The Champion (1915)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This 1915 movie "The Champion" runs for half an hour and celebrated its 100th birthday this year. Accordingly, it is still a black-and-white film and also silent and by many considered one of the films Chaplin made during his peak. There's really only 2 options: either his short film period or his feature film period, which of course also included political messages in contrast to the short films. Anyway, I personally believe that this is not one of his finest works. Maybe, at age 25 he was simply still too young. Also in here is the very young Edna Purviance who was maybe 20 when this was made and she was at the very beginning of her career. There aren't really any memorable moments in this short film and Chaplin frequently manages to put nice focus on his dramatic and comedic scenes as well. But not here. The longer the film goes on, the more chaotic it gets and the more it would have needed at least a slight ounce of order. The last shot was nice though. Charlie gets his reward for winning the fight (against the world champion??? seriously?) and we see that it was deemed inappropriate to have people watch you during kissing. An interesting snippet looking at how things are today. That one shot is obviously not enough thou to let me recommend this half hour. Watch another Chaplin film instead.

I saw the 20 minutes version. It ends with his bulldog entering the ring biting and Charles Chaplin knocking out his opponent in Round 20. I guess it's missing the romantic ending. I can understand that. This version is strictly a slapstick movie.I like quite a lot of the slapstick. Of course, there is nothing funnier than his boxing sequence in 'City Lights' (1931). Here he's trying out several things. When he's boxing fodder, he puts a horseshoe into his glove. Then during the long boxing match, he's doing a lot of what would recognizable to most people who's seen the boxing match in 'City Lights'.

It seems natural that at the very start of Chaplin's career he should make a movie in which he plays a grossly unqualified boxer who succeeds by sneaking horse shoes into his gloves. I only wonder why it didn't happen even earlier. He passes a sign saying that sparring partners are wanted, people who know how to take a punch, and heads in. We see him grow increasingly concerned as one guy after another, all bigger and stronger than him, get up to fight and return in a state of dazed semi-consciousness. A lot of times when I watch these early comedies from Chaplin, I get the feeling that he is often trying to create at least a mildly engaging story throughout which he can throw in a lot of kicking and punching scenes, but in this movie it's the kicking and punching the drives the plot, giving the film an unusually honest feel. High-energy physical slap-stick is what Chaplin did best at that time, and smacking around a huge mountain of a man while he dances carelessly around as only he can is certainly a treat to watch. And the climactic battle between Charlie and the meaty Bob Uppercut (or Young Hippo, depending on which cannibalized version you may see) is well-acted and fun. Mack Sennett like his comedies to be fast paced and high energy, without too much time wasted on things like characterization or even story. But in The Champion, Chaplin proves that we can have well-developed characters, an easily discernible story, and still have enough action and solid slap-stick to keep the shorter attention spanned audience members entertained. This is definitely one of the best short comedies that Chaplin had made up to that point.

A comedy in three acts, this Chaplin short depicts his tramp as a somewhat more sympathetic character than many of his other films from this period. The tramp's impoverished status is played up here more than in some of his other Essanay films, and it strengthens both his character and the story as a result. Finding a lucky horseshoe outside a gym advertising for sparring partners 'who can take a punch', Charlie decides to give it a go. The horseshoe is put to predictable use and Chaplin suddenly finds himself up against the hulking Bob Uppercut (Bud Jamison). Chaplin would return to the ring in CITY LIGHTS and, while the fight sequence here comes nowhere near to the brilliance of that film's prize fight, it is still an entertaining bout that forms the highlight of the film. Edna Purviance appears once more, and Chaplin acknowledges the audience (and, perhaps, media speculation about their off-screen relationship) when he lifts a beer jug in front of their faces as they kiss. This is one of Chaplin's better early efforts.