31min. // A perpetually soused gentleman arrives at an upscale health spa, allegedly to take the waters and reform, but his real luggage is a massive suitcase packed with bottles. Before he even reaches the front desk, he becomes entangled in a revolving door, turning a simple entrance into a dizzying mechanical battle that leaves staff and guests alike in chaos. His troubles multiply when he inadvertently crushes the already-bandaged foot of a hulking gout patient, instantly earning a sworn enemy in the corridors of cure and respectability.
Once inside, the bather’s antics escalate as he evades the spa’s medicinal regime. A well-meaning attendant keeps pressing glasses of the curative mineral water on him, which he discreetly discards at every opportunity, determined to stick to his smuggled liquor. Between pratfalls and near-disasters, he meets a gentle young woman whose sincerity cuts through his boozy bravado. Seated between her and the zealous water-pusher, he’s pulled—literally and figuratively—between temptation and reform, as she urges him to abandon drink and embrace a healthier life.
Meanwhile, the furious gout sufferer lumbers through the hotel, trying to convince management to expel the unruly guest. The more the staff attempts to impose order, the more the hidden alcohol seeps—sometimes quite literally—into the spa’s regimen, turning sober treatments into slapstick bedlam. As bottles are misplaced, mixed up, and poured where they absolutely shouldn’t be, the supposedly curative waters become a bubbling source of mayhem, sending patients and attendants staggering in unexpected ways.
The mounting chaos transforms the prim resort into a carnival of misdirected therapies and physical comedy. Amid the uproar, the would-be patient is forced to confront the mess his drinking has created, teetering between comic disaster and the faint possibility of genuine change. The film turns the era’s anxious debates over alcohol into a brisk, inventive farce, filled with inventive gags, precise timing, and a surprisingly tender undercurrent beneath all the tumbling bodies and spinning doors.
Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
Writing Credits: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin, Eric Campbell
Photo Gallery:
