Twenty Minutes of Love
About Twenty Minutes of Love
Charlie hangs about a park and will not stop prying. A jealous suitor, a man who thinks Charlie has taken his watch, a policeman, and a small boy all get pulled in. He plays the pursuer nobody asked for. The couples on the benches are the excuse.
Cast & crew
More about Twenty Minutes of Love
Keystone released it on 20 April 1914. Mack Sennett produced. Frank D. Williams photographed. Chaplin is credited with the script. Direction is disputed: the film is often called his first as director, and Joseph Maddern is also named. The English Wikipedia times it at 10 minutes. Wikidata says 20. Minta Durfee is the woman, Edgar Kennedy the lover, Chester Conklin another pickpocket, Josef Swickard the victim, Gordon Griffith the boy, Hank Mann a sleeper.
Themes
Making
Whatever the directing card says, the park, the watch, and the policeman are Chaplin’s Keystone manner a few months after he started at the studio. The title is not the running time.
Look
Frank D. Williams shot the benches, the watch, and the park fights.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
Prints survive at about the one-reel length, including the Internet Archive copy dated 20 April 1914.
Notes
- The Internet Archive identifier CC_1914_04_20 matches the 20 April release.
- Chaplin is billed as a pickpocket, not only as a flirt.
- Eva Nelson is also on the cast list.
- Maddern’s name is the reason some filmographies refuse Chaplin sole credit.
- Keystone distributed it as well as producing it.
Scenes
- Charlie inserts himself between a couple on a bench.
- A man decides the missing watch is Charlie’s doing.
- A boy and a policeman get caught in the same fuss.
Also available
- Internet Archive (CC_1914_04_20_TwentyMinutesofLove)
- Wikimedia Commons (Twenty Minutes of Love (1914).webm)
