Behind the Screen

Behind the Screen (1916) is a Charlie Chaplin silent comedy you can watch online on iFILM. The whole thing unfolds inside a chaotic film studio, where David, the overworked prop assistant, hauls every bit of heavy lifting while the rest of the crew loafs.

David finally snaps. Led by the hulking foreman Goliath (Eric Campbell), the stagehands walk off the job, and the lot dissolves into a brawl of pies, collapsing sets and well-aimed kicks. Into this mess slips an aspiring actress (Edna Purviance) who disguises herself as a boy to land work. David figures out the trick and falls hard.

This is one of twelve shorts Chaplin made for the Mutual studio, widely seen as the peak of his early run. Twenty-four minutes of pure slapstick: chases, pratfalls and the Tramp's signature mime. Silent-film fans can knock it out in one sitting, and newcomers get a clean look at where Chaplin started. Stream Behind the Screen (1916) online on iFILM.