Early Chaplin: Programme 7

Chaplin piles through some classic gags in Dough and Dynamite, while His Musical Career is a masterclass in everything you can do comically with a piano, a piano-remover and a donkey.

Sun 14 Sep: Accompanied by Andrew Youdell.
Tue 16 Sep: Accompanied by John Sweeney.

Those Love Pangs is another 'park' film in which the rival 'mashers' end up in a cinema setting, a favourite device of the Keystone company. The print is, sadly, quite incomplete; whereas Dough and Dynamite and Gentlemen of Nerve have been restored from the original paper prints (made as copyright reference copies) at the Library of Congress, which we can confidently say are very close to the original Keystone releases. Dough and Dynamite is a delight, with Chaplin able to pile through some classic gags - such as the (perfectly innocent) floury handprints on the boss' wife's bottom, and a stick of dynamite in a loaf in the oven, just to up the tension. His Musical Career is a masterclass in everything you can do comically with a piano, a piano-remover and a donkey.

Running time:

c82min