The Cure | |
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![]() Theatrical poster for 1932 sound re-release by RKO Radio Pictures | |
Directed by | Charlie Chaplin Edward Brewer (technical director) |
Written by | Charlie Chaplin (scenario) Vincent Bryan (scenario) Maverick Terrell (scenario) |
Produced by | Henry P. Caulfield |
Starring | Charlie Chaplin Edna Purviance Eric Campbell |
Cinematography | Roland Totheroh George C. Zalibra |
Edited by | Charlie Chaplin |
Distributed by | Mutual Film Corporation |
Release dates |
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Running time | 31 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
The Cure is a 1917 short comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The plot revolves around alcohol, being made just prior to prohibition but during a period where the politicians were debating the evils of alcohol.
Chaplin plays a drunkard who is attending a hydropathic hotel, presumably to dry out, but brings along a big suitcase full of alcohol. He gets trapped in a spinning revolving door then traps the foot of a large man with a bandaged foot, suffering from gout. He encounters a beautiful young woman and sits between her and a man who keeps offering him the spa water (which he keeps pouring away). The girl encourages him to stop drinking. He meets the big man again who tries to get the hotel manager to throw him out. Instead he gets taken for a Turkish massage.
When the hotel owner learns employees are getting drunk from Charlie's liquor, he orders one man to throw the liquor out. The drunk employee hurls the bottles through the window, straight into the spa's health waters. Meanwhile Charlie is not happy to be massaged by the large man in the bath house and tries to dodge this.
Outside, the well is contaminated with alcohol, sending the spa's inhabitants into a dancing stupor. Chaplin, encouraged by his new love to get sober, drinks from the spurious spa, gets drunk and offends her. She leaves him in anger and walks away. Charlie walks back to the door unsteadily, when he bumps into the large man, tripping him off his wheel chair and landing him into the alcoholic well.
The next morning there are plenty of hangovers, but Chaplin turns sober, walks out and finds the lady. Realizing what had happened, she forgives him. They walk ahead, just then he accidentally steps into the liquor-laden well.
An alternative introduction which was added to the film (during prohibition) explains that in 1917 drunkenness was a serious problem in the working class, so to keep it funny Chaplin changed from his "Little Tramp" character to an upper-class fop. Gout was at the time believed to be a disease of the wealthy, which is why Eric Campbell's character has it.
Clips from the documentary Unknown Chaplin show that Chaplin originally cast himself as a bellhop at the spa and shot at least one scene with him in that role. (The bellhop was directing pedestrian and wheelchair traffic in the lobby as a traffic cop would at a busy intersection.) Chaplin eventually discarded the idea, instead casting himself as a patient at the health spa.
A reviewer from the Louisville Herald praised the film, writing, "It's a cinch that as long as pictures like The Cure are offered to make folks forget their troubles, Chaplin will always be worth the money he gets."
Similarly, a reviewer from Variety noted, "The Cure is a whole meal of laughs, not merely giggles, and ought to again emphasize that fact that Charlie is in a class by himself."
The reviewer from The Moving Picture World offered a more balanced review: " To lovers of Chaplin comedy 'The Cure' will appeal, not as the best Chaplin effort, but as contrasting favorably with previous efforts. It cannot, for instance, compete with 'Easy Street,' but contains in the second reel some excruciatingly funny moments, particularly in the scenes at the baths." [1]
In 1932, Amedee Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios, purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures. Chaplin had no legal recourse to stop the RKO release. [2]
On September 4, 2013 a missing part of the end of the film was found and will be released on a future DVD[ citation needed ]. A restored version of The Cure was presented at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on January 11, 2014.
The Immigrant is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy short written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Chaplin's Tramp character as an immigrant coming to the United States who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and falls in love with a beautiful young woman along the way. It also stars Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell.
The Tramp, also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. The Tramp is also the title of a silent film starring Chaplin, which Chaplin wrote and directed in 1915.
Behind the Screen is a 1916 American silent short comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and also starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. The film is in the public domain.
