separate productions sharing the same stage. As noise made little difference to what the final picture looked like it was possible to have multiple movies being filmed in close proximity. Here Chaplin works on a set of what appears to be a medieval palace which is right next to a farcical comedy set in a police station. As you can probably guess, Chaplin ends up interrupting both at various times before completely destroying both towards the end. The final shot itself is also surprising in its violence. Although no blood, body parts or death was seen, it was still not what I was expecting to end a short comedy.

www.attheback.blogspot.com

Excellent Short - Plenty of Good Slapstick, & Much More

[Snow Leopard · 20 August 2001]

"Behind the Screen" is an excellent Charlie Chaplin short feature, with plenty of good slapstick and much more. The setting, with Charlie working as a hired hand in a movie-making operation, lends itself to a lot of good comedy, and there are plenty of standard gags plus a lot of material that creatively uses the props and situations of the setting. It also works very well as a self-satire of the industry (as suggested by the title), making some subtle and other not so subtle points. Finally, there is some nice interplay between Charlie's character and his superiors, especially his burly, brutish immediate supervisor, played by Eric Campbell, an amusing actor who was one of Chaplin's best supporting players.

Most of these earlier Chaplin films (referring to 1914-1916, the years when he made the majority of his short features, making ten or more each year) do not get very high ratings. It's true that some of them are mostly routine slapstick, but there are also a few gems like this one that combine slapstick with substance. Most of the movies from these years can be rather hard to watch, because the film often survives in poor condition, and so it's understandable that even the best ones might not always stand out as clearly from the rest. But this one is a fine film, and definitely recommended for Chaplin fans.

Movies about movies

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 30 July 2015]

This was a concept that already existed 100 years from now (or almost hundred years) and here we see Charlie Chaplin's take on it in this 20-minute black-and-white short film. I wonder how much his personal experiences from very early in his career contributed to that. Then again, even if he was possibly at his peak in 1916, it was still early in his career as he wasn't even 30 when he made this and yet the probably biggest film star on the planet. Edna Purviance as his romantic interest and Eric Campbell as the antagonist, who looks so huge next to the tiny Chaplin, are frequent Chaplin collaborators and both are here on board again as well. I thought this was one of Chaplin's better films and enjoyed watching it for the most part. My favorite scene was probably the one with his co-worker's sandwich. Thumbs up.

Behind the Screen review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 29 June 2020]

Chaplin once more goes behind the filmmaking scenes to deliver an average comedy in which he plays an assistant to mountainous stage hand Eric Campbell. Edna Purviance is the star-struck young girl keen to make an impression to whom he offers assistance. Some funny moments, but not among Chaplin's best.

Iconic but problematic

[Jithindurden · 6/10 · 17 July 2018]

Gags made on the sake of film studios at such an early time is really something. There are a lot of memorable and I would say iconic moments, the chair moving scene, lunch scene, kissing scene etc are so great. But at the same time, this must be one of the most politically incorrect of the shorts I have seen of Chaplin being racist, homophobic and ironically showing hard work of a labourer getting no recognition and unions strike for nothing and being anarchists. Still considering the time it can be given a little slack.

Early Chaplin: Self-Reference

[Cineanalyst · 9/10 · 9 August 2005]

It's very interesting and illuminating to screen Chaplin's early short films, to see his evolution as a comedian and as a protagonist viewers could root for. As well, one can trace the recurrent themes and see him refining and expanding upon routines. The self-referential aspect of "Behind the Screen" is one such scenario he had tried before, and it's a significant advancement over those previous works, becoming the apex of Chaplin's backstage parodies on film-making.

From the beginning, Chaplin was involved in self-referential comedies, of which Mack Sennett's Keystone was of the first to explore in film. Only his second film, "Kid Auto Races at Venice" featured Chaplin mugging for the camera much to the annoyance of the cameraman. While at Keystone, Chaplin was also involved in, at least, three similar shorts where he causes mayhem backstage or during a scene: "A Film Johnnie", "The Property Man" (which is set in vaudeville rather than movie-making) and "The Masquerader". In 1915, he directed a much better paced version of this scenario, "His New Job", while at Essanay. The column gag in "Behind the Screen" is elaborated from the brief one in "His New Job". Furthermore, the storyline of Edna Purviance's character trying to get work at the studio by masquerading as a male is taken from "The Masquerader", except then it was Chaplin pretending to be a woman--a reversal upon a reversal. It also fits into the structure of self-reference, as she's an actress playing a wannabe-actress who pretends (acts) in an attempt to become an actress.

