Her Friend the Bandit (lost Charlie Chaplin comedy film; 1914)

The star and co-director of the film, Charlie Chaplin, circa 1914.

Status: Lost

Her Friend the Bandit is an American silent comedy film, released on June 4, 1914. The film stars and was directed by Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. It was an early film of Chaplin's, released in the Keystone era of his career, and only had a running time of around 16-18 minutes. It is the only released film of Chaplin's that is considered lost.

Plot

The plot revolves around Chaplin, playing a bandit, who flirts with Mrs. De Rocks (Mabel Normand). Mrs. De Rocks hosts a party, and Chaplin's bandit goes, posing as a French count by the name of Count De Beans, after capturing the man and taking his clothes and invitation card. The bandit enjoys himself while his behavior shocks party guests, and he is eventually removed from the party by Keystone cops.

Availability

The movie consisted of only one reel of film, as it totaled around 16-18 minutes of runtime. The film was re-released two years later in Spain on October 22, 1916. The film was seemingly shown as late as 1919, shown in Santa Cruz, California in early January. While no known copies are currently known to exists, other previously lost Keystone films of Chaplins that were once lost have been found.

There has been some confusion online about the status of the film, with some sources claiming it has been found. The trivia section of the IMDb page claims it has been found , while others confuse a later film titled "His Day Out" starring Chaplin imitator Billy West to be the lost film.

There are no known material from the film, including any stills or promotional material. Most existing mention of the film from the time period come from short mentions in newspapers from around the country.

External Link

• Wikipedia article. Retrieved 25 Jun '21