During the 1950s, while formulating the idea that would later become his greatly-unappreciated 'A King in New York (1957),' Charles Chaplin toyed with the notion of resurrecting the Little Tramp in modern times. "I was wrong to kill him," he would later remark to a reporter; "there was room for the Little Man in the atomic age." However, perhaps due to his advancing age and dwindling health, the director ultimately decided against the move. But he was not to deny the public entirely of his beloved creation: in 1959, Chaplin slightly re-edited and compiled three short films from his earlier days into a feature-length offering, which was entitled 'The Chaplin Revue.' One of these short films, 'Shoulder Arms (1918),' I had already seen, and 'The Pilgrim (1923)' followed just a few days ago. 'A Dog's Life (1918)' was ordered first in the compilation, and, though lacking in the narrative development that I would have liked, it is a delightful comedy short, with a good dose of the pathos that Chaplin would continue to employ with such great success throughout his distinguished career.
'A Dog's Life' was Chaplin's first film for First National Films, a company founded in 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest first-run cinema chains. Two of the corporation's biggest contracts were held by Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin, respectively, each representing cinema's first multi-million dollar agreements {Chaplin, along with Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffiths, would go on to form his own struggling studio United Artists in 1919}. What is perhaps most impressive about the film is the way in which Chaplin parallels the daily struggles of the Tramp with those of the young dog, Scraps, a Thoroughbred Mongrel {the animal actor was apparently named Mut}. In support of the old adage that good will always be rewarded with good, Chaplin comes to the aid of Scraps when he is being attacked by a gang of predatory dogs, and, in return, the intelligent canine ultimately retrieves the means by which our hero may retire into the country with his sweetheart (Edna Purviance). As in 'The Pilgrim,' the chemistry between Purviance and Chaplin is somewhat unconvincing, but she does elicit a fair amount of empathy in her portrayal of an exploited and cruelly-treated bar singer.
Much of the film's 40-minute running time involves Chaplin's discovery of a large amount of cash, buried by a pair of malicious thieves who pick-pocketed a bumbling old aristocrat. As the criminals realise that the Tramp has uncovered their stash, they will stop at nothing to retrieve their dishonest earnings, and it will take every ounce of Chaplin's and the dog's resourcefulness if they are able to outsmart these dim-witted but determined thieves. In the film's most hilarious sequence, the Tramp knocks one of the men unconscious at his table, and, substituting the man's arms for his own, delicately manipulates the other into surrendering the winnings. However, it is at the film's conclusion that 'A Dog's Life' ultimately comes undone, and the final resolution is both abrupt and contrived. Additionally, it seems a bit fraudulent for the Tramp to achieve financial security at the expense of an innocent man, even if he is too wealthy and obtuse to even notice that a fortune is missing. But, then again, who am I to deny the humble Little Fellow a happy ending, especially after all Chaplin put him through?
