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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 803

The Floorwalker

191624 minUnited States

Video edition: Wikimedia Commons
Original language: No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs: 28:28
Subtitles: No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Charlie Chaplin · Public domain

Synopsis

A disruptive department-store customer resembles an employee who is helping the manager steal from the safe. A hurried exchange of identities leaves the newcomer caught with the money and pursued by people whose motives he does not understand. The store's counters, elevator and escalator become obstacles in an increasingly confused chase.

Cast

Charles Chaplin

Eric Campbell

Edna Purviance

DirectorsCharles Chaplin

Behind the scenes

Chaplin's first Mutual film makes a moving staircase central to its physical comedy. The escalator allows frantic effort to produce almost no progress, while the resemblance between Chaplin and Lloyd Bacon drives the mistaken-identity plot.

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 12, 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)
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)
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)

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