Chaplin

I’m just past the halfway mark of Season 1 of 50’s police series Naked City and by now I have acclimatized to seeing oblivious New Yorkers gawking into the camera when filming calls for a street scene. It’s a nuisance every film maker suffers at some stage I suspect, and it put in mind Chaplin’s very funny 1914 Keystone short Kid Auto Races at Venice where Chaplin’s tramp constantly strolls thru the field of vision of a film camera covering a go-cart race. One could be a little charitable towards the Tramp – film cameras were still new-fangled things even by 1914, although he’s rather brazen about it even after his rough handling by Henry Lehrman’s furious director. If you haven’t seen this one before be sure to check it out, it’s six minutes of wonderful Silent comedy…