Earl (film, 1916)

Charlie ( Charlie Chaplin ) works as an apprentice at the tailor ( Eric Campbell ) and constantly gets into trouble . After he burns the trousers of the client with an iron, the tailor kicks him out. In the pocket of her trousers, the tailor finds an invitation to the evening party to Mrs. Manibags in the name of Count Broco. He puts on his tailcoat, puts the invitation in his pocket and leaves for the evening party.

At this time, Charlie comes to visit the kitchen of a rich house, where a good cook feeds him spoiled cheese, and then hides him from the butler in the laundry basket. The butler leaves, Charlie gets out of the basket, but then there is a knock on the door and the cook hides Charlie in the kitchen elevator. A policeman comes in, who begins to flirt with the cook, but she, having heard the approach of the butler, hides the policeman in the laundry basket. Charlie, seeing the butler, leaves the elevator to the top floor.

In the lobby there is a tailor in a tailcoat. Seeing Charlie crawling out of the elevator, the tailor explains his plan to him: he wants to sneak in for the evening, under the guise of Count Broco, and eat and have free fun. He offers Charlie to portray his secretary. At this time, the butler invites them to the hall. Charlie manages to enter first, greets Miss Manibags ( Edna Purvians) and represents the tailor as his secretary. The guests sit down at the table, bewildered at the obviously unaristocratic manners of the count and his secretary.

After dinner, dancing begins, and the tailor with Charlie both vie for the right to dance with the mistress, exchanging kicks and making each other all kinds of setups. Charlie while trying to flirt with one of the ladies, avoiding catching the eyes of the cook.

At this time, the real Earl of Broco arrives. The butler informs him that a guest with that name has already arrived. The count runs away for the police. At this time, Charlie and the tailor, completely unbelted, arrange a shootout with desserts in the dining room. Customers start to chase after Charlie. Then a detachment of police officers led by Count Broco arrives and joins the chase. Confusing the pursuers, Charlie jumps out into the street and runs away.

• Charlie Chaplin - Apprentice Tailor
• Eric Campbell - The Tailor
• Edna Purvians - Miss Manibegs
• Leo White - Earl of Broco
• Charlotte Mino - Mrs. Manibegs
• Albert Austin - High Guest
• John Rand - guest
• Leota Brian - Guest
• Frank J. Coleman - Police Officer
• James T. Kelly - Butler
• Eva Thatcher - Cook
• Tayne Sandford - Guest in Pierrot Costume
• Loyal Underwood - Low Guest
• May White - Lady

• The film was staged by Chaplin under a contract with Mutual.
• The film was released in the United States on September 4, 1916.
• The British television movie " Unknown Chaplin " (1983) included some miraculously preserved working doubles of this film.

The painting “Count” is indicative, first of all, as a reflection of a certain stage in the development of Chaplin’s early work ... If films from the time of “Kistoun” - at least the same “Requisite” - were based, as a rule, on a purely mechanical combination of acrobatic stunts, then in “Graph” "There is already a certain plot (though not dramatically completed yet), the traditional falls, cracks and jumps are not an end in themselves, like a clownish anthrax, but are directly determined by the course of action.

- A.V. Kukarkin. Charlie Chaplin. - 2nd ed. - M .: Art, 1988 .-- S. 51.

• Count on the Internet Movie Database
• Count (English) on allmovie  
• "Graf" in the online archive