Charlie Chaplin First Film - Kids Auto Races At Venice (1914)

Kid Auto Races At Venice is a 1914 American-made motion picture starring Charlie Chaplin in which his "Little Tramp" character makes his first appearance. Made by Keystone Studios and directed by Henry Lehrman, in it Chaplin plays a spectator at a 'baby-cart race' in California. The spectator keeps getting in the way of the camera and interferes with the race, causing great frustration to the public and participants. The film was shot during the Junior Vanderbilt Cup, an actual race with Chaplin and his co-stars improvising gags in front of real-life spectators.
Unusually the camera "comes out of shot" to show a second camera filming (as though it were the first), to better explain the joke. At this stage Chaplin only gets in the way of the visible camera on screen, not the actual filming camera. In so doing it takes on a spectator's viewpoint and becomes one of the first public films to show the film camera and cameraman in operation.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• charlie chaplin
• auto races at venice
• 1914
• early film
• silent film
• keystone studio
• first charlie chaplin film
• early comedy
• film

[silentfilmhouse]

@mujawooja your so right, he really draws people in and makes it so interesting, I love it.

[silentfilmhouse]

@mujawooja thanks :)

[mujawooja]

Great

[mujawooja]

Seen it many times great to see it again, Chaplin at his best in the first classic as the tramp

bernie

[silentfilmhouse]

@ForSunny2 he he yeah, he is pretty funny even with so little to work with. So silly he just keeps walking in front of the camera. I like the part where he pretends to drop his hat :)

[ForSunny2]

amazing.