Behind the Screen
During the troubled shooting of several movies, David, the prop man's assistant, meets an aspiring actress who tries to find work in the studio. Things get messy when the stagehands decide to go on strike.
From the archive
Charlie Chaplin's 57th Film released November 13 1916. Behind the Screen, a short film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin also starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. In the film which takes place in a movie studio, Chaplin plays a stagehand named David while Campbell ("Goliath") plays his supervisor. Much of the film is slapstick comedy but other issues are also brought up such as a stagehand strike as well as a plotline in which Purviance, unable to become an actress, dresses as a man and becomes a stagehand. The film is silent. The film is noted for having one of the first Hollywood gay jokes in it. After Chaplin learns that Purviance is really a woman, he kisses her while on the set. A male stagehand sees this and thinking that Chaplin has kissed a man, starts acting in an overtly effeminate way until Chaplin kicks him. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006414/
Why this is free to watch
Behind the Screen (1916) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Charlie Chaplin
- Starring
- Charlie Chaplin, Eric Campbell, Edna Purviance, Henry Bergman, Tom Wood, Wesley Ruggles, Charlotte Mineau, Leota Bryan
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