In 1970s and early 1980s Yugoslavia it wasn't uncommon for cinemas to show old films. It actually made a lot of sense, because before advent of home video, those who would like to enjoy great films of the past had to rely on two channels of national television and cinemas. Apart from nostalgic viewers who would love to re-live “larger-than-life” experiences of their youth, some of those films introduced great stars of the past eras to new generation. In some instances, that meant that some of films in theatres dated to silent era. One of the oldest was Shoulder Arms, 1918 comedy written and directed by Charles Chaplin.
The film was made during the closing months of First World War, more than a year after United States have joined Entente against Central Powers. The plot deals with those events and Chaplin plays the protagonist Charlie who has joined US Army. After brief prologue that shows his attempts to learn military skills at boot camp, the setting switches “over there” – on the Western Front in France. Charlie slowly adapts to deprivations and various unpleasantness of the life in the trenches before heroically succeeding to capture neighbouring German trench. After that he volunteers for next mission only to be told it is suicidal. He nevertheless reluctantly goes behind enemy lines, saves his fellow soldier (played by Chaplin’s brother Sydney) from execution, hides from Germans with the help of French woman (played by Edna Purviance) and finally manages to capture Kaiser (also played by Sydney Chaplin).
Shoulder Arms were made in time when Chaplin was already established as the most popular film star thanks to the large number short comedies he had starred in past four years. Chaplin, like the rest of the young film industry, was still experimenting and establishing proper narrative techniques and film forms. It was still debatable whether the comedy genre was suitable for longer forms and Shoulder Arms, with running time that corresponds to an episode of an average television series today, actually isn’t a feature. Nevertheless, it represented something of a risk for Chaplin, but less because of form and more because of content. The war, by that time recognised by everyone as bloodier and more destructive than any other in living memory, was still raging on and many in Hollywood doubted that it would proper to use it as a subject of light-hearted comedy. Chaplin himself had doubts but nevertheless used his talents to deliver film that transcends crude wartime propaganda and can be appreciated by broad audience. Chaplin plays character that looks like he could have been iconic Tramp and uses elements of his earlier work – slapstick and villains, in this case German soldiers, made to look like pathetic caricatures. Although many of the jokes look weak from today’s perspective (perhaps because they have been recycled by film makers in later film, like Spielberg in 1941), some give insight into certain aspect of trench warfare. Chaplin, just like in his best known film The Great Dictator, explicitly states his humanist and pacifist views near the end of the film and the twist at the final scene corrects Chaplin’s heroic fantasy with just enough realism. Shoulder Arms had happy ending for Chaplin in real life; it proved to be his most commercially successful film up to that point and audience continued to flock to theatres even after the Armistice put the war to the end only few weeks after premiere. Most of the critics were silenced when the “Doughboys” returning home from the trenches expressed their admiration for Chaplin paying them homage in his film. Shoulder Arms not only further solidified Chaplin as the greatest star of his time, but also showed him that he could successful deal with serious issues in comical ways, leading to truly great films in the later stages of his career.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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