Dough and Dynamite (Short 1914)

Dough and Dynamite: Directed by Charles Chaplin. With Charles Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Fritz Schade, Norma Nichols. Charlie and another waiter must become bakers when the regular bakers go out on strike. The strikers put dynamite in a piece of bread which is delivered to the cake counter. It winds up in the oven and explodes.

“u0026#39;Dough and Dynamiteu0026#39;, an early Chaplin piece scripted by Mack Sennett, has all the hallmarks of a try-out (which indeed it was, its speed and plot reappearing in later work from the little comic).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChaplin is good, but the story lacks focus. Thereu0026#39;s a manic and exasperated character (the priceless Chester Conklin); a flash customer (John Francis Dillon), and a mysterious loaf. The dough of the title gets everywhere but it canu0026#39;t hold this disappointing short together.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy feeling is that u0026#39;Dough and Dynamiteu0026#39; drags too much for a short piece – as an example of how to do set pieces of comedy, itu0026#39;s fine, but it is hard going for audiences today compared to the rest of Charlieu0026#39;s work.”