alexanderdavies-99382 A lot of Charlie Chaplin comedies are overdone with pathos and sentiment. He seemed to think that his public should constantly be reminded of poverty and deprivation in his films. This grows irksome rather quickly and his legacy has been affected. Fortunately, his short films still contain his best work overall. "The Rink" is one of them as there is no pathos, just comedy. Chaplin plays a waiter who after causing utter chaos at the restaurant, does the same at a local roller skating rink. We have Chaplin's usual cast of actors: Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergen and Albert Austin. The slapstick takes place at the restaurant and roller skating rink and it is excellent. Chaplin uses the various props to the best of his advantage. A masterpiece!

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.

MissyH316 This is one of my top favorite Chaplin shorts, because of the abundance of slapstick action and of course Charlie's jaw-dropping roller skating skills! Another reviewer mentioned that this left us wishing he'd have put the skates on more often. It'd be 20 years before we'd see the likes of this again in "Modern Times". But I absolutely LOVE this one!In that context, I thought this might be a good example of how my overall opinion of Chaplin's earlier work differs from some other fans & critics. I don't subscribe to the notion that his Tramp character wasn't so "likeable" in the early days as he became more even-tempered so over time. His aggressive tendencies when aggravated or impatient were much less restrained early on. But I actually enjoy seeing this in the Tramp; the aggression, to me, actually makes him more attractive in a "manly" way and I like/love him no less for it. Chaplin's little guy has a lot of backbone and is no pushover (figuratively). An adversary's size (or sometimes gender) made no difference to him; he's no more afraid of the monstrous Eric Campbell than he is of anyone else. You didn't mess with Charlie! As a fairly short and un-intimidating woman, I've often wished *I* had that kind of chutzpa in the face of bullies. ;-) The 3 Stooges were often the same way: after a point, you didn't mess with them, either! Several key players who worked with the Stooges like director Del Lord and supporting stars Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent, all cut their teeth in Sennett's silent movie slapstick. Jamison is in several of Chaplin's early shorts, and Del Lord was once the driver of the Keystone Cops. So you can see it's possible that the little Tramp's persona in some ways foreshadowed and shaped those of the Stooges.

MartinHafer I've seen this film several times as well as clips from it. It seems that it is among his most famous shorts and it deserves the recognition. However, I must first say that when NOT skating, the movie definitely slows and is less funny. However, seeing Charlie on skates is a rare treat, as he was quite accomplished and seeing traditional slapstick done on skates was an amazing accomplishment. Plus, although Mack Swain (Charlie's nemesis) is shown as a guy who can't skate, it's obvious he was actually quite accomplished on skates as well to take all the wonderful falls. All-in-all, a breezy and fresh comedy short worth your time.FYI--if you like seeing Chaplin skate, also try watching his full-length silent film CITY LIGHTS (1931). At one point midway through the film, he does a wonderful skating segment while a security guard at a department store. Great stuff.