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The Kid (1921)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Charles Chaplin (writer)
Release Date:
6 February 1921 (USA)
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Tagline:
This is the great film he has been working on for a whole year more
Plot:
The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy. full summary | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Classic Ten - Best of the Big-Screen Brats
(From amctv - Future of Classic: Classic Ten. 24 March 2009, 10:00 PM, PDT)
I'm Not a Huge Charles Chaplin Fan but...
(From Rope Of Silicon. 2 February 2009, 12:41 AM, PST)
(From amctv - Future of Classic: Classic Ten. 24 March 2009, 10:00 PM, PDT)
I'm Not a Huge Charles Chaplin Fan but...
(From Rope Of Silicon. 2 February 2009, 12:41 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Charlie Finds a Son
more (52 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Carl Miller | ... | The Man |
| Edna Purviance | ... | The Woman |
| Jackie Coogan | ... | The Kid (as Jack Coogan) |
 | Charles Chaplin | ... | A Tramp (as Charlie Chaplin) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
68 min | 50 min (1971 edit with new Chaplin score) | Germany:54 min
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Certification:
Spain:T |
Portugal:M/6 |
South Korea:All |
Argentina:Atp |
Australia:G |
Denmark:7 (2003) |
Norway:A |
Sweden:Btl |
UK:U |
West Germany:o.Al.
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The shooting ratio (the amount of material shot:what appears in the final film) is 53:1, far higher than any other Charles Chaplin film.
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Goofs:
Continuity: During the fight scene with the Bully, the unconscious police man on the ground changes position in between shots.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#31.1)" (2004)
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FAQ
A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERSmore
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THE KID (First National Pictures, 1921), a comedy-drama written, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), plays an important part his screen career. Aside from Chaplin being cast opposite Marie Dressler in TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1914), a Mack Sennett production hailed as the first feature length comedy, THE KID starts off Chaplin with a whole new cycle of feature length comedies, but releases coming once every two to three years. A comic genius who got his start appearing in comedy shorts (ranging from 10 to 20 minutes time frames) beginning in 1914, first under the direction of Mack Sennett, and shortly thereafter, under the supervision and direction of himself, Chaplin's methods in movie making would improve with each passing film. Like himself, Jackie Coogan, Chaplin's littlest co-star and title character, made such an impression with his initial performance, nearly upstaging his impresario, that he immediately found himself starring in movies on his own, becoming Hollywood's first important child star. According to sources, Chaplin, who discovered little Jackie, was so impressed by him that he originated this story dedicated entirely to both their characters. In fact, this was not Coogan's movie debut. He earlier appeared opposite Chaplin in a 20 minute comedy, A DAY'S PLEASURE (1919), before putting this youngster to the test.
THE KID starts off with intertitles, "A picture with a smile and perhaps a tear," followed by "The woman whose sin was motherhood," titles much to the liking of a D.W. Griffith directorial tearjerker starring Lillian Gish, yet, in fact, might have seemed more logical for a Griffith film than Chaplin's, whose very name means comedy, but in this instance, opens in a dramatic sense. An young girl (Edna Purviance) leaves a charity hospital with a baby in her arms. It is revealed that she is an unwed mother whose father is young artist (Carl Miller) who never returns to her life. The mother places her baby in the back of a limousine and walks away. After sitting alone on a park bench thinking things over, she decides to return to the limousine and retrieve her baby, but arrives too late. During that time, crooks have entered the scene, stealing the car, unaware of the infant in the back seat until the sounds of a baby crying draws to their attention. They abandon the child between some trash bins in a poor district of town where along comes a tramp (Charlie Chaplin) walking by. Noticing the infant on the ground wrapped in a blanket, Charlie tries to pass it off to someone else, including a mother with her baby carriage, but after numerous tries, he stumbles upon a note which reads, "Please love and care for this orphan child," and decides to take him home. Five years have passed. The kid (whose name is believed to be John), now Charlie's adopted son and sidekick, begin a brand new day at work. The kid's job is to break the neighborhood windows so that Charlie could conveniently arrive with his selection of window glass, only to be hired to have them replaced. As for the kid's mother, with the help of the wealthy people whose limousine had been stolen, she has become "a star of great prominence," and devotes her spare time with charitable work by handing out gifts to the children living in poor neighborhoods, where lives the kid. The paths of the kid and his mother meet on numerous occasions, being unaware of each other's identities. Following a funny scene involving the kid winning defeat over a neighborhood bully (Raymond Lee), and Charlie encountering the bully's muscular big brother (Chuck Reisner), the routine of their daily lives takes a dramatic turn when the kid becomes seriously ill and in need of immediate medical attention. When the middle-aged country doctor learns that Charlie is not the true father of the boy, he sends for the authorities from the County Orphan Asylum to take the child away.
