Shoulder Arms (1918)

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1. 

   magnusbe

   https://youtu.be/nrXsUNEmd7s?si=EsXMqt0lcWUC-Ryy 7 months 2 weeks ago
2. 

   Windill

   A rather good one!
   Funny thing: as a fake German caporal from World War I, Chaplin already looks like the Great Dictator! 8 years ago
3. 

   Siskoid

   Decades before lampooning Hitler in The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin was taking potshots at the Kaiser in Shoulder Arms, and winning World War I practically by himself while at it. In this early (1918) not-so-short (45 minutes), the Tramp enlists at the tail end of the Great War and experiences vignettes of trench war that feel like sanitized tall tales soldiers might recount at the kitchen table upon their return, and at no point does it become a case of War Is Hell. And that's fine, especially in light of the loopy ending. If there's a loose narrative here, it's that of the Tramp progressively becoming more heroic and jaded, and eventually getting into shenanigans that take him into the Kaiser's proximity, and into the arms of a French girl. Amusing enough, though not as sharp as later films. The Great Dictator will be grand satire. Shoulder Arms is mostly about kicking diminutive Germans in the arse. It was apparently Chaplin's first big hit. TOPICAL! 4 years 7 months ago

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