Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

To what others have said about this short's historical importance, I'll just add that the movie is also very funny. The Tramp's seriousness, curiosity, and vanity make this weird prank of a short charming and silly.The movie also drips with cool period atmosphere. I wish more of the Keystone shorts had used this guerilla-shooting-at-real-events approach.

Although the gag gets tedious, I found myself giggling quite a bit at this short, credited as the first appearance of Chaplin's Tramp. There is an auto race at the track, and a crowd is gathered, as are cameramen to document the event for the newsreels. A man become curious about the cameras and begins hamming it up for them. We see this even now when people make fools of themselves for the news cameras, so it is a timeless gag.Chaplin went on to be one of the most influential film makers of all time, a true genius on the screen and this is our first glimpse at the character the world came to love.

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) marks the film debut of "The Tramp". A goofy and slightly odd fellow who ruins a filmmaker's filming at a race track. That silly tramp time after time keeps on mugging for the camera getting in front of the action out on the race track. Not even the threat of physical violence deters The Tramp from sticking his face in front of the camera. A very strange first appearance of one of the most iconic characters in film history.It would be a few more films until Chaplin worked out the Tramp. But his first role is quite interesting and if you love Charlie Chaplin's work then you have to see this short.

There has been quite a bit of debate through the years among silent film fans as to whether KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE should or should not be considered the birth of Chaplin's Tramp. On the one hand, much suggests that MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT was filmed a bit earlier; the most significant evidence being Chaplin's own recollection in his autobiography. However, KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE was definitely the first of the two films to be released and hence introduce the character to audiences (if only by a mere two days--films were made more rapidly back then). Perhaps it doesn't really matter that much, in the end. This improvised little film does in any case provide one of Chaplin's very, very first performances as the Tramp. As Swedish poet and critic Lars Forssell has pointed out, the film has received retrospective interest more or less similar to that given the earliest paintings of Pablo Picasso.What is certain is that Chaplin appears to be more comfortable and playful with this new-found outfit of his, than in his very first film MAKING A LIVING (where he'd appeared with a more typical villain-type of costume). He'd still spend a few months or even years developing the character into the immortal personality we all remember so well, but also if one ignores our own knowledge of what would come later, I believe the potential is very evident even at this point. The plot is perhaps even simpler than the average Keystone-film: Charlie attends the races one afternoon and causes frustration for a cameraman, played by the actual director of this film Henry Lehrman. Many a commentator of the film has remarked that the constant kicking between performer and director in this film may not have been all acting. Lehrman and Chaplin constantly argued, as the director felt this newcomer from England took too many liberties as a performer. The entire film, which was shot on location, lasts for seven minutes, and doesn't really go anywhere.CITY LIGHTS is a far way ahead, no doubt about it. However, there's something about this little fellow, even here. His way of turning up again in front of the camera, as Lehrman is apparently trying to shoot some footage of the actual races, is still funny. I can hardly think of any other performer, at Keystone or anywhere else, who could've done so well with so little material, especially when one considers that few of his colleagues at the company had much faith in him at this early point. His peculiar grimaces and agility make one interested in this little pest of a fellow. Had Chaplin not been in KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE, and marked the film with the Tramp's oddly unforgettable presence as well as historical interest in retrospect, it would probably have been one of Keystone's least memorable efforts, in their history. However, one other notable feature in the film is the fact that it was filmed during an authentic 1914 "kid auto race," with an authentic audience not prepared for a film crew. Some bystanders seem to be uncertain about Chaplin's role; is he part of the crew, or an actual pest? Soon enough, of course, few were to wonder who Charlie Chaplin was. (This review has since been somewhat updated and revised, Jan. 2013)