The Fatal Mallet
About The Fatal Mallet
Three men want Mabel. Chaplin's suitor and Mack Sennett's rival join forces against Mack Swain, throwing bricks and swinging a mallet. Chaplin then turns on Sennett. He loses the ally and the girl, and ends up in the water.
Cast & crew
More about The Fatal Mallet
Mack Sennett wrote, directed, and produced, and he plays one of the suitors. Silent Era also credits Chaplin with the scenario. Frank D. Williams, listed on Wikidata as Frank Williams, photographed it. Keystone shipped the picture for a 1 June 1914 release through Mutual. The working title was The Knockout. Shooting was about 10–12 May 1914.
Themes
Making
Normand was already a Keystone star and director when Chaplin arrived. This short drops his tramp into a Sennett park chase rather than a story he shaped himself.
Reviews
Moving Picture World wrote: 'This one-reeler proves that hitting people over the head with bricks and mallets can sometimes be made amusing.'
Look
Frank D. Williams shot the park chase, the brick throwing, and the mallet fight.
Preservation
A 16mm reduction positive survives. The short is in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Gordon Griffith plays a boy who is also stuck on Mabel.
- Sennett and Normand were a couple off screen while this was made.
- It is one of more than a dozen Keystone shorts Normand and Chaplin made together. She had already written and directed films of her own.
- Sennett and Chaplin share the frame here more than they usually did.
- French titles include Le maillet de Charlot. No U.S. copyright was registered, and the short is in the public domain.
Scenes
- Chaplin and Sennett team up with a mallet against Mack Swain, then Chaplin swings it at Sennett.
- Chaplin finishes in the lake.
Also available
- Internet Archive (CC_1914_06_01_TheFatalMallet)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Fatal Mallet (1914).webm)