There are some well worked out gags here involving a trap door and pie throwing, ruining movie scenes and generally causing havoc throughout a film studio. Chaplin and Eric Campbell once again play out their antagonism of David to Goliath. Even the homosexual joke works, without being too offensive. There's also the anti-trade unions social commentary and the violent explosive finale gag, both of which didn't hamper the fun for me.

Others have seen a parody of Keystone's film-making and knockabout slapstick in the film, and that certainly has credibility. As well, it's remarkable how far Chaplin had come after only leaving Keystone two years prior. "Behind the Screen" is a much-matured Chaplin short that finds its humor in poking fun at what it is and what goes into itself.

On the set, Charlie!

[lugonian · 7/10 · 31 July 2015]

BEHIND THE SCREEN (Mutual Studios, 1916), Written and Directed by Charlie Chaplin, stars the legendary comedian with a new profession of employment, that of a stagehand at a movie set where everything goes wrong, thanks to you know who. Produced more in the Mack Sennett slapstick tradition where gags are essence over story, Chaplin's eighth comedy short for the Mutual Company does have enough comedy material to go around for its twenty minutes. Edna Purviance, Chaplin's most frequent co-star, returns, as does his most notable advisory, the giant size Eric Campbell, sans beard. For a change from their previous efforts, Chaplin and Campbell assume character names best describing their physical beings, David and Goliath. Though no such antics of David and Goliath can be found in the Bible, this is the Bible according to Chaplin.

The slight story set in a single day revolves around a stagehand named David (Charlie Chaplin), working as an assistant under Goliath (Eric Campbell). For the most part, David does all the work, ranging from carrying a dozen chairs at one time to moving heavy props while Goliath sits back, smoking his cigar, eating a dozen pies at once and getting credit for his partner's work. In fact, whenever David takes time to rest, he's accused of loafing by one of the bosses. After the workers go on strike for being awaken after having lunch, David and Goliath remain loyal to their jobs. Also in the studio is a young hopeful (Edna Purviance), wanting to become an actress. Unable to become one, she disguises herself as a carpenter instead. Further confusion arises as the strikers plot to disrupt film production, unaware that David is doing so in his own unintentional way.

BEHIND THE SCREEN is one of those little comedies that needs to be seen more than once to fully appreciate the material provided, ranging from running gags of falling through trap doors to pie throwing on the set. As usual, Chaplin and Campbell make a wonderful pair of opposites: Chaplin being a work slave; Campbell seated, relaxing, snoozing while "supervising." The lunch break sequence has Goliath eating his large assortment of pies while David sneaks in his bites from a fellow worker's (Albert Austin) meal. Although Chaplin has played "fag" on screen in other comedies, this time he passes on the big moment to Eric, and hilariously so, after mistaking Charlie's encounter with the "male" carpenter, Edna. Purviance, whose character in Mary Pickford-type appearance, is introduced in the very first scene asking a director, "Can I be an actress, please?" actually has little to do with the plot until the film's second half. The opening scenes belong to Charlie and Eric on their usual day of work on the movie set, with Charlie upsetting things as the director (Henry Bergman) attempts the impossible, getting his movie finished on schedule.

Music accompaniment differs from various prints from BEHIND THE SCREEN, ranging from piano, orchestration or no scoring at all. Most circulated copies that appeared on public television in the sixties and seventies consisted of ragtime music and sound effects lifted from 1930s reissues. Available on video cassette dating back to the 1980s, and later onto the DVD format, BEHIND THE SCREEN is also one of the many Chaplin short comedies that turns up occasionally on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 6, 1999). Aside from the comedy interludes, BEHIND THE SCREEN offers a look back at movie directing back in the early days of motion picture making and the type of humor most commonly found that had audiences in 1916 roaring with laughter, forgetting what the plot is all about in the first place. Next Chaplin Mutual short: THE RINK (1916). (***)

Excellent short comedy in which Charlie Chaplin satirizes his own craft.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 9/10 · 25 July 2001]

Chaplin plays the part of David, the lowly assistant to the oafish stage hand Goliath, and as is to be expected, everything goes wrong in the most hilarious ways. Being an early short Chaplin comedy, a good portion of the comedy is slapstick, with such elaborately acted scenes as the one with the stage pillar prop that just would not seem to stand up.

