tavm Just watched this, an early Charlie Chaplin performance in a Keystone-Mack Sennett film, on the Internet Archive site. It only showed 8 minutes of what according to this site was 15 minutes of this short but what I did see was quite funny and fascinating nonetheless. In this one, a masher (Ford Sterling) steals a cop's umbrella, unbeknownst to the cop, and encounters a woman who's trying to cross a water-flooded street which he sees as an opportunity to woo her. Chaplin's Tramp character arrives at this point and tries to to the same. There's a funny bit where he almost falls into the water. After this come a few more highly amusing stuff in which Charlie and Ford start to poke each other before the thing abruptly ends. Like I said, I found the thing quite amusing so on that note, Between Showers is worth a look. P.S. A few minutes ago, I watched much of the rest on YouTube so it seems I've now seen the entire short.

CitizenCaine Chaplin's fourth film is also historic in that it demonstrates inklings of the tramp we would come to identify with in later films. The plot is simple like most them from this era. A man steals an umbrella from a policeman, attempts to help a lady across the rain-filled street and then is usurped by Chaplin in vying for both the umbrella and the lady. Chaplin eventually settles for the umbrella and battling with the man in typical exaggerated silent fashion. The film is notable for Chaplin turning from a heel into more of a lovable troublemaker, without the empathy and sentimentality we would find in later years. The swinging of the umbrella mirrors how Chaplin swings his cane in so many other films to come. Oddly enough, his cane is not present in this slight but more typical comedy from Chaplin. ** of 4 stars.

Michael DeZubiria In Kid Auto Races at Venice, Chaplin first tried on the costume of the little Tramp, and was clearly unsure what to do with it. He wandered around and made himself seen, making it clear that he wanted to be noticed and had something to show the world, but he still wasn't sure what the personality of his character was. In Mabel's Strange Predicament, he tries something new, and finds that it went wrong. Now, in Between Showers, we have another example of the incredible, almost prophetic foreshadowing and symbolism that we saw in Kid Auto Races. Whereas in his last film, he was an obnoxious, belligerent drunk, in Between Showers he decides to try helping people. Not only that, but within the first few minutes of the film, he is literally testing out the waters. And as we would see in the years to come, the experiment worked with phenomenal success.What Chaplin also largely discovers in this film is the hyperbolic fight scene, exaggerated to cartoonish proportions for the benefit of the slightly fast motion and the absence of close-ups, which provides a comic effect sufficient to inspire years of including similar scenes in future films. The plot is simple, as they were in those days, and concerns the varying degrees of possession of an umbrella, with hilarious results, as they say. Between Showers probably marks the last major change for the Tramp that we would ever see, since Chaplin got it nearly perfect here. Let the show begin

Darren O'Shaughnessy (darren shan) Chaplin's fourth short, appearing less than a month after his debut, is good fun. A rival tramp steals an umbrella from a policeman, then sets about seducing a woman with it. Charlie also has his eye on the femme, and soon a battle for both the brolly and the girl ensues. Even though it's so early in his career, Chaplin has most of the Little Tramp mannerisms and tics down pat in this effort (except for the pathos, which would come later), and it's fascinating to see the beginnings of the expressions and gags which he'd be exploring for the rest of his life. Not as polished or imaginative as his later films, but a very early gem.