The Masquerader

1914
5.9| 0h12m| NR| en
Details

Charlie plays an actor who bungles several scenes and is kicked out. He returns convincingly dressed as a lady and charms the director, but Charlie never makes it into the film.

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Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
TheLittleSongbird Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. He did do better than 'The Masquerader', still made very early on in his career where he was still finding his feet and not fully formed what he became famous for. Can understand why the Keystone period suffered from not being as best remembered or highly remembered than his later efforts, but they are mainly decent and important in their own right. 'The Masquerader' is a long way from a career high, but has a lot of nice things about it and is to me one of the better efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch. 'The Masquerader' is not as hilarious, charming or touching as his later work and some other shorts in the same period. The story is flimsy and the production values not as audacious. Occasionally, things feel a little scrappy and confused.For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'The Masquerador' is not bad at all, pretty good actually. While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable, with shades of his distinctive style here, and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick. Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'The Masquerader' is still very amusing and hard to dislike. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short. It is Chaplin's second endeavour in drag, 'A Busy Day' being the previous one, and the far more successful one.Overall, far from one of Chaplin's best but pretty good and perhaps one of his better efforts from the early Keystone period. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Igenlode Wordsmith This is the first Keystone Chaplin film that I've actually found funny, and it's not just down to the Chaplin-as-woman gag. (Although, as others have pointed out, the slender Chaplin actually makes a remarkably pretty girl, and does a convincing job of acting feminine too.) The film is interesting in its own right as a backstage look into what I assume was film-making practice of the day -- the director (a notable performance by Charles Murray) acting out his leading lady's role to indicate what he wants, the male cast sharing a dressing-room as basic as that of your average stage chorus troupe -- and was apparently shot on Keystone's own studio lots. It contains a fair amount of standard brick-throwing, arse-kicking antics but also a significant quantity of more subtly-paced and genuinely amusing material, starting with Chaplin and Arbuckle's double act in the dressing-room and ending with a truly dreadful (in the best sense) pun. 'Senorita Chapelino' sneaking a surreptitious exhalation from a puff on 'her' beau's cigarette is worth a mention too.
CitizenCaine Chaplin wrote and directed his second film, and he appears as himself with Fatty Arbuckle at Keystone studios in the opening scene before changing into costume as the tramp. He then makes time with the ladies while filming is going on, much to the dismay of the director. The director kicks Charlie to the curb only to find him getting revenge by returning to the studio dressed as a woman and initially fooling the director. Chaplin's second film where he appears as a woman is interesting because he is fairly convincing as a woman. Whether it's due to the age of the film, his height, or the expected neck to ankle dress of the period is uncertain. It doesn't matter because it maintains one's interest, although the film is uneven like most of his early efforts. Several silent stars are on hand including Mabel Normand and Charley Chase in small parts. ** of 4 stars.
Snow Leopard This is an interesting little short comedy that, while rather uneven, is generally amusing. It's mostly remembered for Chaplin disguising himself as a woman, in an attempt to get into a movie studio. The idea of a man masquerading as a woman, or vice versa, was relatively common in the old silent comedies - this is one of the more believable efforts, as Charlie's disguise is credible enough to make that part of the movie work all right. But that's not necessarily the best or even the most interesting part of the film.The setting in a movie studio is interesting in itself, offering a chance for some good-natured self-parody, and they got reasonable mileage out of the idea. Perhaps the best-crafted scene occurs very early on, when Chaplin and 'Fatty' Arbuckle have a battle of wits in the dressing room. It's no coincidence that it is the one scene in the picture in which Chaplin performs with another highly talented comedian, as the smooth timing and careful movement make it stand out from the more disjointed, frantic pace of most of the rest of the movie. But even as a whole, the movie works all right, despite its lack of refinement. It's hardly one of Chaplin's top efforts, but still entertaining and worth seeing.