The Pawnshop was Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Mutual Film Corporation. Released on October 2, 1916, it stars Chaplin in the role of assistant to the pawnshop owner, played by Henry Bergman. Edna Purviance plays the owner's daughter, while Albert Austin appears as an alarm clock owner who watches Chaplin in dismay as he dismantles the clock; the massive Eric Campbell's character attempts to rob the shop.
The Floorwalker is a 1916 American silent comedy film, Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film. The film stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadvertently entangled in the nefarious scheme of the store manager, played by Eric Campbell, and the store's floorwalker, played by Lloyd Bacon, to embezzle money from the establishment.
By the Sea is a 1915 American silent comedy film Charlie Chaplin made while waiting for a studio to work in Los Angeles. He had just left Niles Essanay Studio after doing five films at that location. By the Sea was filmed all on location in Santa Monica on the beach near Ocean Park Pier and on Crystal Pier in April 1915. The story centers on Charlie's Little Tramp character and how he gets into trouble trying to grab the attention of women on the beach. Edna Purviance plays one of the wives in whom he shows interest. It is said to be the first film to incorporate the classic gag of a man slipping on a banana skin.
One A.M. is a unique Charlie Chaplin silent film created for Mutual Film in 1916. It was the first film he starred in alone, and also one of the very few films in which he did not play the Tramp character.
The Rink, a silent film from 1916, was Charlie Chaplin's eighth film for Mutual Films. The film co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, and Albert Austin, and is best known for showcasing Chaplin's roller skating skills. Chaplin's obvious skill on roller skates surprised many of his fans, but Charlie was an experienced performer. As a touring vaudevillian with Fred Karno's pantomime troupe, Chaplin appeared in a roller-skating skit in which he displayed a talent for comedic falls—and the ability to cause other skaters to topple.
The Vagabond is a 1916 American silent romantic comedy film by Charlie Chaplin and his third film with Mutual Films. Released to theaters on July 10, 1916, it co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Leo White and Lloyd Bacon. This film echoed Chaplin's work on The Tramp, with more drama and pathos mixed in with the comedy.
Easy Street is a 1917 short action-comedy film starring and directed by Charlie Chaplin.
The Adventurer is an American short comedy film made in 1917 written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, and is the last of the twelve films made under contract for the Mutual Film Corporation.
The Fireman is the second film Charlie Chaplin distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and Edna Purviance as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon.
The Rounders is a 1914 comedy short starring Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle. The film involves two drunks who get into trouble with their wives, and was written and directed by Chaplin.
(Sir) Charlie Chaplin (KBE) (1889–1977) was an English internationally renowned Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, filmmaker and composer who was best known for his career in Hollywood motion pictures from his debut in 1914 until 1952, he however subsequently appeared in two films in his native England. During his early years in the era of silent film, he rose to prominence as a worldwide cinematic idol renowned for his tramp persona. In the 1910s and 1920s, he was considered the most famous person on the planet.
Mabel's Strange Predicament is a 1914 American film starring Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, notable for being the first film for which Chaplin donned the costume of The Tramp, although his appearance in the costume in Kid Auto Races at Venice was released first. The film was directed by Normand and produced by Mack Sennett.
His Favorite Pastime is a 1914 American comedy film starring Charlie Chaplin.
Caught in the Rain is a 1914 American comedy silent film starring Charlie Chaplin. This film was the first of many movies in which Chaplin both directed and played the lead. The short film was produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios with a running time of 16 minutes.
Mabel's Married Life (1914) is an American comedy silent film made by Keystone Studios starring and co-written by Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand, and directed by Chaplin. As was often the case during his first year in film, Chaplin's character is soon staggering drunk.
The Property Man is a short 1914 American comedy silent film made by Keystone Studios starring Charlie Chaplin.
Eugene Frederick Rodemich was a pianist and orchestra leader, who composed the music for numerous films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, mostly cartoons and live-action short subjects produced by The Van Beuren Corporation and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.