Poor David works like a slave for the lazy Goliath, but at first, he just keeps messing things up - he just can't seem to do anything right. But later, when he starts working really hard and doing things right, his boss always walks in just as he sits down to rest, and he gets into trouble for loafing on the job, and Goliath, who spends most of his time sleeping, gets all of the credit for David's work.

Not only does this film satirize the falsity of film and stage, but it also goes into actual filming, in the surprisingly effective pie throwing scene. Eventually, all of the workers go on strike, leaving only David and Goliath on stage and, as is common in Chaplin's films, he ends up the victor as a result of some inadvertent events concerning a trap door and a lot of guys fighting. The ending of this film is unusually violent for a generally light Chaplin comedy, but the comedic value is never diminished.

Great for Some Laughs

[brando647 · 7/10 · 22 March 2010]

From 1916, this is one of Charlie Chaplin's more entertaining short films in my opinion. Chaplin is a stage assistant named David, who works under the oppressive Goliath. Problems arise when the other stage hands go on strike, leaving the work for David while Goliath torments him. One reason this film appeals to me is that, not only go you get Chaplin's usual funny schtick, but you also get a glimpse into a film studio of the time. I love seeing the simplicity of the studio sets, the single boxy film camera, and even the use of a trap door for one hilarious bit. I always love the back-and-forth between Chaplin and frequent collaborator Eric Campbell and this is one of their better shows. For that extra chuckle, the film even includes a pie fight in the finale. You can't go wrong with one of Chaplin's funnier early efforts such as BEHIND THE SCREEN.

An overlooked gem

[kagiraa · 10/10 · 3 December 2007]

I've read a variety of negative comments on this film. Nevertheless, in my eyes it's a small masterpiece, one of Chaplin's best films. The Mutual shorts are generally of high quality, with The Immigrant, The Adventurer, the Pawnshop, and Easy Street often being singled out for praise: It's easy to see why, as they are all outstanding, often in different ways. While these films do not have the kind of meticulous artfulness of the famous longer films, they have a charm that is all their own, particularly because they are not as clearly morally centered as the later films (I am not complaining about that quality of the later films, but rather saying that each way of telling a story has its own value). As such, the shorts have the feeling of giving free play to the comic imagination, which is somewhat amoral, or loosely moral, contradictory, and unbounded. Behind the Screen is a great study in that: more than that, like the other great Chaplin shorts, there is a lot of care put into the film to keep the chaos going in interesting ways, terrific gags, acting, filming, and story telling. These films really show the excitement of a new creative medium being explored: the resulting art is fresh, inspired, and confounded in a way that maybe only happens when something is still beginning.

As for the film itself, I think I like it so much because of the interesting way the plot devices are tied together and serve as a vehicle for extremely zesty comic scenes. Comic reversals are the technique and the theme here, with the scene in which Charlie catches his immediate boss's head in the trap door being a great example of reversals being worked out in extremely well done, lunatic routines. The Elizabethan conceit of a young woman dressing as a boy is played against the modern situation of a workers' strike (as her subversion of the union is the way in which a woman manages to find her way into an untraditional role). This situation in turn is set against the very funny scene in which the high-strung director of a comic film (who seems to have a conception of himself as a serious comic artist) pulls his beard in frustration as his actors hurl pies across the studio nailing the bishop, king, queen, and so on who are trying to act a tragic scene on the opposite side of the studio and throwing them into a state of confusion. In the end, Charlie and his new sweetheart (the woman dressed as a boy) appear to thwart the striking workers, but in fact it is too late and the workers do succeed in blowing up the studio. The artificial world the studio represents is thus brought down, but only of course within the confines of its own lens.

Personally, I am fully in sympathy with many of the moral tales Chaplin tells in such great films as Modern Times. However, amoral tales like this one are good in another way. They keep things open and unsettled. Comic stories only get going when things go wrong. In this film, they keep on going wrong all the way to the end.

