65 Free Charlie Chaplin Films Online To Celebrate His 129th Birthday

A few things to know about Charlie Chaplin. He starred in over 80 films, reeling off most during the silent film era. In 1914 alone, he acted in 40 films, then another 15 in 1915. By the 1920s, Chaplin had emerged as the first larger-than-life movie star and director, if not the most recognizable person in the world.

The film icon was born on 16 April 1889 and died on Christmas Day in 1977. To celebrate what would have been his 129th birthday, we’re highlighting 65 Chaplin films available on the web. Below, you will find a Chaplin mini-film festival that brings together four movies shot in 1917: The Adventurer, The Cure, Easy Street and The Immigrant. And then below you’ll find 60+ other films arranged in a neat list.

• A Burlesque On Carmen – Free – Original two-reel parody of Bizet’s Carmen by Charlie Chaplin. Also stars Leo White & Edna Purviance. (1915)
• A Busy Day – Free – Chaplin plays a wife jealous of her husband’s interest in another woman, played by Phyllis Allen. On her way to attack the couple, the wife interrupts the set of a film, knocking over a film director, played by Mack Sennett, and a policeman, played by Billy Gilbert. (1914)

• A Day’s Pleasure – Free – “Chaplin’s fourth film for First National Films. It was created at the Chaplin Studio. It was a quickly made two-reeler to help fill a gap while working on his first feature The Kid. It is about a day outing with his wife and the kids and things don’t go smoothly.” (1919)

• A Dog’s Life – Free – This endearing short Chaplin film tells the story of underdogs, human and canine, succeeding despite the odds. (1918)
• A Fair Exchange – Free – Originally released as Getting Acquainted, the film’s plot has been summarized as follows: “Charlie and his wife are walking in the park when they encounter Ambrose and his wife. The partners become fond of their counterparts and begin chasing each other around. A policeman looking for a professional Don Juan becomes involved, as does a Turk.” (1914)
• A Film Johnnie – Free – Charlie goes to the movie and falls in love with a girl on the screen. (1914)
• A Night in the Show – Free – Chaplin played two roles: one as Mr. Pest and one as Mr. Rowdy. The film was created from Chaplin’s stage work from a play called Mumming Birds. (1915)
• All Night Out – Free – “After a visit to a pub, Charlie and Ben cause a ruckus at a posh restaurant. Charlie later finds himself in a compromising position at a hotel with the head waiter’s wife.” (1915)
• A Woman – Free – This Chaplin film starts with Charlie meeting Edna (Edna Purviance) and her parents in a park; the mother is played by Marta Golden and the father by Charles Insley. (1915)
• Behind the Screen – Free – A short film written and directed by Chaplin, the film is long on slapstick, but it also gets into themes dealing with gender bending and homosexuality. (1916)

