Chaplin in his seventh film, appears to be heading nowhere fast. The film repeats his drunken heel characterization from earlier films, and it repeats the exaggerated fighting, pushing, and shoving found in earlier films also. Fatty Arbuckle has a brief stint in the opening scene playing another rabble-rouser at the bar. Chaplin gets into trouble in the bar of course and then follows a lady to her home only to find out it's the maid, obviously played in black face. That scene and the lit match dropped in the bathroom porter's hand surprisingly spotlight racial humor of the time, which is anything but funny today. Chaplin has a few neat bits like riding the streetcar and somersaulting over a banister and lighting a cigarette without missing a beat. Otherwise, this is certainly one of Chaplin's lesser earlier efforts. *1/2 of 4 stars.
Review of His Favorite Pastime
