The Floorwalker (1916)
A department-store customer stumbles into an embezzlement scheme when he's mistaken for the store's crooked floorwalker, who happens to look exactly like him, forcing an escalating game of doubles and disguise.
The Floorwalker was Chaplin’s first release under his lucrative new contract with Mutual Film Corporation, and its down-escalator gag — one of the earliest ever filmed — was reportedly the idea that got the whole picture greenlit after Chaplin spotted a working escalator on a location scout.
Background
The Floorwalker was Chaplin’s first release under a lucrative new contract with Mutual Film Corporation, a deal that gave him far greater creative control and resources than he had enjoyed at his previous studios. The film follows a department-store customer who is mistaken for the store’s crooked floorwalker, setting off an escalating series of mix-ups built around the two men’s identical appearance. Chaplin plays both roles, an early example of the kind of dual-character comedy he would use again later in his career.
What to watch for
Watch for the film’s celebrated escalator gag, one of the earliest uses of a working escalator in a film comedy; according to accounts from the production, Chaplin spotted a working escalator while scouting locations and built much of the film’s plot specifically around the chance to use it. The sequence remains a clear example of how Chaplin could turn an ordinary piece of modern machinery into an extended comic set piece.
