Cell phone discovered in 1928 Charlie Chapman film?

[Valiss]

This video clip from charlie chaplins "The Circus" supposedly contains a person walking through the backround of a scene using a cell phone.

YouTube - 1928 Cell Phone!!

Has anyone read anything on this? Any idea as to what potential items that it could be that existed in 1928 that would be carried in such a manor?

[tideliar]

Rigert Ebert reckons it's Nikola Tesla... :/

[ChenPengFi]

How 'bout one of these?
Siemens 1924 hearing aid

[tideliar]

A weirdo talking to a brick?

[BaronVonDingDong]

The real conspiracy uncovered here is that Charlie Chapman is the real author of all those fake Charlie Chaplin films.

[Obesely]

It wasn't actually in 'The Circus' but footage from the premiere, as seen in the special features of a Chaplin DVD by this Irish indie filmmaker.

Here is the original guy to find it, alongside multiple freezes and closeups. If only we had someone who was able to read lips. YouTube - Chaplins Time Traveler

[Grey Owl]

Who would he/she be talking to? A mobile phone is one thing but to be using it is some achievement. So even if you are a timetraveller (yeah, riiight) how did you also set up a network?

Surely a simpler explanation that doesn't involve Mulder and Scully would be better rather than to suggest time travel. It could be a nutter talking into a shoe for all we know, and frankly, more likely.

[It is Fake]

Good lord the leaps people make. I expected him to say it looks like a cell phone. No, he goes right to OMG the only explanation I can come up with is Time Traveller.

Go watch any movie you will always catch a few people, who are extras, grinning and looking into the camera. Minus the weird way she is holding her hand that was what I thought.

Hell if there was no header to the video I would have thought it was a couple, that were extras, and they were both nervous. He was walking to fast and she was talking to him, looked up and realized she was talking to no one.

Cheng's post has a guy holding his hand in a similar manner.

[Vorpal]

Well, it does look like someone talking on a cell phone, I'll go that far. If I had seen the footage with no commentary I would have opined that someone was trying to make a film look like it was taken in the twenties but an extra screwed up and walked through talking on a cell phone. Since that is apparently not the case we than have two possibilites: something completely innoculous is occuring that just happens to look exactly like talking on a cellphone (I can't imagine what, i'll leave that to others, or the person is talking on a mobile radio device of some sort. I find the second position hard to take. They did have cartoon strips of Dick Tracy back then talking into his radio wristwatch, so at the minimum it is fair to say that mobile communication devices, or at least the idea of them, were in the public's consiousness.

[Chili Pepper]

Who would he/she be talking to? A mobile phone is one thing but to be using it is some achievement. So even if you are a timetraveller (yeah, riiight) how did you also set up a network?

"Can you hear me now?"

[helmutlvx]

If I'm not mistaken, radio communication was accessible around that time period, but I don't think it was in a handheld form. A cell phone is ridiculous due to the satellite and tower network necessary.

This isn't fucking Dr. Who, man.

Why not go with the other obvious idea: Someone was practicing singing. I remember covering my ear to correct my pitch when I used to participate in choirs and voice when I was younger.

[Kintanon]

Silent film actors could call instructions to each other on the sets of the films, in order to not reveal that they were talking, which might confuse the audience as to who was saying what when the text box popped up on the next screen they would often cover their mouths or faces if they had to talk to someone while in the scene in a way that wasn't supposed to be part of the script. That is almost certainly what is going on here.

[Obesely]

For the last time... this was just footage from people rocking up to the premiere. While I think it's still something pretty innocuous, this was not a scene in a film.

[Scrapper]

Edit.

I'm still going with hearing aid.

[Scrapper]

Circa 1928 hearing aids...all held up to the ear for use: