John Emerson (director)
Christy Cabanne (director)
Tod Browning (writer)
Douglas Fairbanks (lead)
Bessie Love (lead)
Alma Rubens (lead)
Tom Wilson (lead)
Triangle (production)
Likely the first, and certainly one of only a few, film references to Sherlock Holmes' cocaine injecting, as described in the original stories. Even though cocaine and opium had only recently became illegal, there was nonetheless a rising tide of moral opposition against them at the time of this film (just six months later, in Chaplin's Easy Street, the self-injector is portrayed as a depraved degenerate) - which makes this film's light-hearted depiction all the more surprising. And while busy coking up, Holmes is tracking down smugglers of that evil menance - opium (which used to be known as “hop”, the name providing the source for the film's puns, gags, and title). Fifteen years later, Alma Rubens died at just 33 - after a long battle with addiction. A film that's somewhat funny, quite silly, and totally bizarre (after all, it's a Tod Browning joint), reportedly “Everybody's Hero” Fairbanks hated it (after all, it has none of his heroics or acrobatics). That's a good enough reason to wholeheartedly embrace it.
Charles Chaplin (director/lead/writer)
William C. Foster (cinematographer)
Roland Totheroh (cinematographer)
Vincent Bryan (writer)
Maverick Terrell (writer)
Eric Campbell (lead)
Edna Purviance (lead)
Lloyd Bacon (lead)
Albert Austin (lead)
Charlotte Mineau (lead)
Leo White (lead)
James T. Kelley (lead)
John Rand (lead)
Mutual (production)
With so many hilarious gags (and some are just small movements), that come at you so rapidly, repeat viewings is a must.
head city
has waived all rights to all work here that's not stolen from somewhere else.