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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

"Shoulder Arms" is an American silent (don't be fooled by the music) movie, black-and-white obviously and stars Charlie Chaplin as writer, director and lead actor. He cast his regular Edna Purviance as lead lady and half-brother Syd is in here again as well. It is not among his shorter works at 45 minutes, but also not among his longest films, not even close. In my opinion, the same is true when it comes to quality. Not one of Chaplin's best, not one of his worst. The year is 1918, so this one will soon have its 100th anniversary. It was made at the end of World War I and Germany are already the enemies in this film. Yep, Chaplin made (like the Stooges) a couple anti-German propaganda films, and here his target are still the enemy forces from World War I, later on from World War II when he went more into full features. I believe the action in "Shoulder Arms" is fairly uninteresting compared to his finest pieces and the emotion is also not really effective. The comedy is okay I guess. The most interesting aspect, however, are the political references. If anything makes these 45 minutes worth a watch, then it is these. As a whole, still fairly underwhelming and I do not recommend it.

PERHAPS OFFERING US a glimpse of what would come some 22 years later and in the spectre of yet another World War, SHOULDER ARMS (Chaplin/First National, 1918)makes extensive ridicule of "the Huns" as a central theme of this short feature comedy/farce. IN VERY MUCH the same vein as his lampooning of Hitler as Adinoid Hynkel in THE GREAT DICTATOR (Chaplin/United Artists, 1940), the 'Little Tramp' gives it to the entire German Army right up to Kaiser Wilhelm, double barreled.BY THIS TIME, Charlie had moved on from doing short subjects and into features. At about 45 minutes in length, it is not nearly as deeply developed nor as critically acclaimed as would be titles such as CITY LIGHTS (1931), MODERN TIMES (1936) or THE GOLD RUSH (1925 & 1942*).THE LITTLE TRAMP character is transported from the streets of the big city to Army Boot Camp. As to be expected, Charlie is out of step, awkward and not a very good prospect for combat in France. Being consistently out of step, marching in an unorthodox toes out manner, his relationship with the Drill Sergeant would set the standard for all to follow; from Abbott & Costello in BUCK PRIVATES (Universal, 1941) to TV's GOMER PYLE, USMC.LIFE IN THE trenches is portrayed in a very realistic manner; although writer/director Chaplin does manage to give it all a light, comic spin. Much of the laughter is generated by what we properly call "Black Humor." The union of laughter and tragic reality is unavoidable and this film, SHOULDER ARMS manages to pull it all off rather gracefully.AS HAD BEEN the case ever since Charlie's alliance with First National Pictures, he practiced a sort of nepotism in featuring his older half-brother, Sydney Chaplin. Syd, himself a veteran of the English Music Hall, proved to be more than adequate as a supporting player and did go onto a film career in his own right.MADE AS HIS on film contribution to the War effort*, the scenes and locations were most convincingly realistic. His inclusion of his real life protégé and 'main squeeze', Miss Edna Purviance,as his French Peasant Girl/Love Interest added a needed touch of relief from the story of the grim realities of modern warfare.ALTHOUGH THIS PARTICULAR picture retains a sort of legendary status today, it almost missed the War altogether. SHOULDER ARMS was released on October 20, 1918; being a mere 22 days before the declared armistice on November 11, 1918. It was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, for the ending of "the War to end all Wars!" NOTE: * We find two years listed for THE GOLD RUSH; those being both 1925 and 1942. The two dates are derived from Chaplin's re-releasing a "Director's Cut" in 1942, which also included an original musical score and narration by Chaplin (who else?).

It's a comedy about the trench warfare just as WWI is about to come to an end. Charlie Chaplin is a doughboy in boot camp. In a series of scenes, he defeats many Germans. Then he wakes up.It's a pretty long film at 45 minutes. There are some pretty funny scenes. The limburger cheese gag is somewhat weak. Capturing the 13 Germans could have used more slapstick. I do love the part where he's in enemy territories disguised as a tree. The Germans try to chop him down for firewood. That is by far my favorite part. The movie's success probably had a lot to do with the timing and the subject. However I can see the immense risk Chaplin was taking by making a comedy about trench warfare.

Halfway between a short and a feature, Shoulder Arms is a comedy about army life and war on the Western Front. It is certainly unusual for such a film to be made during a war, even if it were done towards the war's end (released in October 1918). Apparently the film was edited down from nearly feature length, as there are not always smooth changes from one scene to another. Despite these shortcomings, Chaplin again demonstrates his creative comic genius that began in 1914 (ironically, at the beginning of the war). A few years later, Chaplin will begin writing, directing, and acting in a string of notable silent features, like The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), and City Lights (1931).Shoulder Arms is divided into three segments of unequal length: (1) Military induction/physical examination, (2) Military training/ boot camp, and (3) Combat. Inadvertently signed on to the US army, recruit Charlie Chaplin – a four-F if there ever was one – drives his military instructor mad as he is unable to drill the army way in boot camp. He even walks like the little tramp! One thinks about the great future comedians who later followed the comedic army act, like Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and Abbot and Costello. Somehow our recruit passes military drill and moves on to the front lines in France, but his situation is not much better. For now he is dealing with the travails and deprivations of foxhole life, including unsanitary conditions and a flooded trench. The latter finds him sleeping (with ingenuity) below the surface! There are other great gags as well, and there is no need to go into them here. The activities inside the German trench across the battlefield are equally uproarious.The film shows the Germans to be even more incompetent than Charlie. On the battlefield Charlie will capture a 13-man German squad, while encountering the shortest German officer of the war (his explanation: "I surrounded them."). Later Charlie volunteers to undertake a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, disguises himself as a tree, and spies on the Germans. He impersonates a German officer, and hilariously fakes beating up a captured American soldier. Charlie meets a French farm girl and hides in her house; she will help him with his encounters with the enemy. Soon they wind up capturing both the German Crown Prince and the Kaiser! Wow! Then he awakens. Poof!