In 1914, Keystone Studios boss Mack Sennett, the "King of Comedy", put his newest hire to work. Charles Chaplin made 36 pictures there during his first year on the screen: 35 shorts and a feature, Tillie's Punctured Romance.
He started out as merely an actor, tasked with replacing the departing Ford Sterling, and he certainly did that. However, he took on other roles too, from building gags to writing scripts and, halfway through the year, directing his own films.
He learned as he went, picking up knowledge everywhere, but he taught as much as he learned, bringing his vaudeville training to the Hollywood screen and reinventing film comedy in the process. By the end of the year, Chaplin was a star.
To celebrate and reaffirm his unparalleled contribution to cinema, film critic Hal C F Astell of Apocalypse Later reviewed each of these 36 films in 2014 on the centennials of their original release dates. In doing so, he experienced them as audiences of the time experienced them, watching this new talent grow and mature.
From early appearances like Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal to his first classic, Dough and Dynamite, this book takes a fresh look at these Keystone pictures which had languished for years in poor quality prints.
Chaplin said that all he needed to make a comedy was "a park, a policeman and a pretty girl". Here's where he learned how to do it.
Films reviewed include the following:
Making a Living
Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal
Mabel's Strange Predicament
A Thief Catcher
Between Showers
A Film Johnnie
Tango Tangles
His Favorite Pastime
Cruel, Cruel Love
The Star Boarder
Mabel at the Wheel
Twenty Minutes of Love
Caught in a Cabaret
Caught in the Rain
A Busy Day
The Fatal Mallet
Her Friend the Bandit
The Knockout
Mabel's Busy Day
Mabel's Married Life
Laughing Gas
The Property Man
The Face on the Barroom Floor
Recreation
The Masquerader
His New Profession
The Rounders
The New Janitor
Those Love Pangs
Dough and Dynamite
Gentlemen of Nerve
His Musical Career
His Trysting Place
Getting Acquainted
His Prehistoric Past
Tillie's Punctured Romance
While he still has a day job, Hal C F Astell is a teacher by blood and a writer by inclination, which gradually morphed him into a movie reviewer. He writes primarily for Apocalypse Later, his film review site, but also for others who ask nicely, such as the Nameless Zine for the Western Science Fiction Association.
In addition to being a film critic and author, he programs film festivals at a variety of conventions in Arizona and California, including FearCon, Wild Wild West Con, San Diego Comic Fest, LepreCon, DarkCon and CopperCon. He also screens submissions for a number of film festivals and has served as a judge on numerous occasions.
Born and raised in the rain of England, he's still learning about the word 'heat' after a decade in Phoenix, AZ, where he lives with his better half, Dee, in a house full of assorted critters, a library and a growing number of secret panels.
Just in case you care, his favourite movie is Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, his favourite actor is Warren William and he thinks Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc is the best film ever made. He's always happy to talk your ears off about the joys of precodes, fifties B pictures or Asian horror movies.
He's usually easy to find at film festivals, conventions and events in Arizona because he's likely to be the only one in a kilt. He's friendly and doesn't bite unless asked.
