Easy Street (film)
| Easy Street | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by |
Charles Chaplin Edward Brewer (technical director) |
| Produced by | Henry P. Caulfield |
| Written by |
Charles Chaplin Vincent Bryan Maverick Terrell |
| Starring |
Charles Chaplin Edna Purviance Eric Campbell |
| Cinematography |
Roland Totheroh George C. Zalibra |
| Editing by | Charles Chaplin |
| Distributed by | Mutual Film Corporation |
| Release dates |
|
| Running time |
19 min USA, Germany 24 min (restored version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
Easy Street is a 1917 short action-comedy film by Charlie Chaplin.
Plot
In a slum called "Easy Street", the police are failing to maintain law and order and so the Little Tramp character (Chaplin), steps forward (rather reluctantly) to rid the street of bullies, help the poor, save women from madmen.
The Little Tramp is sleeping rough outside a mission near the streets of a lawless slum. He is reformed somewhat at a Mission where there is singing and religious education. His religious awakening inspired by a beautiful young woman who pleads for him to stay at the Mission.
Spotting a help wanted ad for a job at the police station, Chaplin hesitantly accepts and is assigned the rough-and-tumble Easy Street as his beat. Upon entering the street, he finds a bully, roughing up the locals and pilfering their money. Chaplin gets on the wrong side of this bully and following a chase the two eventually come to blows, culminating in Chaplin inventively using a gas lamp, to render the bully unconscious.
The bully is taken away by the Police but escapes and comes after Chaplin. The film continues with Chaplin aiding the people of Easy Street, rescuing a damsel in distress from the clutches of a sinister drug addict and putting the bully in his place once and for all.
Cast
- Charles Chaplin ... The Derelict
- Edna Purviance ... The Mission Worker
- Eric Campbell ... The Bully
- Albert Austin ... Minister/Policeman
- Lloyd Bacon ... Drug Addict
- Henry Bergman ... Anarchist
- Frank J. Coleman ... Policeman
- William Gillespie ... Heroin addict
- James T. Kelley ... Mission Visitor/Policeman
- Charlotte Mineau ... Big Eric's Wife
- John Rand ... Mission Tramp/Policeman
- Janet Miller Sully ... Mother in Mission
- Loyal Underwood ... Small Father/Policeman
- Erich von Stroheim Jr. ... Baby
- Leo White ... Policeman (uncredited)
- Tom Wood ... Chief of Police (uncredited)
Sound version
In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release.[1]
See also
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Easy Street (film). |
- Easy Street at the Internet Movie Database
- Easy Street at allmovie
- Review of Easy Street starring Charlie Chaplin, Eric Campbell, Edna Purviance at Famous Clowns
- Article at InDigest Magazine about the film recently being scored by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver)
- Easy Street (1917) on YouTube
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