Shoulder Arms
AKA Charlot soldat in France
(1918) American
B&W : Three reels / 3142 feet
Directed by Charles Chaplin

Cast: Charles Chaplin [the recruit], Edna Purviance [French girl], Sydney Chaplin [sergeant; and Kaiser Wilhelm], Jack Wilson [German crown prince], Henry Bergman [fat German sergeant; and Field Marshall von Hindenburg], Albert Austin [American soldier; German soldier; and the Kaiser’s chauffeur], Tom Wilson [training camp sergeant], John Rand [American soldier], Park Jones [American soldier], Loyal Underwood [small German officer], Roscoe Ward, Ed Hunt, M.J. Donovan, E.B. Johnson, Fred Graham, Louis Orr, Al Blake, Ray Hanford, Cliff Brouwer, Claude McAtee, F.S. Colby, Jack Shalford, Joe Van Meter, Guy Eakins, Jack Willis, Charles Cole, T. Madden, Harry Goldman, Jack Willis, Mark Faber, E.H. Devere, Fred Everman, A. North, Charles Knuske, O.E. Haskins, Tom Hawley, W.E. Graham, James Griffin, W.A. Hackett, E. Brucker, J.H. Shewry, Sam Lewis, R.B. McKenzie, K. Herlinger, A.J. Hartwell, W.G. Wagner, J.T. Powell, W. Herron, W. Cross, G.E. Marygold, C.L. Dice, G.A. Godfrey, L.A. Blaisdell, W.E. Allen, J.H. Warne

Charles Chaplin production; distributed by First National Exhibitors’ Circuit, Incorporated. / Produced by Charles Chaplin. Scenario by Charles Chaplin. Cinematography by Roland H. Totheroh. / © 2 October 1918 by Charles Chaplin [LP12954]. © renewed 8 November 1945 by Charles Chaplin [R145763]. Released 20 October 1918. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / Originally planned at five reels; outtakes were preserved in Chaplin’s private collection. True Boardman Jr., Marion Feducha and Frankie Lee played Chaplin’s sons in cut domestic scenes intended for the beginning of the film. Peggy Prevost and Nina Trask portrayed draft board clerks, Alf Reeves a draft board sergeant, and Albert Austin a doctor in a cut scene at the draft board office. Asplund-Chaplin p. ? mistakenly lists the release date as 20 November 1918.

Comedy: World War I.

Survival Status: Prints exist in the Estate of Charles Chaplin film collection [35mm nitrate negative, 35mm positives].

Keywords: Boot camps - French - Soldiers - Trenches - Weapons: Guns, Rifles - World War I: 28 July 1914-11 November 1918

Listing updated: 26 February 2006.

References: Film viewing : Asplund-Chaplin p. ?; Bardèche-History pp. 117, 123-124, 126, 213, 218, 219, 222, 294, 295; Bohn-Light pp. 99, 116; Brownlow-Parade p. 500; Everson-American pp. 265, 370; Fell-History pp. 97, 98; Jacobs-Chaplin pp. 50f, 55-59, 60, 62, 75, 84, 114, 136; Kerr-Silent pp. 168, 181, 182-183, 295; Lahue-World p. 146; Parish-Combat pp. 139, 206, 358-360; Robinson-Chaplin pp. 722-723; Shipman-Cinema p. 64; Sinyard-Silent pp. 62, 63, 104; Spehr-American p. 101; Taylor-Hitchcock p. 41 : ClasIm-220 p. C6.

Home Video: DVD.