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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 798

The Pawnshop

191625 minUnited States

Video edition: Wikimedia Commons
Original language: No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs: 25:39
Subtitles: No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Charlie Chaplin · Public domain

Synopsis

A pawnshop assistant turns routine work into a series of disputes, accidents and elaborate inspections. Customers find that having an object examined can be more destructive than parting with it, especially when an alarm clock receives his attention. Amid quarrels with a fellow employee and flirtation with the owner's daughter, a genuine thief enters the shop.

Cast

Charles Chaplin

Edna Purviance

Henry Bergman

DirectorsCharles Chaplin

Behind the scenes

The sustained alarm-clock routine transforms an appraisal into a mock medical examination and dismantling operation. Everyday objects supply the logic of the comedy in this film from Chaplin's Mutual period.

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)
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)
Henry Bergman — Mutual Film Corp.; detail from http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=98107 · Public domain

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