Her Friend the Bandit

Her Friend the Bandit is a 1914 American short silent comedy film made by Keystone Studios starring Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand, both of whom co-directed the movie. It is considered lost.

Plot

Charlie plays an elegant bandit with whom Mabel has a flirtation. Mabel hosts a party. Charlie attends as a French count. Charlie's uncouth behavior shocks the other party guests. The Keystone Cops eventually are summoned and remove Charlie from the party.

Cast

Charlie Chaplin as Bandit
Mabel Normand as Mabel
Charles Murray as Count de Beans

Reviews

From the Lexington Herald in Lexington, Kentucky : "'Her Friend, the Bandit', Keystone. One of the funniest and most hilarious comedies in a decade, with a conglomeration of mirth-provoking scenes."
From The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon : "The Keystone players will offer 'Her Friend, the Bandit', one of those rough and ready farces that make everybody laugh."

Chaplin's lost films

Her Friend the Bandit and A Woman of the Sea are Chaplin's lost films, as no copies are known to exist. As more and more supposedly 'lost' silent films emerge, there is some hope that a copy of Her Friend the Bandit will surface in a private collection somewhere. As late as 1965, five of Chaplin's early comedies for Keystone were considered forever lost. Copies of four of them have surfaced in the intervening decades. Her Friend the Bandit is still considered Chaplin’s only 'lost' Keystone film.