THE ADVENTURER
starring Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance
PHOTOPLAY
January, 1918
The season's great laugh, not quite so regular as the full moon, is amongst us again, after an eclipse since June. Mr. Chaplin, in presenting "The Adventurer" as his Mutual swan song maintains the quality of past risible events, though shading in a trifle more on the deft stuff to the diminishment of the broad. He kept within the Hooverish mandates, as well, eliminating pies and other edibles, confining himself to the extraction of all the fun he could from the human foot, kickwise expressed, with a little soda water siphoned in for lubrication.
As a convict endeavoring to escape, he spend most of his time in a dress suit, admiring the lovely Purviance, and dodging distasteful policemen. He dodges successfully, as the end escaping into the no-one-knows-where, but judging by his past experiences he is bound for more success. It's the only end anyway, for it would be most unpsychologic to leave Chaplin behind prison bars. Even he could extract no smiles from that as a permanency. But before his final dodge, he does grab off a bout a million. There are many clever stunts in the "The Adventurer" and a few very new ones, furnishing material for much smiling , if not for sideshaking laughter.
Mr. Chaplin's Mutual career has been a satisfying one. He has given the company a row of excellent comedies of his own peculiar vintage, which must needs be valuable for several years. Considering that he did as well by Essanay, it is a safe gamble that his next affiliation will be similarly productive of excellence. He is an artist as well as a player of motley. Also he is a good business man.