Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
Kid Auto Races at Venice Review
Kid Auto Races at Venice is a 1914 silent short film directed by Henry Lehrman and starring Charlie Chaplin. It is a wonderful first movie starring Little Tramp.
Charlie is a spectator at some kind of a baby cart-race, which is very strange, but highly amusing that they had this kind of a race back then. In this very clever movie, we see a camera capturing this race, but another camera is capturing Charlie as he disrupts the whole process and angers the original cameramen there. It’s all very meta and quite groundbreaking for its time.
Apparently, this is where he first started the Tramp character and he was instantly iconic. His energy is palpable as is his charisma and his innate sense of great humor. His mannerisms and his walk are hilarious. This film may feel rather repetitive as it has only one situation repeated throughout, but it’s still undeniably entertaining and hugely charming. We basically witness real people, not actors being filmed, and it’s thus a beautiful historical artifact. The adults getting angry at the guy, not knowing yet who he is was priceless, and so were the kids’ amused reactions at him.
