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Pretty Good

Just what I expected

As Good As It Gets

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I am probably not among the biggest fans of Chaplin or silent films in general, but I did enjoy watching this 25-minute short film "The Bank". It will have its 100th anniversary in about a week by the way. This is a silent, black-and-white movie and the reason why I loved it is that it has more than just a random collection of comedic slapstick moments from Chaplin. There is a bit of a romance tragedy in here and you just want to give him a hug when he realizes the letter was not for him. Poor Charlie. And there is some nice drama too and if you hear the bank, you probably already guess that this will be about a heist and you are correct in this case. Some gun action, but not in a way where you think wow they tried to make it look so spectacular, but rather in a way where it was not too much and yet enough too seem appropriate for the story. Thumbs up for this one. Eric Campbell is not yet in here, but Edna Purviance already is and she does a good job as usual. Recommended.

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.

Apart from the very end of this short, I think this might be one of the very best Chaplin shorts I have seen. The pacing was excellent, the story cute and involving and everything seemed to fit together just right--until the ending. MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!Some may like the way the film ended, but I felt REALLY disappointed and irritated at the way they chose to conclude the film. You see, Charlie is a janitor and when the bank is later robbed, Charlie foils the robbers and gets the girl--this works out so well and everything is perfect. However, this all turns out to be a dream! I think Chaplin did this because of his infatuation with pathos in many of his films and while this did make the ending very poignant and sad, it also seemed to undo and ruin everything that occurred before he awoke and found he was just a lowly janitor and not a hero after all.

Good Chaplin short with Charlie as a janitor in a bank. Movie consists of 3 parts. First Charlie gets in a fight with another janitor as they don't really help each other. Then we meet Edna, Charlie's secret love, but engaged to a cashier. The third part is when some gangsters try to rob the bank, but then Charlie comes in and saves the day, gaining the respect and love of Edna (or does he?).Funny slapstick by Charlie, in particular in the last part when he fights of the robbers. Though not his best, certainly great entertainment for Chaplin fans (and boy am I one of them). Great, bittersweet ending as well.Peculiar thing happened when I turned off my dvd player and the Dutch 'Tros tv-show' was on with Geraldine and young Oona as guests! Now that can't be a coincidence...Final score: 7/10.