• Between Showers – Free – A short Keystone film from 1914 starring Charlie Chaplin, Ford Sterling, and Emma Bell Clifton.
• By the Sea – Free – “It is windy at a bathing resort. After fighting with one of the two husbands, Charlie approaches Edna while the two husbands themselves fight over ice cream. Driven away by her husband, Charlie turns to the other’s wife.” (1915)
• Caught in a Cabaret – Free –  Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He’ll meet a pretty girl in the park, pretending to be a fancy ambassador, despite the jealousy of her fiancée. (1914)
• Charlie Shanghaied – Free – Charlie Chaplin and his Tramp character gets shanghaied by crooks. (1915)
• Charlie’s Recreation – Free – Out of costume, Charlie is a clean-shaven dandy who, somewhat drunk, visits a dance hall. There the wardrobe girl has three rival admirers: the band leader, one of the musicians, and now Charlie. (1914)Charlotte et Le Mannequin
• Charlotte et Le Mannequin – Free – Also known as Mabel’s Married Life, the film’s plot is summarized as follows: “Accosted by a masher in the park and unable to motivate husband Charlie into taking action, Mabel gets him a boxing mannequin to sharpen his fighting skills.” (1914)
• Cruel Cruel Love – Free – Chaplin plays a rich, upper-class gentleman whose romance is endangered when his girlfriend oversees him being embraced by a maid. (1914)
• Face on a Barroom Floor – Free – “The plot is a satire derived from Hugh Antoine D’Arcy’s poem of the same title. The painter courts Madeleine but loses to the wealthy client who sits for his portrait. The despairing artist draws the girl’s portrait on the barroom floor and gets tossed out. Years later he sees her, her husband and their horde of children. Unrecognized by her, Charlie shakes off his troubles and walks off into the future.” (1914)
• Gentlemen of Nerve – Free – “Mabel and her beau go to an auto race and are joined by Charlie and his friend. As Charlie’s friend is attempting to enter the raceway through a hole, the friend gets stuck and a policeman shows up. Charlie sprays the policeman with soda until he friends makes it through the hole. In the grandstand, Mabel abandons her beau for Charlie. Both Charlie’s friend and Mabel’s are arrested and hauled away.” (1914)
• His Favorite Pastime – Free – Charlie gets drunk in the bar. He steps outside, meets a pretty woman, tries to flirt with her, only to retreat after the woman’s father returns. (1914)
• His New Job – Free – “Charlie is trying to get a job in a movie. After causing difficulty on the set he is told to help the carpenter. When one of the actors doesn’t show, Charlie is given a chance to act but instead enters a dice game. When he does finally act he ruins the scene, wrecks the set and tears the skirt from the star.” (1915
• His Prehistoric Past – Free – “Charlie dreams he is in the stone age. There King Low-Brow rules a harem of wives. Charlie, in skins and a bowler, falls in love with the king’s favorite wife, Sum-Babee. During a hunting trip the king is pushed over a cliff. Charlie proclaims himself king, but Ku-Ku discovers the real king alive. They return to find Charlie and Sum- Babee together.” (1914)
• His Trysting Place – Free – “Charlie’s wife sends him to the store for a baby bottle with milk. Elsewhere, Ambrose offers to post a love letter for a woman in his boarding house. The two men meet at a restaurant and each takes the other’s coat by mistake. Charlie’s wife thinks he has a lover; Ambrose’s believes he has an illegitimate child.” (1914)
• In the Park – Free – “A tramp steals a girl’s handbag, but when he tries to pick Charlie’s pocket loses his cigarettes and matches. He rescues a hot dog man from a thug, but takes a few with his walking stick. When the thief tries to take some of Charlie’s sausages, Charlie gets the handbag. The handbag makes its way from person to person to its owner, who is angry with her boyfriend who didn’t protect her in the first place. The boyfriend decides to throw himself in the lake in despair, so Charlie helps him out.” (1915)
• Kid Auto Races at Venice – Free – It’s the first film in which Charlie Chaplin’s iconic “Little Tramp” character makes his appearance. (1914)
• Laughing Gas – Free – Film starring Chaplin is sometimes known as “Busy Little Dentist”, “Down and Out”, “Laffing Gas”, “The Dentist”, and “Tuning His Ivories”.
• Mabel’s Busy Day – Free – “A hotdog girl gives one to a policeman who then allows her into a race track. While other customers swipe her hotdogs, Charlie runs off with the whole box, pretending to sell them while actually giving them away. She calls her policeman who battles Charlie.” (1914)
• Mabel’s Strange Predicament – Free – Watch lots of lots of high jinks go down in a hotel. (1914)
• Making a Living – Free – Premiering on February 2, 1914, Making a Living marks the first film appearance by Charlie Chaplin.
• Musical Tramps – Free – “Charlie and his partner are to deliver a piano to 666 Prospect St. and repossess one from 999 Prospect St. They confuse the addresses. The difficulties of delivering the piano by mule cart, and most of the specific gags, appeared later in Laurel and Hardy’s ‘The Music Box’.” (1914)
• One A.M. – Free – The first silent film Charlie Chaplin starred in alone. (1916)
• Police – Free – “Police was Charlie Chaplin’s 14th released film from Essanay. It was made at the Majestic Studio in Los Angeles. Charlie playing an ex-convict finds life on the outside not to his liking and leads him to breaking into a home with another thief (Wesley Ruggles). Edna Purviance plays the girl living in the home who tries to change him.” (1916)
• Shoulder Arms – Free – Charlie is a boot camp private who has a dream of being a hero who goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines. (1918)
• Sunnyside – Free – “Charlie works on a farm from 4am to late at night. He gets his food on the run (milking a cow into his coffee, holding an chicken over the frying pan to get fried eggs). He loves the neighbor’s daughter Edna but is disliked by her father. He rides a cow into a stream and is kicked off. Unconscious, he dreams of a nymph dance. Back in reality a city slicker is hurt in a car crash and is being cared for by Edna. When Charlie is rejected after attempting to imitate the slicker, the result is ambiguous–either tragic or a happy ending. Critics have long argued as to whether the final scene is real or a dream.” (1919)
• The Bank – Free – “Charlie does everything but an efficient job as janitor. Edna buys her fiance, the cashier, a birthday present. Charlie thinks “To Charles with Love” is for him. He presents her a rose which she throws in the garbage. Depressed, Charlie dreams of a bank robbery and his heroic role in saving he manager and Edna … but it is only a dream.”
