The Champion Charlie Chaplin - COLOR

Inspired by the Keystone film, The Knockout (1914) and Chaplin’s interest in boxing, this comedy has Charlie finding employment as a sparring partner who fights in the prize ring and wins the championship match, with the help of his pet bulldog. Boxing events were then illegal in most states, and films of boxing matches (including comic takes on them) satisfied a pent-up interest in the subject. The relationship of the Tramp and his dog would be fully developed three years later in A Dog’s Life (1918), and Chaplin’s brilliant choreography in the ring anticipates the boxing match in City Lights (1931). G.M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson plays a spectator in the boxing sequence.