The Kid (1921)
Country: US
Technical: bw 68m (21fps)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance
Synopsis:
A tramp adopts a foundling, whose actress mother has left a note imploring that he be shown 'care and love'.
Review:
Chaplin's delightful 'kid's picture' showcases an affectingly bonded on and off-screen relationship between the director and his child star. Albeit overshadowed by Coogan's subsequent misfortune at the hands of his spendthrift mother and stepfather, the boy's winning charm and wholesome cuteness left a lasting impression on audiences, ensuring him other roles. Meanwhile Chaplin's direction bears the hallmarks of his growing perfectionism, every shot beautifully composed, gags exhaustively rehearsed and performances minutely controlled. It is questionable whether the climactic heavenly dream sequence adds much to the movie, but it fills in time over an inevitably wordy 'catch-up' between mother and child. In 1971 Chaplin composed a score for the picture, setting the seal on a supremely polished piece of cinema which performs a social function at the same time as it entertains, even one hundred years later.
Country: US
Technical: bw 68m (21fps)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance
Synopsis:
A tramp adopts a foundling, whose actress mother has left a note imploring that he be shown 'care and love'.
Review:
Chaplin's delightful 'kid's picture' showcases an affectingly bonded on and off-screen relationship between the director and his child star. Albeit overshadowed by Coogan's subsequent misfortune at the hands of his spendthrift mother and stepfather, the boy's winning charm and wholesome cuteness left a lasting impression on audiences, ensuring him other roles. Meanwhile Chaplin's direction bears the hallmarks of his growing perfectionism, every shot beautifully composed, gags exhaustively rehearsed and performances minutely controlled. It is questionable whether the climactic heavenly dream sequence adds much to the movie, but it fills in time over an inevitably wordy 'catch-up' between mother and child. In 1971 Chaplin composed a score for the picture, setting the seal on a supremely polished piece of cinema which performs a social function at the same time as it entertains, even one hundred years later.
Country: US
Technical: bw 68m (21fps)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance
Synopsis:
A tramp adopts a foundling, whose actress mother has left a note imploring that he be shown 'care and love'.
Review:
Chaplin's delightful 'kid's picture' showcases an affectingly bonded on and off-screen relationship between the director and his child star. Albeit overshadowed by Coogan's subsequent misfortune at the hands of his spendthrift mother and stepfather, the boy's winning charm and wholesome cuteness left a lasting impression on audiences, ensuring him other roles. Meanwhile Chaplin's direction bears the hallmarks of his growing perfectionism, every shot beautifully composed, gags exhaustively rehearsed and performances minutely controlled. It is questionable whether the climactic heavenly dream sequence adds much to the movie, but it fills in time over an inevitably wordy 'catch-up' between mother and child. In 1971 Chaplin composed a score for the picture, setting the seal on a supremely polished piece of cinema which performs a social function at the same time as it entertains, even one hundred years later.