• The Bond – Free – A propaganda film created and funded by Chaplin for theatrical release to help sell U.S. Liberty Bonds during World War I. (1918)
• The Champion – Free – “Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a “good luck” horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner “who can take a beating.” After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer’s daughter fall in love.” (1915)
• The Count – Free – The Count was Charlie Chaplin’s 5th film for Mutual Films. Co-starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance, it is a story about Charlie and his boss finding an invitation to a party from a real Count. (1916)
• The Fatal Mallet – Free – Three man will fight for the love of a charming girl. Charlie will play dirty, throwing bricks to his contender, and using a huge hammer to hurt one of them. But a precocious kid will be the fourth suitor in discord. (1914)
• The Fireman – Free – Charlie Chaplin’s second short for Mutual continued his focus on gags and situations—as the title suggests, Chaplin plays the role of an inept firefighter. (1916)
• The Floorwalker – Free – “The Floorwalker was Charlie Chaplin’s first Mutual Film Company made in 1916. It starred Chaplin as a customer in a department store who finds out the manager is stealing money from the store. It was noted for the first ‘running staircase’ used in films.” (1916)
• The Gold Rush – Free – Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Gold Rush. Chaplin repeatedly said that this is the film he most wanted to be remembered for. (1925)
• The Good for Nothing – Free – Made at the Keystone Studios, the film involves Chaplin taking care of a man in a wheelchair. (1914)
• The Immigrant – Free – Chaplin, in the role of the Tramp character, plays an immigrant coming to the United States. He gets accused of theft while on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. (1917)
• The Kid – Free – This was Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length film as a director, and it is still considered one of his best. (1921)
• The Knockout – Free –  Charlie Chaplin’s seventeenth film for Keystone Studios. Chaplin only has a small role, and Fatty Arbuckle takes up the main role. (1914)
• The Landlady’s Pet – Free – Otherwise known as The Star Boarder, the film turns around this theme: A brat’s magic lantern show exposes an indiscreet moment between a landlady and her star boarder. (1914)
• The Masquerader – Free – “Charlie is an actor in a film studio. He messes up several scenes and is tossed out. Returning dressed as a lady, he charms the director. Even so, Charlie never makes it into film, winding up at the bottom of a well.” (1914)
• The New Janitor – Free – “Charlie is janitor for a firm the manager of which receives a threatening note about his gambling debts. He throws a bucket of water out the window which lands on his boss and costs him his job. The boss, attempting to steal the money heeds from the office safe, is caught by his secretary and Charlie comes to save her and the money. He is briefly accused of being the thief but ultimately triumphs.” (1914)
• The Pawnshop – Free – Rich in slapstick, The Pawnshop was one of Chaplin’s more popular movies for Mutual Film, the producer of many fine Chaplin comedies. (1916)
• The Property Man – Free – “Charlie has trouble with actors’ luggage and conflicts over who gets the star’s dressing room. There are further difficulties with frequent scene changes, wrong entries and a fireman’s hose. At one point he juggles an athlete’s supposed weights. The humor is still rough: he kicks an older assistant in the face and allows him to be run over by a truck.” (1914)
• The Rink – Free – The Rink, Chaplin’s 8th film for Mutual Films, showcases the actor’s roller skating abilities. (1916)
• The Rival Mashers – Free – “Charlie and a rival vie for the favors of their landlady. In the park they each fall different girls, though Charlie’s has a male friend already. Charlie considers suicide, is talked out of it by a policeman, and later throws his girl’s friend into the lake. Frightened, the girls go off to a movie. Charlie shows up there and flirts with them. Later both rivals substitute themselves for the girls and attack the unwitting Charlie. In an audience-wide fight, Charlie is tossed from the screen.” (1914)
• The Rounders – Free – Writes IMDB: “Two drunks live in the same hotel. One beats his wife, the other is beaten by his. They go off and get drunk together. They try to sleep in a restaurant using tables as beds and are thrown out. They lie down in a row boat which fills with water, drowning them (a fate apparently better than going home to their wives).” (1914)
• The Tramp – Free – The film made Chaplin’s great Tramp character famous. (1915)
• The Vagabond – Free – A silent film by Charlie Chaplin that co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Leo White and Lloyd Bacon, with Chaplin appearing as The Tramp. The British Film Institute calls it the “pivotal work” of his Mutual period – “and his most touching.” (1916)
• Tillie’s Punctured Romance – Free – Among other things, the film is notable for being the last film that Chaplin didn’t write or direct by himself. (1914)
• Triple Trouble – Free – “As Colonel Nutt is experimenting with explosives, a new janitor is joining his household. The inept janitor proceeds to make life difficult for the rest of staff. Meanwhile, a foreign agent arrives at the house in hopes of getting Col. Nutt’s latest invention. The inventor throws him out, so the agent then employs a thug to get the formula. When police head to the Nutt home to start an investigation, a complicated fracas ensues.” (1918)
• Twenty Minutes of Love – Free – IMDB summarizes thusly: “Charlie is hanging around in the park, finding problems with a jealous suitor, a man who thinks that Charlie has robbed him a watch, a policeman and even a little boy, all because our friend can’t stop snooping.” (1914)
• Work – Free – “Charlie and his boss have difficulties just getting to the house they are going to wallpaper. The householder is angry because he can’t get breakfast and his wife is screaming at the maid as they arrive. The kitchen gas stove explodes, and Charlie offers to fix it. The wife’s secret lover arrives and is passed off as the workers’ supervisor, but the husband doesn’t buy this and fires shots. The stove explodes violently, destroying the house.” (1915)

Most of the quoted summaries above were written by Ed Stephan on IMDB.