THE CURE from Charlie Chaplin. What a fun short. I think sometimes this one gets overlooked because it is sandwiched between two Chaplin shorts that are a little more forward thinking, or daring, dramatically. They’re also more memorable from a scenic point of view. Alcohol is also not as risqué as heroin. THE CURE is merely a straight forward comedy, God forbid. Hey, I like straight forward comedies and Chaplin does them well. The main premise of this short is Charlie is an alcoholic in a sanitarium. This sanitarium holds a well of miracle spring water that will instantly cure alcoholism, so they say. Charlie resists drinking it, no doubt inspired by fellow alcoholic W.C. Fields and his quote on why one should not partake in H2O (clears throat). But yeah, a simple premise that results in a lot of funny comedy.
My favorite bit of the short is in the beginning and it involves that revolving door. Chaplin, especially in his Mutual period, always made great use of props, be it the clock in THE PAWNSHOP, the rolling column in BEHIND THE SCREEN, or the stairs in ONE A.M. This revolving door involves a spinning, inebriated Chaplin going round and round in circles in the door. He manages to get his head caught before trapping a gout footed Eric Campbell and a sanitarium worker in the revolving door. He uses his cane in the door to achieve this. As Chaplin is finally released from the door, his spinning continues as he goes all the way across the room, up the stairs and into his room. A really funny scene and another great bit of physical comedy.
My other favorite bit is Chaplin with the masseuse Henry Bergman. Love the way Bergman twists the guy before Chaplin like a pretzel. Always show the threat the heavy will do to another before getting to the comedian, a technique that will be used effectively in the next short as well. Chaplin avoiding Bergman is an excuse for Chaplin to prance around like a ballerina (to bring up Fields again, I’m going to review him soon), and do some great dodging and slipping and sliding, in addition to wrestling. Showing off Chaplin in his physical prime, still a young man able to pull off some astonishing physical movements. Again, funny stuff.
I could list off everything else in the short as good, but the two bits I mentioned above are my favorites. I do want to add when Chaplin is telling Edna towards the end he will swear off the alcohol, he does a nice bit of pantomime with the acting. I can tell in this small bit Chaplin would work well in features with more serious stuff. So yeah, THE CURE? Again, a fun film, nothing more, nothing less.