I've made it up to the final year of my research for an essay about the film years 1906-1914. One hundred fifty-one films strong with, I don't know, thirty more to go. I think.Among those who emerged during this period was Charlie Chaplin. Working at first as a supporting player at Mack Sennett's comedy factory, Chaplin quickly became a star. While many of his early efforts are simple variations on Sennett's "everybody-hit-somebody, everybody-fall-down" brand of comedy, Chaplin had an innate sense of rhythm and comic timing that turned these random free-for-alls into a sort of dance—a Waltz of the Violently Clumsy, if you will.
Here's one of his early directorial efforts, The Rounders, co-starring Roscoe Arbuckle, Phyllis Allen and Minta Durfee.
