Other Titles • The Kid • Il Monello (1921) • Der Vagabund und das Kind (1923)
Synopses for The Kid (1921)
1.
The Kid is one of the purest expressions of Charlie Chaplin's art on film. It unites Chaplin with a boy he had spotted in a vaudeville act, 6-year-old Jackie Coogan--whose life would lead to the child-protective Coogan Act and a role as Uncle Fester on TV. The story has the Tramp adopting an abandoned waif and teaching him streetwise survival skills. The gags are flawless, but for Chaplin the huge advance (other than a running time longer than his two-reelers) was the exploration of a rich vein of sentiment; the emotionally wrenching separation of the Tramp and the Kid is probably the most Dickensian sequence ever captured on film. Chaplin drew on his own rough childhood for the material (and may have been inspired by the death of an infant son immediately before beginning the project). Jackie Coogan's gift for mimicry allowed him to replicate Chaplin's exacting direction, making him the perfect Chaplin co-star. --Robert Horton
(15 votes)
2.
Charlie Chaplin's first feature is a sad comedy about a woman who abandons her child with the intention of commiting suicide. The little Tramp finds the baby and takes him under his wing. When the woman, Edna, turns out to be an opera star five years later, she spends her extra time doing charity work for youngsters who live in the slums, hoping that she will find her son. Eventually, the truth comes out and the authorities take the baby away from Chaplin. He steals the child back, but is soon discovered and separated once again from him. A reunion at the mother's mansion resolves things happily, yet the earlier somber tone prevails, making this sweet and heartwarming story resonate for the viewer.
(15 votes)
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