A Night Out
About A Night Out
Charlie and Ben get drunk, drop a pie on a dandy and a large man, and are thrown out. Upstairs Charlie meets a woman in pajamas with her dog. The poodle chases him into a bathroom. She follows and shuts the door when she sees her husband. Charlie walks her back. The husband returns. Charlie is under the covers. The husband sits on him to take off his shoes, drags him out, and shoots. Charlie goes out the window into a pile of leaves. Ben, hearing the shot, hits him in the hall. They swing at each other until Charlie falls into a full bathtub.
Cast & crew
More about A Night Out
Chaplin wrote and directed his first Essanay film made at Niles, after His New Job in Chicago. It is also his first film with Edna Purviance, whom he had found in San Francisco while looking for a leading lady. She stayed in his pictures for the next eight years. Harry Ensign photographed. Jess Robbins produced. Chaplin edited. Released 15 February 1915. It runs 33 minutes. Ben Turpin is the drinking partner. Bud Jamison and Leo White are in the restaurant fight. Fred Goodwins is billed. Robert Israel’s music is a later video score.
Themes
Making
Chaplin opens the Niles stay with a drunk reel and a hotel-room hiding place. The pie, the poodle, and the bathtub are the three landings.
Look
Harry Ensign shot the restaurant, the hotel corridor, and the window drop at Niles.
Music
Silent in 1915. Robert Israel later scored a video edition.
Preservation
A 33-minute print survives.
Notes
- The head waiter’s wife is the woman in the hall. The catalog plot and the scene order match on that point.
- Purviance’s first Chaplin film is this one, not a later Niles short.
- Wikidata also names George D. Baker as a director. The film’s own credits and the English Wikipedia name Chaplin.
- A Commons copy carries the 1915 title.
Scenes
- The pie hits the dandy and the large man.
- The poodle drives Charlie into the bathroom.
- The husband sits on him under the blanket and then fires.
- Charlie lands in leaves, then in a full tub.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (A Night Out (1915).webm)
