Cruel, Cruel Love
- March 26, 1914 (1914-03-26)
Cruel, Cruel Love is a 1914 American comedy silent film made at the Keystone Studios and starring Charlie Chaplin.
Plot
Chaplin plays a character quite different from the Little Tramp for which he would become famous. In this short Keystone film, Chaplin is instead a rich, upper-class gentleman (Lord Helpus) whose romance is endangered when his girlfriend (played by Minta Durfee) sees him being embraced by her maid and jumps to the wrong conclusion. She angrily sends Lord Helpus away, saying she never wants to see him again. Distraught, when Lord Helpus arrives home he is determined to end his life. He swallows what he thinks is a glass of poison and envisions himself being tortured in Hell. Not long afterward, the girlfriend's gardener and maid explain to Minta that Lord Helpus was not flirting at all. Minta quickly sends a note of apology to Lord Helpus. upon reading it, Lord Helpus flies into a panic and summons an ambulance to help him before he dies from the fatal dose of poison. There is no danger of Lord Helpus expiring: His butler had stealthily switched the liquid in the glass to harmless water.
Chaplin's romantic interest in this film, Minta Durfee, was the wife of fellow Keystone actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
Cast
- Charlie Chaplin - Lord Helpus/Mr. Dovey
- Chester Conklin - Lord Helpus' Butler
- Minta Durfee - The Lady
- Eva Nelson - Maid
Preservation status
Cruel, Cruel Love was presumed to be a lost film for more than 50 years until a complete nitrate film copy in reasonable condition was discovered in South America.[1] Restoration copies were made by David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates, and by Lobster Films of Paris, and its original two-reel format is available for sale.[2]
Review
A reviewer from Motion Picture World wrote, "Slight in texture, but it makes a pleasing, laughable picture."
See also
- List of rediscovered films
- Charlie Chaplin filmography
References
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- The short film Cruel, Cruel Love is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- Cruel, Cruel Love at IMDb
- Cruel, Cruel Love at SilentEra
- Cruel, Cruel Love on YouTube
- Cruel, Cruel Love at Rotten Tomatoes
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- Filmography
- The Tramp
- Chaplin family
- My Autobiography
- Chaplin: His Life and Art
- Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups
- Chaplin: A Life
- Sunnyside
- "Smile" (1936 music, 1954 lyrics)
- "Eternally (Terry's Theme)" (1952 music, 1953 lyrics)
- "This Is My Song" (1967)
- Chaplinesque, My Life and Hard Times
- Unknown Chaplin
- Chaplin
- Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
- Little Tramp
- Chaplin (1993)
- Chaplin (2006)
Keystone Studios |
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Essanay Studios |
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Mutual Film Corp |
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First National |
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United Artists |
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Later productions |
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See also |
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- Making a Living (1914)
- Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)
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