Tango Tangles

Tango Tangles is a 1914 American film comedy short starring Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle. The action takes place in a dance hall, with a drunken Chaplin, Ford Sterling, and the huge, menacing, and acrobatic Arbuckle fighting over a girl. The supporting cast also features Chester Conklin and Minta Durfee. The picture was written, directed and produced by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios and distributed by Mutual Film Corporation.

Tango Tangles
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMack Sennett
Produced byMack Sennett
Written byMack Sennett
StarringCharles Chaplin
Ford Sterling
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Chester Conklin
Minta Durfee
CinematographyFrank D. Williams
Production
company
Distributed byMutual Film
Release date
  • March 9, 1914 (1914-03-09)
Running time
12 minutes
CountryUSA
LanguageSilent film
English (Original titles)
Chaplin and Arbuckle

In Tango Tangles, Charlie Chaplin appears without makeup and his usual mustache, baggy pants, and oversized shoes. The film was shot at a dance hall without any sort of formal script. Mack Sennett, in his 1954 autobiography King of Comedy, said of the impromptu nature of Tango Tangles, "We took Chaplin, [Ford] Sterling, [Roscoe] Arbuckle and [Chester] Conklin to a dance hall, turned them loose, and pointed a camera at them. They made funny, and that was it." Tango Tangles marked the last time that Ford Sterling and Chaplin appeared in the same film. Sterling had decided to leave Keystone where he had gained most of his fame as the chief of the Keystone Cops.

Reviews

The movie publication Bioscope wrote of Tango Tangles, "Jealousy in a dance room ends in a fight which is engaged by the dancers, musicians and attendants."

Another reviewer in The Cinema wrote, "The ballroom is soon converted into a battlefield which results in this Keystone being a real scream."

Cast
  • Charles Chaplin - Tipsy Dancer
  • Roscoe Arbuckle - Clarinettist
  • Ford Sterling - Band leader
  • Chester Conklin - Guest in Police Costume
  • Minta Durfee - Guest
  • Charles Avery ... Guest in Straw Hat (uncredited)
  • Glen Cavender ... Drummer in band / Guest in Cone Hat (uncredited)
  • Alice Davenport ... Guest with Man in Overalls (uncredited)
  • Billy Gilbert ... Guest in cowboy hat (uncredited)
  • William Hauber ... Flutist (uncredited)
  • Bert Hunn ... Guest (uncredited)
  • George Jeske ... Cornet Player / Guest with Bow Tie (uncredited)
  • Edgar Kennedy ... Dance Hall Manager (uncredited)
  • Sadie Lampe ... Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
  • Hank Mann ... Guest in Overalls (uncredited)
  • Harry McCoy ... Piano Player (uncredited)
  • Rube Miller ... Guest Pushed Away (uncredited)
  • Dave Morris ... Dance Organizer (uncredited)
  • Eva Nelson ... Guest with Man in Cone Hat (uncredited)
  • Frank Opperman ... Clarinetist / Guest (uncredited)
  • Peggy Pearce ... Guest (uncredited)
  • Al St. John ... Guest in Convict Costume (uncredited)
gollark: Say most/many people like a thing, but the unfathomable mechanisms of culture™ have decided that it's bad/shameful/whatever. In our society, as long as it isn't something which a plurality of people *really* dislike, you can probably get it anyway since you don't need everyone's buy-in. And over time the thing might become more widely accepted by unfathomable mechanisms of culture™.
gollark: I also think that if you decide what to produce via social things instead of the current financial mechanisms, you would probably have less innovation (if you have a cool new thing™, you have to convince a lot of people it's a good idea, rather than just convincing a few specialized people that it's good enough to get some investment) and could get stuck in weird signalling loops.
gollark: So it's possible to be somewhat insulated from whatever bizarre trends are sweeping things.
gollark: In a capitalistic system, people don't have to like me as long as I can throw money at them, see.
gollark: ...

See also


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.