Chaplin Pokes Fun At Self

[CitizenCaine · 6/10 · 6 September 2008]

Chaplin's seventh film for the Mutual Film Corporation, which he edited, wrote, directed, and produced, was a satire on his slapstick utilizing his tried and true plot devices of being a put-upon poor soul who finds time for romance while creating chaos. This time the setting is behind the scenes at a film studio. Chaplin again plays an assistant handling props, much like he did in an earlier film. Eric Campbell again plays the Chaplin's browbeating foil. The film even has a risqué joke thrown in for good measure and is centered on the fact that Chaplin romances Edna Purviance while she's dressed as a guy. Chaplin makes a shambles of the film sets with moving a prop column back and forth between different sets while bopping other folks in the head with it. Other highlights include Chaplin gnawing on someone's lunch while alternately munching on bread and a huge pie throwing fight at the end. While there are a lot of funny moments in this film, it does not equal most of his other films for Mutual. **1/2 of 4 stars.

Behind the screen

[thinbeach · 4/10 · 5 December 2015]

It's lowbrow slapstick and they knew it, with one of the actors walking off the set after a pie throwing scene saying, "I don't go for this highbrow stuff."

Still, thank God for the pie throwing sequence, for its the only genuinely humorous sequence here - with the two "actors" - Charlie and his senior - going against script and throwing pies at each other out of contempt. Elsewhere there are a few chuckles, Chaplin brushing the bear rug's hair for the sets finishing touches comes to mind, but in the early sequences with the totem pole and the trap door, you can see the jokes coming a mile away.

Later in his career - in films like 'Pay Day' and 'City Lights' - to name a couple of examples, Chaplin would set up an obvious trap for a slapstick comedian to fall into, but would cleverly find ways to avoid it, thus maintaining the element of surprise. No such cleverness is present here however, and they fall into that trap over and over again.

This kind of silliness is run of the mill for 1910's comedy and Chaplin could have written this stuff in his sleep.

Edna Purviance was never cuter

[23skidoo-4 · 12 June 2004]

(Spoiler warning)

The unsung star of many of Chaplin's best silent films has to be Edna Purviance. She and Chaplin shared a chemistry that, to be honest, was superior to all other on-screen pairings Chaplin enjoyed either in his silent era, or later sound films. And that includes Paulette Goddard and Claire Bloom.

Behind the Screen doesn't showcase Edna per se - she only appears in maybe 5 minutes of it - but she nearly steals the scene as a wannabe actress who disguises herself as a male stagehand in order to break into show business. Of course it doesn't take long for Charlie (here playing David to Eric Campbell's burly Goliath) to see through the disguise. Mere moments later, he and Edna are smooching up a storm, leading to one of the funniest moments in all of Chaplin's silents when Campbell's character catches the two, thinks they're gay, then starts "flying" around the room. Yes, it's politically incorrect and yes, no one could get away with such a joke today. But this was 1916 and no one cared. It was just a joke ... and a very funny one.

Edna's best scene is when Charlie discovers her sitting alone, strumming a guitar and singing. It's a very brief moment, but you can tell from how it's filmed that Chaplin did indeed care about showcasing his favorite co-star.

The rest of the film is a fast moving look behind the scenes at a movie studio, and features a rapid fire succession of gags, including the inevitable pie-throwing battle. An unexpectedly violent ending (played for laughs but nonetheless probably fatal for those involved) leaves a strange aftertaste, but otherwise this is an example of Chaplin hitting his stride during his very productive middle-period of silent films. Highly recommended both for fans and for those curious about the appeal of Edna Purviance.

Charlie at the film studio

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 12 June 2018]

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.

From his post-Essanay period after leaving Keystone, 'Behind the Screen' is not one of his very best but is one of his best early efforts and among the better short films of his. It shows a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career, from 1914, The Essanay and Mutual periods were something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. Something that can be seen in the more than worthwhile 'Behind the Screen'.

The story is more discernible than usual and is never dull, in fact it is quite eventful without being too busy. The romance is sweet enough and the chemistry is definitely there, part of me felt though that it was not needed.

