Charles Chaplin
The New Policeman
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Internet Archive · Charles Chaplin · 1917 · Public domain
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Synopsis
Inspired by a mission worker, a wandering man decides to reform and takes a job with the police. His first assignment leads to a street ruled by a bully who seems immune to ordinary force. With little authority beyond a borrowed uniform, the new officer must turn the neighborhood's everyday objects into unlikely tools for survival.
Cast
DirectorsCharles Chaplin
Inspirations
The street set evokes the South London neighborhoods of Chaplin's childhood. Its T-shaped layout makes the whole community visible as a comic stage: poverty, charity, police authority and domestic conflict remain close together, so a confrontation can spread rapidly from one doorstep to the next.
Behind the scenes
Eric Campbell's imposing bully makes Chaplin's smaller figure appear especially vulnerable, allowing timing and improvisation to replace strength. The selected Internet Archive edition runs about 26 minutes, longer than the often cited 19-minute release duration; the page lists both the reference runtime and this copy's measured duration.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.
Availability checked on September 11, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Charles Chaplin — Strauss-Peyton Studio, 1921; published in Photoplay no. 3 (1922); National Portrait Gallery / Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain in the United States (PD-US-expired)
- Edna Purviance — Unknown photographer, 1923; J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington Libraries, SAYRE 8372 / Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain in the United States (PD-US-expired)
- Eric Campbell — Unknown photographer, by 1917; The Moving Picture World (1918), p. 53; Internet Archive / Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain in the United States (PD-US-expired)
