Apart from the very end of this short, I think this might be one of the very best Chaplin shorts I have seen. The pacing was excellent, the story cute and involving and everything seemed to fit together just right--until the ending.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!
Some may like the way the film ended, but I felt REALLY disappointed and irritated at the way they chose to conclude the film. You see, Charlie is a janitor and when the bank is later robbed, Charlie foils the robbers and gets the girl--this works out so well and everything is perfect. However, this all turns out to be a dream! I think Chaplin did this because of his infatuation with pathos in many of his films and while this did make the ending very poignant and sad, it also seemed to undo and ruin everything that occurred before he awoke and found he was just a lowly janitor and not a hero after all.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!
Some may like the way the film ended, but I felt REALLY disappointed and irritated at the way they chose to conclude the film. You see, Charlie is a janitor and when the bank is later robbed, Charlie foils the robbers and gets the girl--this works out so well and everything is perfect. However, this all turns out to be a dream! I think Chaplin did this because of his infatuation with pathos in many of his films and while this did make the ending very poignant and sad, it also seemed to undo and ruin everything that occurred before he awoke and found he was just a lowly janitor and not a hero after all.