On the other hand, 'Behind the Screen' looks pretty good, not incredible but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious.

While not one of his most hilarious or touching, 'Behind the Screen' is still very funny with some clever, entertaining and well-timed slapstick, didn't mind that the pathos wasn't there as it was not the right kind of story. It moves quickly and there is no dullness in sight. The ending is one of the best and funniest ones of Chaplin's early work.

Chaplin directs more than competently, if not quite cinematic genius standard yet. He also, as usual, gives an amusing and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well, particularly Eric Campbell. Edna Purviance is charming and her chemistry with Chaplin is beautiful, even if it did feel she was there to provide the "obligatory" love interest.

Overall, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Some kind of wonderful

[isajademarilyn · 9/10 · 2 December 2016]

In short I wanted to highlight the wonderful work of the 2013 restoration. I have discovered again this gem that gives a glimpse at old time film studios settings; when noise on set didn't matter, and movies could be shot close to each other.

Chaplin surely used his personal experience in this one. Making fun of the artificial magic of cinema. Unlike his firsts silent shorts that only showcases a succession of gags, this one has a decent plot. His chemistry here with co-star Edna Purviance is even better than with Paulette Goddard.

I am very found of the bear scene, my favorite. Highly recommended to watch the restored copy, to fully enjoy it as Chaplin intended to show viewers when it was released.

The tramp causes a riot at a movie studio and falls for tomboy Edna

[Petey-10 · 9/10 · 3 February 2011]

This silent short takes place in a movie studio.Charlie Chaplin is a stagehand named David.Eric Campbell is Goliath, his supervisor.Edna Purviance is a girl wanting to be an actress, dresses as a man and becomes a stagehand.Behind the Screen is a Chaplin film from 1916.Charles Chaplin plays the clown we all remember him as.Edna Purviance looks real pretty in this picture, wearing a boy's outfit.And then when that long hair comes out off that hat...And Charlie gets to give her many kisses! The movie involves some great pie throwing.And the lunch break is most amusing, where Charlie starts playing with the pie tins.And the gag with the lever and the trap door.This Chaplin comedy is a treat!

"Do you need a stage hand. Sir?"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 11 July 2019]

The sub-title for this film short was "The Bewildered Stage Hand". Appropriate enough, as Charlie's character, named David, is busily hustling about while his boss Goliath (Eric Campbell) is an expert at loafing around. I don't know when it might have started, but this one utilizes title cards with a silhouette of the Little Tramp, even though Chaplin's not actually channeling that character. There were a couple of really clever situations on display here, one when David picked up eleven chairs in succession, hoisted each over his shoulder, and wound up resembling a human porcupine. While so doing, he used his free arm to pick up a piano prop, looking like a veritable circus strongman. The other involved a co-worker with an extended sub sandwich from which David availed himself of the occasional bite. And again, without knowing when the tradition began, a chaotic scene ensues when pie throwers from one movie set haul off and smack their victims involved on a nearby set. Following a stage hand strike and a few more comedy bits, Chaplin's character manages to smooch his way out of the story in a clinch with frequent collaborator, the pretty Edna Purviance.

Reflections

[tedg · 3 September 2002]

Spoilers herein.

The world's best filmmakers (to my mind: Welles, Tarkovsky, Kurosawa) thought Chaplin among the world's best. And usually we think they mean the films of 1925-40, over which he labored and in which he controlled nearly every aspect. But I think the earlier ones have tremendous cleverness and energy as well -- even genius that embodied more risk in the type of humor. That's because by 1925, he was already worrying over what was funny, but a decade earlier was just intuitively _being_ funny and in a sometimes more incisive manner.

Sure, this one has piethrowing. And lots of pratfalls. And the standard class commentary. But it has -- for the first time I know -- some fairly sophisticated humor about itself. After all, the thing that made Chaplin's later work so deep was its self-awareness and the trunk of that tree is self-reference. So I consider this film, right here, to be the birth of modern film humor.

Oddly, this film is accessible on DVD as an extra on the execrable `Cat's Meow,' whose story involves a Chaplin-like character. That film is the converse of self-reference: is supposed to be (in fact has all its value in) self-reference but is not.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 4: Worth watching.

