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 'Those Love Pangs', 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. 'Those Love Pangs' is a long way from a career high (nor is it a misfire), but has good efforts and one of the average/middling efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch.
'Those Love Pangs' 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, the content is not particularly inspired and some of it is on the repetitive side.
For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'Those Love Pangs' is not bad at all and there are flashes of his distinctive style, meaning that he was showing signs of evolving.
While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy.
Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'Those Love Pangs' is amusing and hard to dislike. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.
Overall, average but far from a bad effort. 5/10 Bethany Cox
He did do better than 'Those Love Pangs', 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. 'Those Love Pangs' is a long way from a career high (nor is it a misfire), but has good efforts and one of the average/middling efforts in the 1914 Keystone batch.
'Those Love Pangs' 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, the content is not particularly inspired and some of it is on the repetitive side.
For someone who was still relatively new to the film industry and had literally just moved on from their stage background, 'Those Love Pangs' is not bad at all and there are flashes of his distinctive style, meaning that he was showing signs of evolving.
While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy.
Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'Those Love Pangs' is amusing and hard to dislike. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short.
Overall, average but far from a bad effort. 5/10 Bethany Cox