Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Wordiezett So much average

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

TheLittleSongbird Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. From his Essanay period after leaving Keystone, 'A Night Out' is not one of his very best or even among the best of this particular period. It shows a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career, from 1914, The Essanay period is something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. 'The Champion' is among the best of his early work and for me it is the first great Chaplin and perhaps something of a turning point for him.Certainly other efforts of his have more pathos and a balance of that and the comedy than 'The Champion'. On the other hand, 'The Champion' looks pretty good, not incredible but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious here and preference.'The Champion' is one of his funniest from the Essanay period and the first effort of his to be more than amusing. The boxing match is one of the best sequences from anything in the early part of Chaplin's career. It moves quickly and there is a more discernible and busier story to usual, even if at times it could have had more variety.Chaplin directs more than competently, if not quite cinematic genius standard yet. He also, as usual, gives an amusing and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well, with a charming Edna Purviance. Summing up, surprisingly great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This 1915 movie "The Champion" runs for half an hour and celebrated its 100th birthday this year. Accordingly, it is still a black-and-white film and also silent and by many considered one of the films Chaplin made during his peak. There's really only 2 options: either his short film period or his feature film period, which of course also included political messages in contrast to the short films. Anyway, I personally believe that this is not one of his finest works. Maybe, at age 25 he was simply still too young. Also in here is the very young Edna Purviance who was maybe 20 when this was made and she was at the very beginning of her career. There aren't really any memorable moments in this short film and Chaplin frequently manages to put nice focus on his dramatic and comedic scenes as well. But not here. The longer the film goes on, the more chaotic it gets and the more it would have needed at least a slight ounce of order. The last shot was nice though. Charlie gets his reward for winning the fight (against the world champion??? seriously?) and we see that it was deemed inappropriate to have people watch you during kissing. An interesting snippet looking at how things are today. That one shot is obviously not enough thou to let me recommend this half hour. Watch another Chaplin film instead.

SnoopyStyle I saw the 20 minutes version. It ends with his bulldog entering the ring biting and Charles Chaplin knocking out his opponent in Round 20. I guess it's missing the romantic ending. I can understand that. This version is strictly a slapstick movie.I like quite a lot of the slapstick. Of course, there is nothing funnier than his boxing sequence in 'City Lights' (1931). Here he's trying out several things. When he's boxing fodder, he puts a horseshoe into his glove. Then during the long boxing match, he's doing a lot of what would recognizable to most people who's seen the boxing match in 'City Lights'.

Tom Gooderson-A'Court Chaplin's third Essanay picture and he finally appears to have found his feet with the new studio. Chaplin's tramp, destitute and famished spots a sign offering money to act as a sparring partner. He watches as three men go in before him and return battered and bruised. Chaplin however has a trick up his sleeve or rather in his glove; a lucky horseshoe, which he uses to knock out his larger, more adept opponent. Spotting his potential a trainer prepares the slight Chaplin for a big fight against the champion Bob Uppercut (Bud Jamison) but Chaplin has other things on his mind, namely the trainer's daughter Edna Purviance.I was so glad that this film was good. I was really disappointed with Chaplin's first two Essanay films His New Job and A Night Out. This is a real return to form. The idea was actually taken from a Fred Karno sketch that Chaplin performed before entering the movie industry. Perhaps one of the reasons for the film's success is that Chaplin knew what he was doing before he went in rather than partially making it up as he went along.The film really shows its age with its inter-titles. There wasn't one occasion where I understood every word! But you have to remember that this film is 97 years old and language changes. Another thing that changes is people's attitudes and sensibilities towards kissing. It's hard to believe now but Hollywood once enforced a self censorship ruling that meant that no on screen kiss could last more than a couple of seconds. Although made in pre-code Hollywood, Chaplin got round this type of censorship by having his Tramp kiss Edna from behind a large beer bottle. It's a clever device that works around censorship.The film is much slower and more measured than much of Chaplin's other work of the period and especially the work of Keystone. The opening scene in which Chaplin shares a hot dog with his equally starving dog is both very sweet and very slow and reminiscent of his later work. It's a complete opposite of his previous Keystone films.The highlight of the film is undoubtedly the boxing. Watching Chaplin train in his trademark bowler hat is brilliant and the big fight itself is hilarious and extremely well choreographed. Chaplin and Jamison spend half the fight either falling over or in embraces, punching themselves in the face and the umpire obviously gets a few punches thrown his way too. Raging Bull this is not. You have to feel that the film is a precursor to Chaplin's massively successful City Lights which features his famous boxing scene. Another highlight is the fantastic makeup and over the top fake facial hair of the film's villain Leo White, a motif of Chaplin's early work. Without dialogue you are still always sure who the bad guy is with his deep dark eyes, pale face and enormous moustache.This film is not up there with Chaplin's later work but shows great potential. It is a marked improvement on his earlier Essanay films and introduced a lot of action into his repertoire.www.attheback.blogspot.com