Year: 1919
Director: Charles Chaplin
Country: US
Language: N/A
World War One had ended in 1918 and Charles Chaplin had did his part by making the hilarious Shoulder Arms (1918) and the informing propaganda picture The Bond (1918), in addition to making soldiers laugh around the world with his many other films. The British media, which had previously called him a coward, had ceased for the time being. It was back to business as usual for the funny beloved tramp.
Charlie works on a farm from 4am to late at night. He gets his food on the run (milking a cow into his coffee, holding an chicken over the frying pan to get fried eggs). He loves the neighbor's daughter Edna but is disliked by her father.
In 1919 Charlie joined forces with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W Griffith to create United Artists, the first movie studio run by the artists themselves. Sunnyside was one of the first Chaplin pictures to come out of his studio and, while it wasn't the political picture that laced his WW1 period, it still managed to entertain with imaginative slapstick.
There is a bounty of decent gags in Sunnyside, specifically at the beginning where Chaplin thwarts his employers attempts to get him out of bed. Its visual storytelling is well thought out, despite the so-so narrative. We've seen this kind of picture from Charlie many times before, however we have not seen this variation of gags.
Sunnyside is a fun picture despite its uneven pacing and familiar character development. Here we see the typical Chaplin charm mixed with decent cinematography and a decent score. Chaplin didn't put forth his best effort, likely due to his failing marriage at the time, but it's at least coherent and has fun moments.
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