The Immigrant (1917)

Writers:

(more)

Release Date:

17 June 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Charlie is an immigrant who endures a challenging voyage and gets into trouble as soon as he arrives in America.

Plot Keywords:

Poverty | Immigrant | Dice | Love Interest | Beans

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	Immigrant
Edna Purviance	...	Immigrant
Eric Campbell	...	The head waiter
Albert Austin	...	A diner
Henry Bergman	...	The artist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kitty Bradbury	...	Mother (uncredited)
Frank J. Coleman	...	Ship's officer / Restaurant owner (uncredited)
William Gillespie	...	Cafe violinist (uncredited)
Tom Harrington	...	Marriage registrar (uncredited)
James T. Kelley	...	Shabby man in restaurant (uncredited)
John Rand	...	Tipsy diner who cannot pay (uncredited)
Tiny Sandford	...	The cheater (uncredited)
Janet Miller Sully	...	Passenger (uncredited)
Loyal Underwood	...	Small immigrant (uncredited)
Tom Wilson	...	Gambler on ship (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Chaplin		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Vincent Bryan		uncredited
Charles Chaplin		uncredited
Maverick Terrell		uncredited

Produced by
Henry P. Caulfield	....	producer (uncredited)
Charles Chaplin	....	producer (uncredited)
John Jasper	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Roland Totheroh		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Charles Chaplin		(uncredited)

Art Department
George Cleethorpe	....	property master (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ira H. Morgan	....	second assistant camera (uncredited)
George C. 'Duke' Zalibra	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Toraichi Kono	....	driver: Mr. Chaplin (uncredited)

Other crew
Ed Brewer	....	technical director (uncredited)
Tom Harrington	....	assistant: Mr. Chaplin (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Lone Star Corporation

Distributors

• Mutual Film Corporation (1917) (USA) (theatrical)
• Image Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Madacy Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Koch Vision (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• IC International Classics (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Kino Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)

Also Known As:

A Modern Columbus (USA)
Broke (USA) (8mm release title (short version))
Hello U.S.A. (USA)
The New World (USA)

Runtime:

20 min | Germany:24 min (restored version) | Argentina:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | USA:Unrated

Company:

Lone Star Corporation

Trivia:

According to Kevin Brownlow's and David Gill's documentary series Unknown Chaplin (1983) (TV), the first scenes to be written and filmed take place in what became the movie's second half, in which the penniless Tramp finds a coin and goes for a meal in a restaurant, not realizing that the coin has fallen out of his pocket. It was not until later that Charles Chaplin decided the reason the Tramp was penniless was that he had just arrived on a boat from Europe, and used this notion as the basis for the first half. Edna Purviance reportedly was required to eat so many plates of beans during the many takes to complete the restaurant sequence (in character as another immigrant who falls in love with Charlie) that she became physically ill.

Goofs:

Continuity: An axe disappears off a wall between shots during the craps game. Chaplin originally shot a gag using the axe (photos of this sequence exist) but cut it from the final film, which created a continuity error.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bande à part (1964)

Entertaining Short Feature

One of Charlie Chaplin's many entertaining short features, "The Immigrant" is interesting for the great variety of slapstick skills that Chaplin shows off, plus a few touches of the kind of sensitive observations that would later be such a large part in his best films.

Charlie is one of a group of immigrants on a ship coming to America. The first part of the film takes place at sea, and is mostly simple slapstick centering on the rocky motion of the ship. After a brief scene where the immigrants are admitted to the USA, there is a scene in a restaurant that is one of the funniest in any of Chaplin's short comedies, combining some nicely-timed slapstick with a sympathetic awareness of the kinds of problems faced by someone just trying to get by in a strange and sometimes unfriendly land.

Chaplin fans will certainly want to see this one.