[MOVIE]
T. it.: «Charlot attore» o «Charlot in vacanza»; Scen.: Charles Chaplin; F.: Frank D. Williams; Int.: Charles Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, Chester Conklin (attori cinematografici), Charles Murray (regista), Fritz Shade (il cattivo), Minta Durfee (prima attrice), Cecile Arnold, Vivian Edwards (altre attrici), Harry McCoy, Charles Parrott [Charley Chase] (altri attori); Prod.: Keystone Film Company; 35mm. L.: 314 m. D.: 15’ a 18 f/s. Imbibito / Tinted.
In The Masquerader Chaplin depicts himself in a continuous process of transformation. At the start of the film we see Chaplin himself, then Chaplin becoming Charlie (he’s putting on make- up), then Charlie in his Tramp costume becoming, successively, Charlie the film actor, Charlie the flirt, slapstick Charlie, and “Lady” Charlie. These changing images provoke the same sort of questions raised by the filmmaker when the Tramp runs into the hall of mirrors in The Circus. Which is the real Charlie?
Harry M. Geduld, Chapliniana. Volume I: The Keystone Films, Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 1987
Restoration credits
Print restored in 2003 by the Cineteca di Bologna, BFI, and Lobster Film, at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, from a tinted nitrate positive print. English intertitles have been reconstructed
