Charlie plays an elegant bandit with whom Mabel has a flirtation. Mabel hosts a party. Charlie attends as a French count (Count de Beans). Charlie's uncouth behavior shocks the other party guests. The Keystone Cops eventually are summoned and remove Charlie from the party.[2]
Chaplin's lost films
Her Friend the Bandit and A Woman of the Sea are Chaplin's lost films, as no copy is 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.[citation needed]Her Friend the Bandit is still considered Chaplin’s only 'lost' Keystone film.[3]
Reviews
From the Lexington Herald in Lexington, Kentucky (June 7, 1914): "'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 (June 14, 1914): "The Keystone players will offer 'Her Friend, the Bandit', one of those rough and ready farces that make everybody laugh."
