Caught in the Rain

Caught in the Rain (1914)

Genres - Comedy  |   Sub-Genres - Slapstick  |   Release Date - May 4, 1914 (USA - Unknown), May 4, 1914 (USA)  |   Run Time - 16 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Phil Posner

Charlie Chaplin's 13th film for Keystone marked his first solo effort as writer and director. It follows the well-trodden path of the classic Keystone park/hotel farces with a few twists added in. The film opens in Westlake Park where a couple (Mack Swain and Alice Davenport) are seated on a bench. When hubby gets up to buy refreshments at a nearby stand, we first see the Tramp by a drinking fountain as he flirts with Alice. Mack returns and chases Charlie off, fighting with Alice all the while, and the arguing couple return to their hotel, while The Tramp goes off to a saloon. Later arriving at the hotel, where it turns out, they are all guests, Charlie wreaks a bit of havoc in the lobby, flirting with the ladies and upsetting the desk clerk. His acrobatic efforts to mount the stairs in his inebriated condition anticipates his classic short One A.M. When he finally makes it upstairs, he enters the wrong room, interrupting the now reconciled Mack and Alice. Mack, jealous again, ejects the interloper from the room and Charlie returns to his own room across the hall where he comically prepares for bed. Meanwhile Mack has gone out for a drink, and his sleepwalking wife now enters Charlie's room, sits on his bed waking him up, and begins searching his pants for money. Just as Charlie wakes her up and is about to escort her back to her room, Mack appears in the hall. Panicked, Alice pushes Charlie, still in his pajamas, out the window and onto the balcony, in the middle of a drenching deluge. The suspicious Mack again takes up the fight with his wife. Spotting Charlie on the balcony, a Keystone Kop on the sidewalk below assumes he's a burglar and begins firing his pistol, forcing Charlie to burst back into the room. A melee ensues in which the cops are scared away, Mack collapses in Charlie's room, and Charlie and Alice pass out on the hallway floor.

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Keywords

drunk, flirtation, husband-and-wife, jealousy, park, sleepwalking