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 Fatal Mallet', 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 Fatal Mallet' 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 and a decent acting collaboration with Mabel Normand. 'The Fatal Mallet' 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 Fatal Mallet' is not bad at all. While not audacious, the film hardly looks ugly, is more than competently directed and is appealingly played. Chaplin looks comfortable for so early on and shows his stage expertise while opening it up that it doesn't become stagy or repetitive shtick. Mabel Normand is quite charming.Although the humour, charm and emotion was done even better and became more refined later, 'The Fatal Mallet' is humorous, sweet and easy to like, though the emotion is not quite there. It moves quickly and doesn't feel too long or short. Overall, pretty decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Kel Boyce
This is typical Keystone with lots of butt-kicking, and the added bonus of skulls being smashed with big hammers. How strange were audiences in those days. Anyhow, we have in this film just about the best casting combination Keystone could muster. We have the coming genius Charlie, the divine Mabel, oafish Mack Swain, and the more than oafish Mack 'The Hick' Sennett. We may wonder why the latter cast himself in so many pictures, but he was there (according to Mack) by popular demand! We might unkindly ask 'Why?', but the truth is that he needed to keep an eye on naïve Mabel and the young and virile Charlie. Would the Englishman procure Mabel for another studio, and lure her from her aging Svengali? Mack was the first producer to realize Chaplin would go through actresses on the lot like a fox in a chicken coop. Charlie could do what he liked with Peggy Pearce, Peggy Page and Virginia Kirtley, but Mabel was Mack's personal property — touch at your peril.As usual Sennett is acting the part of Mabel's boyfriend, and the opening scene makes this amply clear. While they stand in what seems to be some sort of a grove, Mack clumsily goes through the amorous stuff. Then, who should come along but the licentious Charlie, someone Mabel seems to know. She introduces Charlie to Mack, but the former takes exception to the latter, and begins to push him around. Suddenly Charlie points off-camera, and while the stupid country boy looks away, he runs off with the fair maid. Behind a shed, Charlie starts to impress the stunningly beautiful Keystone Girl with a range of comical tricks, but Mack creeps up on them, and slyly kicks Charlie in the rear. Charlie is shocked, and obviously thinks Mabel did it, so kicks her in the derriere. Mabel is equally shocked, but soon recovers her composure, and, smiling sweetly, she beckons Charlie forward, then smashes him in the face. Predictably, Mabel runs off, but Charlie soon finds her being pushed on a swing by Mack. As he approaches, Mack, of course, rams the swinging Mabel into him, and all-out war begins. Charlie throws a brick at the couple, hitting Mabel in the face, while Mack gallantly ducks behind a tree. Plucky Mabel throws the brick back, and an angry Charlie confronts the couple. Of course, Mack has to take some action, and Mabel is delighted when her hero pushes up his sleeves ready to knock Charlie out. Unfortunately, it's Mack who gets knocked out, prompting Mabel to run off into the arms of Mack Swain, who has conveniently arrived on the scene. It is highly amusing to see Chaplin mock defeated Sennett by imitating his trademark spewing of tobacco juice. To cut a long story short, the film now enters mallet mode where Mack and Charlie first dispose of Swain with a whack on the head, then try to kill each other with mallets and bricks, while Mabel suffers collateral damage. An unusual scene then occurs, when a boy discovers Mabel alone, and takes the opportunity to manhandle (boyhandle?) the forlorn beauty. This is surely the luckiest kid in Edendale, for in no other film has any actor got to fondle the fair Mabel without getting a slap in the face. In any event, Charlie makes short work of the kid by drop-kicking him into performing a 108. Unfortunately, both Chaplin and Swain then end up in Echo Park Lake, while Sennett gets the goods in the form of Mabel the enchanting.There is plenty going on in this film, which was clearly padded out with numerous gags from the talented and experienced quartet – the audiences would have certainly have got their money's worth. As for Mabel she gets something of a respite in the picture, although she clearly collected a few bruises. In an interview many years later she said 'I am glad to report that many of those that kicked me and abused my person down through the years, have now been consigned to oblivion'.The lovely dress Mabel wore in the film, seems to be the one worn by Eva Nelson a few weeks earlier in Twenty Minutes of Love (with the bow on the front rather than on the back).
Michael_Elliott
Fatal Mallet, The (1914) *** (out of 4) Chaplin, along with two other guys, fights for the affection of a woman. Instead of using their fist the guys instead throw bricks at one another. This is a very funny film that has some outrageous violence that makes for a good time.A Busy Day (1914) ** (out of 4) Chaplin plays a woman(!) who gets tired of her husbands and decides to fight with him in public. This here really doesn't have a single funny moment but it's still interesting to see Chaplin playing a woman.Caught in a Cabaret (1914) *** (out of 4) Chaplin is mistaken as a Greek Ambassador and must keep a girl's family from finding out. This one here is a real riot with some wonderfully funny fight scenes but the real highlights are the title cards, which feature some very funny one-liners. Also of note is that this storyline would play a big part in future Chaplin films.Knockout, The (1914) *** (out of 4) To show off his braveness, Fatty Arbuckle challenged a professional boxer to a fight. Fatty is funny as usually and like the above film, this one here gets the laughs from violence ranging from punches to items being thrown. Chaplin has a small but funny cameo as the referee.
boblipton
A nice little comedy, in which Mabel has three suitors: Charlie, Mack Swain and Mack Sennett. Although Sennett's character -- a country bumpkin with a face that looks like he's been eating lemons -- never appealed to me, he does know how to do slapstick. And the three men all pound each other, while Mabel looks on gleefully.Now, considering who owns the studio, who do you think gets the girl?
