The New Janitor (1914)

Directed by

Charlie Chaplin

Genre

comedy film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

16 min

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 60 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A janitor works at a bank. He tries to do his job but stumbles into a robbery. He ends up saving the day.

slapsticklight-heartedeccentricwhimsicalbriskplayfulsimple

What happens

The New Janitor is a 1914 film from Keystone Studios, and is the 27th comedy to feature Charlie Chaplin. The film is arguably one of his best for the studio, and a precursor to a key Essanay Studios short, The Bank. The film also demonstrates the differences that Chaplin had with Keystone comedy in that it is a coherent whole in which the stock characters actually fill some emotional center. Chaplin brings a certain complexity to his janitor, unusual to the comedy factory of Mack Sennett. The film, which stars among Sennett's bit players Jess Dandy, Al St. John, John T. Dillon, and Helen Carruthers, is far more centered and clear in direction. Comedy mostly flows from the core of the story instead of being a by-product of it. After all this is a typical bank robbery storyline. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• The Thrifty Janitor (1913)
• Kernel Nutt, the Janitor (1916)
• The Slave (1917)
• Only a Janitor (1919)
• The Bank (1915)
• The Bank Clerk (1919)
• He Wanted Work (1914)
• The Headwaiter (1914)
• More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.