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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 981

Mabel at the Wheel

191418 minUnited States

Synopsis

After an unsuccessful motorcycle ride, Mabel favors a racing driver over Charlie. The jealous rival responds with sabotage and arranges for the driver to be abducted before a race. Mabel takes the wheel herself, forcing Charlie and his accomplices to pursue increasingly desperate ways of stopping her on the track.

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Video edition: Wikimedia Commons
Original language: No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs: 22:28
Subtitles: No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett · Public domain

Cast

Charles Chaplin

Mabel Normand

Harry McCoy

Chester Conklin

Mack Sennett

Al St. John

DirectorsMabel Normand Mack Sennett

Behind the scenes

Mabel Normand both stars and shares the direction with Mack Sennett. Chaplin plays the obstructive villain, giving the race's action and the initiative to Normand's driver rather than to his more familiar sympathetic comic persona.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film reference Wikidata — film identity and credits

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 15, 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)
Mabel Normand — Herman Mishkin · Public domain
Harry McCoy — Hartsook; J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs · Public domain
Chester Conklin — Hartsook Photo; J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs · Public domain
Mack Sennett — Author/source credit not supplied in Commons metadata; file page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MackSennett1910.jpg · Public domain
Al St. John — Ross Publishing Co. · Public domain

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