A stranger (Charlie Chaplin) sees the farmer put away a large wad of money. He comes up with an idea to sweet talk his daughter gigantic Tillie Banks (Marie Dressler) into going away to the big city and taking her father's money. In the city, the couple runs into his ex Mabel. While Tillie gets drunk, he runs off with Mabel. Tillie is thrown in jail. It turns out that Tillie is the niece of a millionaire. The uncle doesn't want anything to do with Tillie and she ends up as a poor waitress. The uncle dies leaving everything to Tillie. Charlie reads about it in the newspaper and runs away from Mabel. He marries Tillie before she knows about the fortune. They move into the mansion followed closely by Mabel who gets hired as the maid. However the uncle isn't really dead and he returns to throw everybody out. He calls in the Keystone Kops.
This is definitely not the lovable tramp that everybody comes to adore. Chaplin is a real scoundrel in this one. It's early in his career and the last time somebody else directed him. Heck it's early in movie history period. There are some funny slapstick. The huge Dressler provides a lot of opportunity for some funny moments between her and Chaplin. The movie is a dark comedy where nobody is likable. There are a lot of pratfalls and mayhem. It is the Keystone Kops after all.
This is definitely not the lovable tramp that everybody comes to adore. Chaplin is a real scoundrel in this one. It's early in his career and the last time somebody else directed him. Heck it's early in movie history period. There are some funny slapstick. The huge Dressler provides a lot of opportunity for some funny moments between her and Chaplin. The movie is a dark comedy where nobody is likable. There are a lot of pratfalls and mayhem. It is the Keystone Kops after all.