A man, Charlot, throws a mallet against a couple near a tree. The girl raises the mallet to the first pitcher who reaches the couple, for a moment of slapstick between men.
The girl goes to another man with whom she sits on the swing.
From the tree the two men go towards the swing and one of them pushes the one on the swing, which launches a mallet to the other two, who take refuge in a nearby shack.
The character played by Chaplin goes to take with the other who is with the girl and take him to the shack. Chaplin hits the other two and goes to the girl, chasing a child who had arrived just before.
The two men free themselves and one of the two chases Chaplin, who duels on the edge of a pond with one of the two while the other is with the girl.
Chaplin drops his opponent into the lake but the other makes him fall too and goes for a walk with the girl.The movie focuses on the mechanism of slapstick and chase in this struggle between rivals in love.
Review of The Fatal Mallet
