ShangLuda Admirable film.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Petri Pelkonen Charlie walks with his bulldog and finds a "good luck" horseshoe when he passes a training camp that is looking for a boxing partner "who can take a beating".Charlie won't take a beating, that he has decided.After watching the others lose, he puts the horseshoe inside his glove and wins.Now the trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion.Can Charlie win this time.There's also a nasty gambler who wants him to throw the fight.And there's also some love in the air with the trainer's daughter.What a great silent short from Charles Chaplin.The Champion is from 1915 and it also stars Edna Purviance (Trainer's Daughter), Ernest Van Pelt (Spike Dugan), Lloyd Bacon (Second Sparring Partner etc.) and Leo White (Crooked Gambler).You can also see Billy Armstrong, Ben Turpin and Broncho 'Billy' Anderson.This is a perfect comedy.There's no stop to laughter once you get started.When Charlie trains for his match and he keeps getting hits on his nose.When he shows off to Edna with the weights.How he kisses the dog on the head before going into ring.And the fight itself is priceless! How he gets exhausted and swings from one side to another in the ring.And then we see the dog in the ring hanging from the behind of the opponent.Hilarious, just hilarious!

JoeytheBrit A comedy in three acts, this Chaplin short depicts his tramp as a somewhat more sympathetic character than many of his other films from this period. The tramp's impoverished status is played up here more than in some of his other Essanay films, and it strengthens both his character and the story as a result. Finding a lucky horseshoe outside a gym advertising for sparring partners 'who can take a punch', Charlie decides to give it a go. The horseshoe is put to predictable use and Chaplin suddenly finds himself up against the hulking Bob Uppercut (Bud Jamison). Chaplin would return to the ring in CITY LIGHTS and, while the fight sequence here comes nowhere near to the brilliance of that film's prize fight, it is still an entertaining bout that forms the highlight of the film. Edna Purviance appears once more, and Chaplin acknowledges the audience (and, perhaps, media speculation about their off-screen relationship) when he lifts a beer jug in front of their faces as they kiss. This is one of Chaplin's better early efforts.

Snow Leopard With lots of good material, an interesting (if humorously implausible) story, and some secondary characters that are used well, "The Champion" is a very good short comedy, and is easily one of the best of Charlie Chaplin's early comedies.It begins with Charlie answering a prize-fighter's request for sparring partners, and starting from there Chaplin gets involved in some adventures that, though lacking any believability, are quite amusing. Most of the sequences make use of the secondary characters more than is usual for Chaplin's early features. Early in the story, while Charlie and the other fighters are waiting for their turn, it makes good use of the mannerisms and expressions of the others, as well as Chaplin himself. In the main fight scene, the activity in the ring is funny, creative, and well-choreographed - there are moments when it is almost as good as the celebrated boxing scene in "City Lights". That's not to say, of course, that overall this short movie approaches such a standard of greatness, but it is a well-made and entertaining little comedy.

rbverhoef 'The Champion' is a nice short film by Charlie Chaplin and of course with Charlie Chaplin. Watching him I always admire his skills. I don't know if you can call it acting but whatever you call it he is great with it. This short starts as a real story but soon it can come to the moment where Chaplin can show his skills. This time in a boxing contest and the preparation before it. There are some very funny moments and most of it was not that predictable. That is the case very often in the shorts of Charlie Chaplin but not so much in this one. I also liked the way the music played together with the performances, it made the whole thing funnier. Definitely worth a watch.