"A Jitney Elopement" is an American black-and-white silent short film from 1915, so this one is already over a century old. The reason why it is still somewhat known today is because it stars one of the greats from his era, Charlie Chaplin, actually the greatest perhaps and he also directed here with his regular Edna Purviance appearing right next to him as the love interest. Chaplin is the likable fool once more, who is still wanted by the girl, but not so much by her father, who has his own plans about whom his daughter should marry. Despite some of these relationship struggles, it is probably never a romance film and even less a drama. Comedy is king for Chaplin like most times in here too and the result are some okay situations that are mildly funny, but nothing that stands out too much. The ending is kinda sweet, but I don't think it's really worth sitting through the previous 25 minutes to reach it. The story may not even be deep and convincing enough quality-wise for under half an hour. Perhaps I am a bit biased because I'm neither the greatest Chaplin nor the greatest silent film fan, but he has made and appeared in soundless films that I enjoyed way more than this one. Gotta give it a thumbs-down overall and I'd recommend the watch only to His biggest fans. Everybody else skip it and you won't be missing much from any perspective.
Review of A Jitney Elopement
