Just watched on the "American Slapstick" DVD collection this Mack Sennett comedy short starring Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd. In this one, he plays a waiter who overhears two men planning to rob a ship. Syd then steals their plans and, wearing a pirate captain's uniform, decides to execute them himself. From there, we go aboard a submarine where "his" men are waiting...I thought the restaurant/kitchen scenes were quite hilarious to me while the ones at sea not so much and I wasn't thrilled at Syd's sudden change to a villain. Still, overall, I liked A Submarine Pirate and would heartily recommend it to anyone who loves silent movies.
4 Reviews
Exceptional for 1915, though it sure lacks humor today
planktonrules15 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I am giving A SUBMARINE PIRATE a relatively high score of 7 even though it didn't seem all that funny. That's because compared to other films from 1915, this is a better than average comedy and all the totally pointless kicking and shooting were rather typical clichés from films of that era. In my opinion, silent comedies weren't particularly good during this time period and really came into their own in the 1920s when they studios refined the humor and bonking someone on the head or kicking them was no longer the big laugh-getter!
Despite the sparsity of laughs, the film is amazingly long and complex for a 1915 product. By comparison, most of Charlie Chaplin's films from 1914-1915 were about 8 minutes and had only the barest of plots. Here, half-brother, Syd Chaplin, was given nearly half an hour--practically full-length for the time. As a result, the film was much more plot-driven than the norm.
The film begins with Syd (donning a Kaiser Wilhelm-style mustache) a waiter in a restaurant. Two men are plotting to use a submarine to rob ships. Instead of telling the authorities, Syd decides to use their secret signal to get on the boat first and do the robbing himself. Much of this portion of the movie was slapstick but there were also a few good bits. Seeing Syd do the routine with the hat as well as his juggling were very entertaining.
Later, Syd's in an ill-fitting captain's uniform and gives the signal for the sub to take him aboard. Despite the plan, in the end the plot is stopped thanks to the Navy and you see some bizarre but funny bits with the periscope and the final scene where an obviously fake fish bites Syd in the head that still made me laugh. While nothing earth-shattering in these bits, they were cute and kept my attention.
I'd love to know more about is the sub used in the final half of the movie. The film makers actually were able to use a real submarine and I would love to know how they got permission to do this. I also would like to know if the long shots of Syd on the deck of the submerging ship were actually him or not--it's hard to tell and looked awfully dangerous.
Overall, a decent film that is still watchable today. A must for silent movie fans but not especially necessary for the casual film goer.
Despite the sparsity of laughs, the film is amazingly long and complex for a 1915 product. By comparison, most of Charlie Chaplin's films from 1914-1915 were about 8 minutes and had only the barest of plots. Here, half-brother, Syd Chaplin, was given nearly half an hour--practically full-length for the time. As a result, the film was much more plot-driven than the norm.
The film begins with Syd (donning a Kaiser Wilhelm-style mustache) a waiter in a restaurant. Two men are plotting to use a submarine to rob ships. Instead of telling the authorities, Syd decides to use their secret signal to get on the boat first and do the robbing himself. Much of this portion of the movie was slapstick but there were also a few good bits. Seeing Syd do the routine with the hat as well as his juggling were very entertaining.
Later, Syd's in an ill-fitting captain's uniform and gives the signal for the sub to take him aboard. Despite the plan, in the end the plot is stopped thanks to the Navy and you see some bizarre but funny bits with the periscope and the final scene where an obviously fake fish bites Syd in the head that still made me laugh. While nothing earth-shattering in these bits, they were cute and kept my attention.
I'd love to know more about is the sub used in the final half of the movie. The film makers actually were able to use a real submarine and I would love to know how they got permission to do this. I also would like to know if the long shots of Syd on the deck of the submerging ship were actually him or not--it's hard to tell and looked awfully dangerous.
Overall, a decent film that is still watchable today. A must for silent movie fans but not especially necessary for the casual film goer.
If you looked at the Allday 'American Slapstick' DVD....
boblipton6 December 2006
....and paid attention to the written and spoken commentary, then if you are not terribly familiar with the people involved, you may taken on board a few false ideas: 1: Syd introduced brother Charlie to Fred Karno and thus produced one of the greatest talents in the movies. Uh, not quite. In fact, Charlie had been a boy actor, quite possibly being in one of William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes productions in 1905 as 'Billy the Page.' 2: This is the first appearance of Syd in any home video of any Syd Chaplin movie. Well, there is a seven- or eight-tape set of Keystones that is still floating around in which three of Syd's 'Gussle' shorts appear.
But of course, errors like that are irrelevant to any movie. How good is this movie? It's a pretty good Keystone three-reeler of the period, chaotic to the modern eye, but very funny.
And how is Syd? Well, you can see he's Charlie's brother and also a graduate of the Karno company..... look for the occasional 'interrupted line of movement' gag that most people know as seeming to offer to shake hands, that turns into flattening one's hair.
But of course, errors like that are irrelevant to any movie. How good is this movie? It's a pretty good Keystone three-reeler of the period, chaotic to the modern eye, but very funny.
And how is Syd? Well, you can see he's Charlie's brother and also a graduate of the Karno company..... look for the occasional 'interrupted line of movement' gag that most people know as seeming to offer to shake hands, that turns into flattening one's hair.
Not Too Many Laughs but It's Interesting
Michael_Elliott17 September 2012
A Submarine Pirate (1915)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A dimwitted waiter (Syd Chaplin) overhears a couple men talking about using a submarine to rob a ship carrying gold so he decides to buy an outfit and get on board the sub to try and do the thing himself. A SUBMARINE PIRATE really doesn't work too well as a comedy but I think film buffs are going to be entertained simply by how much this thing tries to do. This was Mack Sennett's first film for Triange Pictures so perhaps this explains why this seems to have a much bigger budget and more plot than the type of films he was turning out at Keystone. For 1915 this has a pretty detailed plot as we get all sorts of stuff going on but the most shocking thing is that this appeared to have been shot on a real sub. I thought some of these scenes were really brought to life by Chaplin including one where we see him running around on the front of the sub. We also get a few moments in the sub, which might not be funny but it's still interesting to see. Chaplin, as you'd expect, works best early on when he's playing the moron waiter and I think we get some funny jokes here including one bit where he pretty much has everything that belongs on the table in his pants and coat. At 24-minutes the film doesn't have enough laughs to make it a complete success but film buffs should enjoy it.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A dimwitted waiter (Syd Chaplin) overhears a couple men talking about using a submarine to rob a ship carrying gold so he decides to buy an outfit and get on board the sub to try and do the thing himself. A SUBMARINE PIRATE really doesn't work too well as a comedy but I think film buffs are going to be entertained simply by how much this thing tries to do. This was Mack Sennett's first film for Triange Pictures so perhaps this explains why this seems to have a much bigger budget and more plot than the type of films he was turning out at Keystone. For 1915 this has a pretty detailed plot as we get all sorts of stuff going on but the most shocking thing is that this appeared to have been shot on a real sub. I thought some of these scenes were really brought to life by Chaplin including one where we see him running around on the front of the sub. We also get a few moments in the sub, which might not be funny but it's still interesting to see. Chaplin, as you'd expect, works best early on when he's playing the moron waiter and I think we get some funny jokes here including one bit where he pretty much has everything that belongs on the table in his pants and coat. At 24-minutes the film doesn't have enough laughs to make it a complete success but film buffs should enjoy it.
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