The story involves Chaplin and Chester Conklin working as waiters at a restaurant. Charlie is especially inept and his comic carelessness enrages the customers. The workers in the restaurant's bakery go on strike for more pay, but are fired by the unsympathetic proprietor. Charlie is put to work in the bakery where his lack of skills upsets his boss and co-worker Chester Conklin. Meanwhile, the vengeful strikers have arranged to smuggle a loaf of bread concealing a stick of dynamite into the bakery. During a free-for-all involving Charlie, Chester, and their boss, the dynamite dramatically explodes. At the end of the film, Charlie emerges groggily from a pile of sticky dough.
Mack Sennett's recollections
In Mack Sennett's 1954 autobiography, King of Comedy, he recalled he was absent from Keystone Studios for most of the filming of Dough and Dynamite. Before Sennett left, he put Chaplin and Conklin jointly in charge of creating a new comedy with basically no guidelines. The two comedians began creating a film in which each man was a roominghouse boarder competing against one another in trying to woo the landlady, but they abandoned the idea after a short time. When they saw a "help wanted" sign outside a local bakery, the idea of a slapstick comedy set within a bakery came to both men almost simultaneously. Sennett claimed, however, that it was his idea to have a stick of dynamite concealed in a loaf of bread. Sennett declared Dough and Dynamite to be Chaplin's breakout film with Keystone.
Reviews
The New York Dramatic Mirror praised Chaplin's efforts in Dough and Dynamite, writing, "In a comparatively short time, Charles Chaplin has earned a reputation as a slapstick comedian second to none. His odd little tricks of manner and his refusal to do the most simple things in an ordinary way are essential features of his method, which thus far has defied successful imitation."[citation needed]
Moving Picture World commented, "Two reels of pure nonsense, some of which is very laughable indeed. Chas. Chaplin appears as a waiter in a French restaurant and bakery. He has a terrible time breaking dishes and getting the dough over the floor. The bakers go on strike and at the last the whole place is blown up by dynamite. This is well-pictured and very successful for this form of humor."[citation needed]
The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career.
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders.
Tillie's Punctured Romance is a 1914 American silent comedy film directed by Mack Sennett and starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin, and the Keystone Cops. The picture is the first feature-length comedy and was the only feature-length comedy made by the Keystone Film Company.
Keystone Studios was an early film studio founded in Edendale, California on July 4, 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from actor-writer Adam Kessel (1866–1946) and Charles O. Baumann (1874–1931), owners of the New York Motion Picture Company. The company, referred to at its office as The Keystone Film Company, filmed in and around Glendale and Silver Lake, Los Angeles for several years, and its films were distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation between 1912 and 1915. The Keystone film brand declined rapidly after Sennett went independent in 1917.
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.
Twenty Minutes of Love is a 1914 American comedy silent film made by Keystone Studios. The film is widely reported as Charlie Chaplin's directorial debut; some sources name Joseph Maddern as the director, but generally credit Chaplin as the creative force.
Mack Swain was a prolific early American film actor, who appeared in many of Mack Sennett’s comedies at Keystone Studios, including the Keystone Cops series. He also appeared in major features by Charlie Chaplin and starred in both the world's first feature length comedy and first film to feature a "movie-within-a-movie" premise.
Chester Cooper Conklin was an early American film comedian who started at Keystone Studios as one of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Cops, often paired with Mack Swain. He appeared in a series of films with Mabel Normand and worked closely with Charlie Chaplin, both in silent and sound films.
Caught in a Cabaret is a 1914 short comedy film written and directed by Mabel Normand and starring Normand and Charlie Chaplin.
The Face on the Bar Room Floor is a short film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1914. Chaplin stars in this film, loosely based on the poem of the same name by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy.
Mabel's Busy Day is a 1914 short comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin; the film was also written and directed by Mabel Normand. The supporting cast includes Chester Conklin, Slim Summerville, Edgar Kennedy, Al St. John, Charley Chase, and Mack Sennett.
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.
Tango Tangles is a 1914 American film comedy short starring Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle. The action takes place in a dance hall, with a drunken Chaplin, Ford Sterling, and the huge, menacing, and acrobatic Arbuckle fighting over a girl. The supporting cast also features Chester Conklin and Minta Durfee. The picture was written, directed and produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios and distributed by Mutual Film Corporation.
Gentlemen of Nerve is a 1914 American comedy silent film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Chaplin and Mabel Normand, and produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios.
Glen W. Cavender was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1914 and 1949.
Fritz Schade was a German-born American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 41 films between 1913 and 1918, including six films with Charlie Chaplin. His wife was the silent film actress Betty Schade.
The L-KO Kompany, or L-KO Komedies, was an American motion picture company founded by Henry Lehrman that produced silent one-, two- and very occasionally three-reel comedy shorts between 1914 and 1919. The initials L-KO stand for "Lehrman KnockOut".
Hollywood Cavalcade is a 1939 American film featuring Alice Faye as a young performer making her way in the early days of Hollywood, from slapstick silent pictures through the transition from silent to sound.
Al St. John (1893–1963) was an American comic actor who appeared in 394 films between 1913 and 1952. Starting at Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company, St. John rose through the ranks to become one of the major comedy stars of the 1920s, though less than half of his starring roles still survive today. With the advent of sound drastically changing and curtailing the two-reel comedy format, St. John diversified, creating a second career for himself as a comic sidekick in Western films and ultimately developing the character of "Fuzzy Q. Jones", for which he is best known in posterity.
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