The supporting cast, featuring an assortment of Chaplin staff players, includes Tom Wilson as The Policeman; Albert Austin as The Crook; Nellie Bly Baker, and Lita Grey, who would later become Chaplin's second wife in 1924 (but not until death do them part), appearing briefly as one of the angel children in the dream sequence. Henry Bergman can be seen playing two different roles, one as Professor Guido and the other as the bearded lodging house attendant. As for Edna Purviance, a frequent Chaplin co-star since 1915, was as good as any actress assuming such a role, but sadly, never became a major box office attraction, in spite of the help and encouragement by Chaplin himself. To see what Purviance is capable of accomplishing as both actress and performer, simply watch her in a rare leading role in A WOMAN OF Paris (1923), a straight dramatic story written and directed by none other than her impresario, Charlie Chaplin.
THE KID contains many ingredients to make this an everlasting product, especially for a silent movie made so long ago. Chaplin constructs his gags to perfection, as indicated in documentaries about this filmmaker and his movies that center upon his endless retakes and revisions. One in particular being the brief little scene where Charlie is cutting out diapers from a sheet for the infant seen lying beside him in a miniature hammock as he cries out for his milk. The baby immediately stops crying after Charlie directs the nipple attached to a coffee pot (a substitute for a baby bottle) back into his mouth. Another classic moment, on a serious nature, is when Charlie is being held back by the authorities as he is forced to watch his boy being taken away from him. Charlie breaks loose and chases after the truck as he is being chased by a policeman from the slanted roof-tops in order to catch up to the truck and regain his "son." The close-up scene where father and son tearfully reunite is as touching as anything ever enacted on film. (The part where they kiss on the mouth is also something quite commonly found in D.W. Griffith films). The duration of the story involves Charlie seeking a place to sleep, finding it in a flophouse, and hiding the boy under the blankets to avoid being discovered and having to pay an extra fee, while the mother, who has learned Charlie's boy to be her very own after locating her note in his residence, stops at nothing to find them.
Chaplin as well as little Jackie (billed Jack Coogan in the opening credits) display their talents as both funny characters and dramatic actors. Little Jackie is especially cute acting like a miniature sized Chaplin, right down to his baggy pants. Chaplin giving one of his most sensitive performances, is so convincing that it doesn't take away his screen persona as the lovable funny tramp. From this point onward, he would become less characteristic as a slapstick comedian and more agreeable as an serious actor, at the same time, adding more plot and turning out some good laugh-out-loud comedies.
As much as the present showing of THE KID barely reaches the one hour mark, Chaplin includes enough gags and pathos to make it work. The dream sequence where he finds himself in Heaven surrounded by angels might appear trite and unnecessary, but actually makes it essential to the plot which fits into the scene that is to follow.
THE KID, which had been unavailable for public viewing for many years, was resurrected in the 1970s in revival movie houses with a brand new and wonderful orchestral score conducted by Chaplin himself in 1971. It would be nearly another decade for many to fully get to see and appreciate this little masterpiece when distributed to video cassette in 1989 as part of the Charlie Chaplin centennial collection, double billed along with a comedy short titled THE IDLE CLASS (1921). In the DVD format, the two disc set includes rare outtakes and deleted scenes. Turner Classic Movies has brought forth THE KID as part of its movie library, where it made its debut December 15, 2003, during its weekly Silent Sunday Nights, hosted by Robert Osborne, and later in March 2004 when Charlie Chaplin was tributed as its "Star of the Month."
As old as this film is, it holds up extremely well, with comedy timing it's main factor, thanks to both Chaplin and Coogan. It's no wonder Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) became an overnight star with this one film. He was such a natural. This also set the pattern for his future film works which was to at least include one crying scene. In fact, a pattern to many future child stars. Remember Margaret O'Brien in the 1940s? But while the paths of Chaplin and Coogan would never meet again, on screen anyway, without them, there would never have been such a true classic silent comedy-drama as THE KID.