Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) starring Charles Chaplin, Henry Lehrman directed by Henry Lehrman Movie Review

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)   3/53/53/53/53/5

Certificate

N/A

Length

11 mins

Genre

Director


Charlie Chaplin in Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)

Introducing the Little Tramp

At a kids cart race in Venice, California a little tramp (Charlie Chaplin) with a cane and a bowler walks in front of a film crews camera disrupting their shooting of the race much to the annoyance of the camera man who constantly has to push the annoying little fellow out of the way whilst the crowds look on bewildered by the antics of the little tramp messing about on the track.

So here is the first movie featuring Charlie Chaplin as the iconic Little Tramp, although to be technically correct "Kid Auto Races at Venice" was the first movie released featuring Chaplin as the Little Tramp as just days prior to the shooting of this he also played the Little Tramp in "Mabel's Strange Predicament" except that was released later. So in many ways "Kid Auto Races at Venice" is an important movie in the history of cinema and what is more it is available to watch free online completely legally like some other of Charlie Chaplin's early movies.

So what goes on in "Kid Auto Races at Venice" is simple as we basically have Charlie Chaplin making it up as he goes along as a nuisance at a kids cart race. It is said that the crowds at the race had no idea what was going on and were bemused by this character playing up in front of the camera which adds something special to the movie. And so does the fact that director Henry Lehrman plays the annoyed cameraman who is constantly shoving the Little Tramp out of the way with sometimes so much force you question whether Lehrman truly was annoyed with Chaplin.

But the most important things about "Kid Auto Races at Venice" is to see the start of an iconic character and the Little Tramp in this is far off what he would be as is Chaplin but you can see the genesis of the character. For those who know their Chaplin movies will see elements, certain moves and responses which Chaplin would use again in later movies having fine tuned them.

What this all boils down to is that "Kid Auto Races at Venice" is an entertaining look not only at the Little Tramp's first outing but also at old cinema.


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