Mabel At The Wheel
(Hot Finish)		  
   
  18 April 1914  
  Keystone Film Company/Mutual Film  
  silent short  
  2-reels
  

     
Director/Producer Director Writer Cinematography Editor
Mack Sennett Mabel Normand Charlie Chaplin Frank D. Williams ?

AVAILABLE ON DVD
(click images for Amazon)

DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/ Mabel (Normand) waits on her porch for the arrival of her boyfriend (Harry McCoy).  He drives up to the house in his flash car, but the two have an argument and her father has to get between them.  Just at that moment, a stranger (Chaplin) pulls up on his motorcycle and tempts Mabel into going off with him for a ride.  She doesn't hesitate and off they go, with her seated procariously on the back.  As Chaplin rounds a corner, she falls off backwards and into a large puddle.  The boyfriend catches up in his car and picks her up.
Chaplin is angered by this and confronts the couple in the road.
REVIEW INCOMPLETE.  

Facts
•Filming finished on March 31, 1914.
•This is the oldest known film to have survived featuring Charley Chase, though Brian Anthony's book, "Smile When The Raindrops Fall" does not mention this title at all.
•A pretty clean print of the film can be viewed on YouTube.
Did you notice?
•During the argument between Mabel and her boyfriend on her porch at the beginning, she pokes her tongue out at him.
•The boyfriend's car has a large 4 on the side of it.

DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/ Charlie Chaplin
Villain
DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/ Mabel Normand
Mabel
DVD screencapture - Lord Heath - Laurel & Hardy - Another Nice Mess - http://www.lordheath.com/ Harry McCoy
Mabel's boyfriend
  Chester Conklin
Mabel's father
  Mack Sennett
Reporter/Newsreel director
Dave Anderson
Henchman
Joe Bordeaux
Dubious character
  Mack Swain
Spectator at races
William Hauber
Mabel's co-driver
  Dan Albert
Cheering spectator
  Charles Avery
Spectator in grandstand
  Charley Chase
Race spectator
  Alice Davenport
Spectator in grandstand
  Minta Dufree
Spectator in grandstand
  Edgar Kennedy
Spectator in grandstand
  Charles Lakin
Cheering spectator
  Grover Ligon
Henchman
  Fred Mace
Dubious character
  Edward Nolan
Spectator
  Fred Wagner
Race starter



Acknowledgements:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_at_the_Wheel (Wikipedia)
http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/floorbelow.htm (newspaper article)
http://cinemasparagus.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/mabel-at-wheel.html (Cinemasparagus)
Tom Schober (review copy)

This page was last updated on: 23 July 2024