It's really amazing, how timeless this movie is. This is the first Chaplin movie that I saw (and I intend to watch more), I was blown away to how funny it still is, with already 100 years-old! I think that this is probably the main characteristic of a classic (or a masterpiece), it's a movie that doesn't matter when you see it, it stills good. And Shoulder Arms is definitely one of those cases.The humor here is silly, but at the same time is also really clever, and this is my favorite aspect of it. At the end, is hard to judge something that old, I really don't have a clear path in mind of how to rate something like that, so I don't know, I might be being unfair or overvaluing it, so, anyway, you really must see it, in order to see what is your opinion about it.Probably the only thing that bother me sometimes was the score, it repeats a lot, but, again, I get all the scenario behind the production (age, technology).In short, I think that Shoulder Arms is a classic, timeless, and Chaplin is definitely one of the most influential people in film story, if you see guys like Johnny Depp out there today and likes it, you had to thanks Charlie for that.

Charlie is a boot camp private who has a dream of being a hero who goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines."Shoulder Arms" proved to be Chaplin's most popular film, critically and commercially, up to that point. This is understandable given the interesting themes and visual gags. The tree is pretty funny, and the underwater sleeping arrangements are amusing.What I find particularly interesting about this film's success is how it seems to be now more or less forgotten. I mean, of course any Chaplin film or silent comedy fan will know it. But compared to "The Kid" or "Modern Times" or "City Lights", it is far removed... is this now even one of the top ten most popular Chaplin films?

Released less than a month before the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Shoulder Arms is an amazing First World War farce. As part of the "Awkward Squad", Charlie finds himself in boot camp dreaming of action on the front lines. Dug in and longing for home, his character experiences the miserable conditions in the trenches while defeating the enemy with unusual tactics which include lobbing Limburger cheese and infiltrating German lines disguised as a tree. This is a daring comedy in which Chaplin remarkably finds a balance between a parody of the events, and an homage to the soldiers who he was portraying.

Shoulder Arms may well be the first war comedy ever released while the conflict was still going on. Opening before the Armistice Charlie Chaplin pokes fun at trench warfare and German officers from the Kaiser to field officers with Napoleonic complexes. In that it had never been done before Chaplin may well have put his career on the line with its release since the public's positive response was not a given.Recruit Charlie drives his drill instructor crazy with his inability to drill properly. Driven to exhaustion Charlie collapses in his tent but is soon on the front lines dealing with the deprivations of fox hole life. On the battlefield he encounters an arrogant German officer, meets a pretty French farm girl and captures the Kaiser.Shoulder Arms serious subject does not get in the way of Charlie's mirth making. A flooded trench with men sleeping in a foot of water, shooting the enemy and keeping score and the over the top charge to the wire are played for laughs and get them. After a hilarious segment with Charlie camouflaged as a tree the films pace slows a little when he impersonates a German officer and captures the Kaiser. Pace killer that it is, it more than likely must have brought cheers from a war weary audience in 1918.