By the Sea
1915 · 14m · USA
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp spends a windy day at a seaside resort, getting into escalating slapstick trouble as he tries to flirt with women on the beach and tangles with their husbands.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Chaplin doing crowd-pleaser slapstick at the beach — competent, breezy, totally minor. Historical-banana-peel asterisk doesn't move me.
A minor Essanay diversion that nonetheless contains genealogical interest as the seedbed of two enduring Chaplin routines. Pleasant rather than essential.
Chaplin works the wind itself as a third actor — hats, hair, coats become rhythm devices for the slapstick. The page confirms a 14:00 runtime, which is the sweet spot for Chaplin's Essanay-era scene construction before he tightened to Mutual lengths.
Reviews
More irresistible absurdities by the inimitable Charles, with the broad Pacific Ocean as a background.
Although this may be a slight disappointment for those who want Charlie to take himself seriously as an artist, it is nevertheless a strong example of his powerful physical comedy and capacity for clowning.