Robert J. Maxwell Chaplin was almost always amusing but it occurred to me while watching this story of a waiter who woos a girl at a skating rink that in his earlier films he was more often the perp than the vic.This was released in 1916 and Chaplin is a rude waiter who humiliates guests and steals money. If a stranger happens to be bending over and fastening a lady's roller skate, Chaplin can't help giving him a swift kick in the pants when he passes by. There's nothing here about "the little people." If the tramp is little, it's because that's his most comfortable social niche.Ten years later, in "The Gold Rush," Chaplin had introduced humanity into his character, an innocent who is more sinned against than sinning.Ten years after "The Gold Rush", he was sending social messages about worker alienation. (That's what happens when your work permits you to take no pride in having done it well. Anyone up for McDonald's Chicken Nuggets?) But in movies like "Modern Times," the milieu is only a peg from which to hang gags that are more hilarious than ever. And movies about poverty in 1936 were hardly uncommon anyway.The gags here are sometimes spectacular, and always speedy. The tramp could certainly skate well.

Petri Pelkonen Charlie is a waiter who goes roller skating during his lunch break.Then later he is invited to a party at Edna's, known now as Sir Cecil Seltzer.Chaplin's The Rink from 1916 is his eight film for Mutual Films.We see here Charlie showing his rolling skating skills.Edna is his love interest.James T. Kelley is her father.Eric Campbell plays Mr. Stout, Edna's admirer.Henry Bergmann is Mrs. Stout and Angry Diner.Lloyd Bacon is Guest.It's really funny to see Charlie doing his moves in the rink, and making other skaters fall down.And his waiting techniques are something never seen before.Charles Chaplin was a buffoon one of his kind.

Cineanalyst I have and always will hold this short film in high regard. I don't recall when I first saw "The Rink", but I remember being taken aback by the graceful eloquence of Chaplin's skating. It has figured prominently in my memory since--especially in playing back the first moment when Chaplin rolls onto the rink. This must be what the French critics were referring to when they compared him to ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinksy. Chaplin skated again in "Modern Times" (1936), but for some reason, perhaps because there's so much more going on in that feature-length film, it hasn't had the same affect on me."The Rink" also reminds me of the earliest film I've seen of Chaplin's comedic forerunner and prominent influence Max Linder. In that very short film, of which no two sources seem to agree on the date or the exact title, Max skated on the ice, or, rather, attempted to skate; the humor supposedly being in the many pratfalls. There are plenty of pratfalls in Chaplin's film, but they're in addition to his elegant movements on the rink floor.In "The Rink", the agile skating makes for a nice contrast to the knockabout slapstick that the film is otherwise. Chaplin, by now, had managed to balance these two contrasting styles, and it makes for a very entertaining short. The direction almost seems intended to point out the differences in the styles; there are, as common then, many jump cuts when Chaplin's causing mayhem at the restaurant, but when he's skating, there are flowing, seamless camera movements. The restaurant gags, for the most part, aren't bad, either. Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell and other regulars aid in the fun, including Henry Bergman in the oft done but still funny drag role.

hausrathman Charlie plays a waiter with a penchant for roller skating in this very funny short. There isn't much of a plot in this film, but it generates a great many laughs nonetheless. The scenes featuring Charlie as a waiter are amusing enough, particularly as he mixes a drink, but Chaplin really shines in the skating scenes. Although he was always an agile and physical comedian, few of films display his skills as fully as "The Rink." He was so good on skates that one regrets he didn't put them on more often - though he did to great effect in "Modern Times."