Kid Auto Races at Venice is a 1914 short film (six minutes, or only a half-reel) directed by Henry Lehrman.
It features Charlie Chaplin in only his third film. The rather slight story has a film crew filming a big soap box derby race in Venice, CA. Or at least, they'd like to be filming the soap box derby. Instead, the camera crew has to deal with an obnoxious, apparently drunk man (Charlie, of course) who keeps interfering with the shots. The man, dressed in what would become the iconic Tramp costume, keeps wandering out in front of the camera, with derby cars whizzing past him. Onlookers, a cop, and the film director all try and yank the man back into the crowd, to no avail.
For a long time this was thought to be Chaplin's second film and the first one where he wore the Tramp costume. Later research showed that Mabel's Strange Predicament, although released after this movie, was actually filmed first. The race where Charlie interferes with the camera was a real soap box derby
race which Keystone fashioned a short film around.
Library of Congress has selected this film for National Film Registry for preservation in December 2020.
Tropes:
- Attention Whore: Charlie. While at first it seems like he wanders into the shot by accident, after a bit he's clearly stepping in front of the camera on purpose. In one scene the camera passes by the judges' stand, catching Charlie sitting in the front. Charlie notices the camera, gets up, and follows as the camera pans around from the judges to the race track.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Charlie continuously smiles at and mugs for the camera.
- Creator Cameo: The director who gets annoyed by Charlie is played by, yes, this movie's director, Henry Lehrman.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In this movie, as with many of the other films Chaplin made at the beginning of his career, the Tramp is more of an obnoxious drunk and less of the lovable free spirit that he later came to be.
- Farce: Begins with the standard Keystone "Farce comedy" label under the title, and it's certainly very silly, as Charlie clowns and mugs for the camera.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: Basically mandatory for a Keystone film. The director's frustration with Charlie mounts until he kicks Charlie in the butt.
- Mockumentary: Might be the trope maker in Unbuilt Trope form, as an obnoxious drunk interferes with the filming of a soap box derby race.
- Re-Cut: Some versions of this film, distributed after Chaplin became a huge star, add a prologue and epilogue consisting of Charlie's letter to his girlfriend, and a close-up shot of Charlie looking at the lens of a camera, making a face.
- The Tramp: Maybe? Charlie is wearing the iconic costume, but nothing in the movie specifically makes him out as a tramp.
