What a difference seeing a silent comedy with a live audience and music makes! Had the opportunity to watch "Charley's Aunt" with a hundred and sixty other people with music provided on a Wurlitzer Theatre pipe organ and it was magic. I heard a number of people after the screening express themselves about having one of the most enjoyable evenings ever. One lady thought that Syd was even funnier than Charlie! You really can't judge a silent comedy until you have seen it in this manner. Syd Chaplin was wonderful as the guy impersonating Charley's Aunt, but so was the supporting cast. Most all of the visual gags worked wonderfully with the audience. This film may be found on the 3-disc DVD set of "American Slapstick V. 2", which is sold by Facets. After seeing Syd Chaplin's 1925 version I now would like to see the Jack Benny and Ray Bolger (called "Where's Charley?") sound versions. There have been six or seven film versions of "Charley's Aunt" world wide over the years, but the 1925 Syd Chaplin incarnation still holds up, especially if seen with an audience.
5 Reviews
Not side-splitting funny, but competent and interesting nonetheless
planktonrules18 November 2008
This is an interesting film because you get to see Charlie Chaplin's half-brother, Syd AND he looks like an ordinary person. In the dozen or so other Sydney Chaplin films I've seen, he usually looks rather comical--with greased hair and often a fake mustache and large padded butt. Here, though, you'd swear it wasn't Syd--just some ordinary bloke. This change was not a bad thing, however, as the film is a light comedy that compared reasonably well to other full-length comedies of the day. However, it's important to note that if the viewer is looking for a slapstick or goofy film, this really isn't it. It's much more plot-driven and definitely not slapstick.
The film begins with Syd trying to help his fiancée's father who has a gambling addiction, but the fiancée misunderstands and leaves him. Some time passes and now Syd is in college and gets mixed up in a crazy scheme to imitate Charley's aunt so that they can fool an old guy into proposing! And, at the same time, the old guy is convinced that the "aunt" is a rich Brazilian heiress. So there's lots of gags about Syd in drag and it's all in good fun--but also a bit sedate.
A decent film and a rare chance to see Syd Chaplin in a different sort of role than you might be used to.
The film begins with Syd trying to help his fiancée's father who has a gambling addiction, but the fiancée misunderstands and leaves him. Some time passes and now Syd is in college and gets mixed up in a crazy scheme to imitate Charley's aunt so that they can fool an old guy into proposing! And, at the same time, the old guy is convinced that the "aunt" is a rich Brazilian heiress. So there's lots of gags about Syd in drag and it's all in good fun--but also a bit sedate.
A decent film and a rare chance to see Syd Chaplin in a different sort of role than you might be used to.
Mercy! Turpentine!
JohnSeal18 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Brandon Thomas' venerable stage play got its first feature length screen adaptation in this well-mounted Christie Film production. Syd Chaplin stars as Sir Fancourt Babberley, a young nobleman convinced by St. Olde's School chums Charley and Jack (James Harrison and David James) to lend their love lives a hand by donning female attire and masquerading as Charley's Brazilian aunt Donna Lucia. His subterfuge will allow the lads to woo the objections of their affection whilst in the company of an adult chaperone, but complications ensue when Donna Lucia attracts the roving eye of two older men. Proving once again that nothing is quite as funny as the sight of a man in ladies attire, Charley's Aunt is a more than serviceable effort, and turned out to be a big hit in 1925. Chaplin is excellent in his double role and Lucien Littlefield makes a memorable appearance as a loyal if grumpy family retainer.
Acts 1 and 2 are great fun! Make that 7.5!
JohnHowardReid28 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Director: SCOTT SIDNEY. Screenplay: F. McGrew Willis. Based on the 1892 stage play by Brandon Thomas. Titles: Joe Farnham. Producer: Al Christie. Executive producers: Al Christie, Charles Christie.
Copyright 2 February 1925 by Christie Film Co. U.S. release through Producers Distributing Corp.: 2 February 1925. 8 reels, 7,243 feet.
COMMENT: There are at least 17 filmed versions of the Brandon Thomas play (which, oddly, was not published until 1935). This is the third and easily the best. The scenario doesn't stray far from the play. Admittedly, as in the play, the Third Act is a little weak, or, to put it another way, it's not as inventively hilarious as Acts One and Two which had me falling off my seat, laughing, even though I'd already seen the Arthur Askey, Jack Benny and Ray Bolger versions.
It's a pity the screenwriter couldn't work in a comeback for Lucien Littlefield who is so hilarious in Act One. Sydney Chaplin, of course, has all the best lines (some of the sub-titles had me in hysterics), and cleverly exploits all the play's comic possibilities before he is hemmed in by the convolutions of the plot in Act Three.
By the humble standards of the Christie Brothers, production values are well up to the "A" mark. Scott Sidney's direction comes across as always competent, occasionally inspired.
AVAILABLE on a worn but quite view-able tinted print from Alpha.
Copyright 2 February 1925 by Christie Film Co. U.S. release through Producers Distributing Corp.: 2 February 1925. 8 reels, 7,243 feet.
COMMENT: There are at least 17 filmed versions of the Brandon Thomas play (which, oddly, was not published until 1935). This is the third and easily the best. The scenario doesn't stray far from the play. Admittedly, as in the play, the Third Act is a little weak, or, to put it another way, it's not as inventively hilarious as Acts One and Two which had me falling off my seat, laughing, even though I'd already seen the Arthur Askey, Jack Benny and Ray Bolger versions.
It's a pity the screenwriter couldn't work in a comeback for Lucien Littlefield who is so hilarious in Act One. Sydney Chaplin, of course, has all the best lines (some of the sub-titles had me in hysterics), and cleverly exploits all the play's comic possibilities before he is hemmed in by the convolutions of the plot in Act Three.
By the humble standards of the Christie Brothers, production values are well up to the "A" mark. Scott Sidney's direction comes across as always competent, occasionally inspired.
AVAILABLE on a worn but quite view-able tinted print from Alpha.
This was my first viewing of any film version of Charley's Aunt, this one starring Syd Chaplin
tavm9 February 2019
I had first heard about Charley's Aunt when in Jack Benny's bio in the book encyclopedia of movie comics called "The Funsters", he was mentioned as starring in a film version of it. But it wasn't until now that I've seen at least one of those versions, this one starring Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd playing a man disguising as the title character. Why that happens, I won't tell if you haven't seen any film version of it. I'll just say this was hilarious from beginning to end. So that's a high recommendation of this version of Charley's Aunt.
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