The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914)

The Face on the Bar-Room Floor, Charlie Chaplin's 22nd Keystone comedy was based on a well-known poem by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy, "The Face Upon the Floor." The film begins in a saloon where Charlie, a destitute Tramp, is bumming drinks. He offers to tell the story of his downfall to the other patrons, and the story goes into a long flashback sequence. The Tramp was once a successful artist. We see him dressed in a tuxedo, at work in his studio, painting a portrait of his wife, played by Cecile Arnold. His next client is a portly man, Fritz Schade, who is obviously well-to-do. When the wife comes into the studio, she and the client fall instantly in love. Later, they run off together, leaving a note pinned to the nose of the portrait. Charlie returns to the studio and upon finding the note, flies into a rage, destroying the portrait. Time passes. Charlie is now a Tramp in a park. His former wife and her lover come into view with four children in tow and another in a baby carriage. She is berating her new man and doesn't notice Charlie, but her husband looks at him enviously. Charlie wipes his brow, looking relieved, and strolls off. Back in the bar room, the flashback finished, Charlie is handed a piece of chalk. Now quite drunk, he attempts to draw his ex-wife's picture on the floor. He is ordered out of the bar by the other patrons and a fight breaks out, ending with Charlie collapsing, unconscious on the face upon the floor.