Synopsis
The Pawnshop (1916) is a silent Charlie Chaplin comedy short you can watch online on iFILM. The Tramp lands a job as a pawnbroker's assistant and, over barely twenty-six minutes, turns the whole shop into a disaster zone.
Chaplin directs and stars. His main rival is the other assistant, a hulking brute played by Eric Campbell, and the two trade blows and truces right behind the counter. Edna Purviance is the owner's daughter the Tramp keeps trying to impress. The standout bit: a customer brings in an alarm clock to pawn, and Chaplin examines it like a surgeon — tapping, listening, then prying it apart spring by spring until there's nothing left to hock.
One of the finest shorts from Chaplin's run at the Mutual studio, where the comedy comes from pure object mime rather than story. Black-and-white silent filmmaking that still lands a laugh a century on. Stream The Pawnshop (1916) online on iFILM.
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