Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Tango Tangle" is a 12-minute short film from the year 1914, the year when World War I began. So if you put this into perspective, you will not be surprised that this is a black-and-white silent film. It is over 100 years old and stars Charlie Chaplin, which means it is almost exclusively comedy. Some drama occasionally, some fight sequences and also some romance of course. But all this really only serves the purpose of getting even more comedy in here. There are more stars working on this one other than Chaplin. The director and writer is Mack Sennett, very successful back in the day and co-starring in here is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of the biggest silent film stars and filmmakers in his own right. Sterling and Conklin are also somewhat famous to people with huge interest in silent films. Charlie here arrives at a dance and mayhem quickly ensues as he keeps fighting the musicians over the love of a young woman that everybody seems to have an interest in. Despite the strong cast and crew, this was only a mediocre movie, nowhere near Chaplin's best. I do not recommend the watch.

Igenlode Wordsmith The main surprise in this film is seeing Chaplin 'out of costume' -- without comedy makeup and without moustache, he appears here as a handsome young wavy-haired man-about-town. (It's always disorienting how good-looking Charles Chaplin was compared to the Tramp!) Keystone comedies aren't my style, but this one's innocuous enough, with entertaining elements in amongst the standard punch-up scenes; and to be fair, the fights here do have some memorable moments, courtesy of Charlie. Watch him roll up his sleeves and admire his own prowess after delivering a successful opening blow, or waggle his buttocks in tango time as the combatants circle... His introductory scene as a tipsy guest confused at the hat-check counter stands out as elegant comedy amongst the frenzy, as does a later moment when he attempts to lean back against the counter, discovers he has misjudged the distance, recovers, and moves the table forward a pace for his convenience rather than stepping back a pace: just an improvisational moment, but one that points to a different style of film.Ford Sterling and Fatty Arbuckle have some good musical 'business' together towards the start of the film, although this degenerates rather in later scenes; I wasn't as impressed by Sterling's over-the-top performance here as other reviewers have been. Amused to note the angular Al St. John in a stripy costume at the back in several scenes...So far as both Keystone and Chaplin are concerned, this film is something a little different. Worth seeing as mild entertainment, even for those who don't normally much like that sort of thing.

MartinHafer This is a film from Chaplin's first year in films. During this VERY hectic year, he churned out film after film after film for Keystone Studios and the quality of the films are, in general, quite poor. That's because the character of "the Little Tramp" was far from perfected and the films really had no script--just the barest of story ideas. While some Chaplin lovers might think this is sacrilege, all these movies I have seen are pretty lousy. Yes, there are some cute slapstick moments but barely any plot--absolutely NOTHING like the Chaplin we all came to love in his full-length films of the 20s and 30s.As stated above, Charlie does not sport his usual mustache. The movie is about jealousy and consists of lots of people pushing and punching each other--that's pretty much it!

23skidoo-4 Tango Tangles, one of Charlie Chaplin's earliest silents, was made before The Little Tramp became his film persona of choice. Here, without his moustache, the surprisingly young-looking comic does a variation on his popular music hall drunk act, playing a dandy who tries to woo a cute dancer, much to the chagrin of his rivals for her affections -- a band leader and a fat musician, the latter played by Fatty Arbuckle.This is quite a rare film in that Chaplin is completely and utterly overshadowed by one of his co-stars. Ford Sterling, an actor little remembered today, plays the bandleader, and offers such balletic, graceful and funny slapstick in his comedic fights with both Chaplin and Arbuckle that one could think that Chaplin might have taken some inspiration from the older actor in his own later performances as The Tramp.This was a movie that cries out for sound. The story takes place at a dance (apparently a real one, based on the fact that a number of bystanders can be seen smiling and waving at the camera!), yet the music usually heard on the stock soundtracks provided for these silents on DVD and video does not match the action on screen, which appears to be performed in time with whatever music was being played at the time.This isn't a bad film by any means, and it's interesting for its rare glimpse of the silent era Chaplin without his Tramp disguise. It also offers some funny moments for Fatty Arbuckle. But this is very much Ford Sterling's show and he's a joy to watch.