Chaplin's comic persona still wasn't fully formed when he made this 1915 short for Essanay, but his development was gathering pace and, while there are still dislikeable elements about his character he is not as mean-spirited as he was in his earlier incarnations. Here he plays Charlie the janitor, a lowly worker at a bank who mistakenly believes the pretty teller (played by Edna Purviance) loves him, when she really loves a dapper bank clerk by the same name.
Chaplin's comic timing is perfect as always and he makes difficult tricks look easy as he wages war on a fellow worker. Oddly, while the film works a little too hard to tug at the audience's heartstrings, there is no happy ending to this one, and by the final credits the true colours of both Charlie and his love rival are exposed.
Chaplin's comic timing is perfect as always and he makes difficult tricks look easy as he wages war on a fellow worker. Oddly, while the film works a little too hard to tug at the audience's heartstrings, there is no happy ending to this one, and by the final credits the true colours of both Charlie and his love rival are exposed.