Charlie Chaplin was back with this latest short film, Sunnyside. It was a light-hearted romantic story, with a delightfully mischievous tone. Behind the camera it was another story – directing the film had been the worst experience of Chaplin’s life. (In his memoirs, he wrote that the project was “like pulling teeth.”) He felt he’d run out of steam, and suffered from terrible writer’s block. He whose prolific imagination was his trademark, and who now found himself facing his own limitations for the first time. The silence of rural California left him baffled, and full of doubt. He began working around the clock, determined to take the bull by the horns, exhausting himself coming up with ideas only to swipe them off his desk as soon as they were on paper. To make matters worse, he found no comfort in intimacy, and was already regretting his recent nuptials. His young wife disappointed him, showing no signs of intellectual curiosity or artistic sensibility. Still, it must be said that he was demanding, leaving nothing to chance and seeking perfection in all things. He was convinced he had the stuff of genius, and the genius’ wife was a tough role to cast.
In Sunnyside, Charlot is a jack-of-all-trades: farm hand, receptionist or barber as needed. He’s clumsy, as always, and constantly running into bad luck and misadventures. His boss chides him and kicks him in the behind. One Sunday, Charlot leads a herd of cattle proudly across the California plains. He lounges around in the pastures, wandering in rhapsody...until, in his daydreaming, he forgets the task at hand and wanders alone along the path, with the herd of livestock nowhere to be seen. Then he crosses paths with an old lady, who asks him where his cattle have gone. Once again victim of his distracted mind, he rushes off to find them, searching up hill and down dale. He calls out to them in desperation. Where in God’s name could they have gone? How could you lose a dozen cows, each one weighing nearly two thousand pounds? Then, out of the church spills the congregation, fleeing in panic. Charlot rushes into the church to try and gather his herd, until he emerges riding on the back of a cow running at full tilt. Our hero is not quite up to the task, but somehow manages to hold on to the beast, until – crash! Charlot takes a great tumble into a ravine, and is left lying half-dead under a bridge. Then dreams take him, and a flowery cord tickles him under the nose. Charlot lifts his head, and sees four delightful nymphs trying to raise him up. Without a second thought, Charlot allows them to pull him up by the moustache for a dance in their pleasant company. This is one of the most memorable scenes in the film: despite his slapstick ways and oversized shoes, Charlot performs a fabulous interpretation of a ballet by the great Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinski, in an homage to a fellow entertainer. Charlie Chaplin would later be flattered in turn, when the Russian master complimented him on his dancing prowess.
Yet all dreams must come to an end; Charlot is woken up by his boss, who welcomes him back to the real world with yet another kick in the behind!
Alan Alfredo Geday