Chaplin's Last Stage or Movie Set Film

[springfieldrental · 9/10 · 14 July 2021]

Charlie Chaplin was hitting his comedic stride late 1916 when he produced three highly praised films. Chaplin satirizes his Keystone Studio days in November 1916's "Behind The Screen." This time he plays an overworked stagehand whose adventures become memorable in scope. This is Chaplin's final film where his character works on a stage or movie set, such as his previous 1915's "His New Job." And he milks every prop found on a set, such as a huge stage column and a trap door. The outrageous concluding pie fight reflects Keystone's trademark comedic flanking.

"Behind The Screen" is also known as the supposed first kiss between two men on film. Edna Purviance plays a rejected actress who dresses up as a male worker to fill in for the stage company's striking employees to try to weasel in on the play's cast. Chaplin's character discovers her disguise and falls in love. The kisses, the first time Chaplin kisses Purviance on screen more than once, is seen by unsuspecting actor Eric Campbell, who mimics their act by an effeminate gesture.

In the three-part 1983 BBC documentary consisting of Chaplin outtakes, "Unknown Chaplin," it's revealed that a number of his routines in "Behind The Screen" were developed on the fly. The director worked out many of the loosely-drawn sequences on film. As a perfectionist, Chaplin discarded many brilliant arrangements that for him didn't quite play out as he had envisioned.

Well designed routines with an unnecessary romantic element

[bob the moo · 30 December 2002]

David is an assistant to stagehand Goliath in a movie studio. A young woman wanting to be an actress sneaks into the studio dressed as a boy but David discovers her. However he has enough problems with a lazy boss and an aptitude for causing trouble.

I suggest that this short has a plot but in reality the whole girl disguised as boy thing just appears to be in there to allow Chaplin to get a sneaking kiss from Purviance! However what is in the film is plenty of very funny routines including a trap door, a falling pillar and the traditional custard pie fight. These are all very funny and well designed. In fact at the time of production Chaplin took so long over each scene that Mutual Films had to apologise to it's exhibiters for the delay in release.

Chaplin himself is good as the put upon little man who gets up to mischief and the rest are basically fall guys who overact really well as you need to do in a short. Like I said, why Purviance was in this for is anyone's guess – contractual reasons? Chaplin's choice?

Despite this it is very funny with lots of enjoyable set-ups in a short time. Only the supposed romantic sub plot spoils thing slightly.

Not one of the best Mutual shorts

[hausrathman · 18 November 2004]

Charlie has various misadventures while working in the property department of a movie studio. For some reason, this film turned out to be the last of Chaplin's twelve Mutual shorts that I saw. I really looked forward to seeing it, thinking that Charlie would make the most of the studio location.

Sadly, if only because of my sense of anticipation, I was a bit disappointed. I didn't find it as funny as the bulk of the other Mutual shorts. Despite a location rich in potential, I found the funniest moments in this film to be some of the smallest – like Charlie trying to steal bites from Albert Austin's lunch. Still, the film retains interest as a behind the screen view of motion picture production circa 1916. (A superior and more concise view of the world of producing silent films can be found in 'Singing in the Rain' as Gene Kelly walks through a silent studio with the head of the studio.) To me, the most interesting thing about this film is Chaplin's hostile attitude toward the striking union workers. If he had made this film later in his career, the radical unionists might have been the good guys!

David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com

[rdjeffers · 24 September 2007]

Monday September 24, 7:00 pm, The Paramount Theater

A wickedly funny parody of his Keystone days, Behind the Screen was Charles Chaplin's seventh production under contract to The Mutual Film Corporation. Building on themes used in A Film Johnnie and The Property Man, it is among the quickest and most clever of the series. Goliath (Eric Campbell) is a lazy stagehand who takes all the credit while his assistant slaves away unnoticed. David (Chaplin) slings eleven chairs over one arm while carrying an upright piano, kicks over cameras, and repeatedly drops a large column on the dramatic director (Henry Bergman). They remain when the crew (caught napping after lunch) goes on strike, and hire an aspiring actress (Edna Purviance) disguised in workmen's clothes to help. David realizes her true identity when she faints, and Goliath discovers them kissing. Behind the Screen ends with a colossal pie fight as the strikers bomb the studio and David rescues the girl.