This was Chaplin's ninth film at Keystone and the third of four Chaplin films directed by George Nichols. It is important to note that this film was lost for a long time and only about 9 of the original 16 minutes has been found.
We can guess that most of the lost footage starts at around 3 minutes and 30 seconds just before we see Chaplin taking poison. What we don't see is his decision to take poison, his relationship with his butler, played by Edgar Kennedy, and the butler substituting a harmless drink for the poison. We can easily guess that all this was the content of the missing scenes based on the acting and actions in later scenes.
This film seems like it should be associated with Chaplin's first film, "Making a Living" as he wears the Gray waistcoat and top hat from that film and Minta Durfee who is also the love interest from that film is the love interest here.
Eva Nelson does a funny bit as the maid. She hurts her ankle and Chaplin helps her. Durfee does not see her hurting her ankle. This causes Durfee to mistakingly believe that Chaplin was trying to seduce her. Nelson's film career just started a few weeks before in Chaplin's "Tango Tangled." She appeared in 10 Keystone films in 1914. She then did nine more short films in 1915 and 1916, including six with Chaplin impersonator Billie Ritchie. That is all of her short film career.
William Hauber does a nice job as a gardener who convinces Durfee that Chaplin hasn't betrayed her with her maid. He appeared in some 75 Keystone films from 1912 to 1916 and then worked in some 30 Larry Semon films over the next 10 years.
This film contains the first Chaplin "Dream sequence." He imagines himself going to hell after drinking the poison. "The Bank," "The Kid," "Sunnyside" "The Gold Rush" and "Modern Times" are some other Chaplin films with dream sequences.
Chaplin's performance in this film looks ridiculous rather than funny; however, that is probably due to the missing scenes. If we had those scenes, we could see Chaplin's transition from despair to hysteria. We can only hope that someday, some way, the missing scenes may be found.
