Henry 'Pathe' Lehman had a checkered career. He got his start in the movies by telling D.W. Griffith he was off the boat from Europe, claiming he had been a director for Pathe Freres. While working for Sennett, he was possibly the first Chaplin imitator on film. Within a year he had used his credentials to get his own studio, trying to out-Sennett Sennett. He lost it in a couple of years, but the name continued on through the end of the decade.
Then when the Arbuckle scandal broke, he called a press conference and claimed that he was the fiancé of Virginia Rappe, the girl whose death had triggered the entire event. The lies he told contributed to the rage that surrounded the entire affair.
In the meantime, we have this movie to consider. It stars Billy Ritchie, an ex-Karno comic who claimed he was not a Chaplin imitator and that, indeed, Chaplin stole his character. There is some fun in a rough way, but the bone-breaking slapstick is not tempered by the sort of brilliant editing that Sennett's crews could perform. Ritchie is interesting, but the entire thing is clearly a rip-off.
Then when the Arbuckle scandal broke, he called a press conference and claimed that he was the fiancé of Virginia Rappe, the girl whose death had triggered the entire event. The lies he told contributed to the rage that surrounded the entire affair.
In the meantime, we have this movie to consider. It stars Billy Ritchie, an ex-Karno comic who claimed he was not a Chaplin imitator and that, indeed, Chaplin stole his character. There is some fun in a rough way, but the bone-breaking slapstick is not tempered by the sort of brilliant editing that Sennett's crews could perform. Ritchie is interesting, but the entire thing is clearly a rip-off.
