7tavern: The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921)

The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921)

Sound (2)
3
Plot (2)
3.1
Cast (2)
3.3
Special Effects (2)
3.1
Length & Pace (2)
3.4
Cinematography (2)
3.1

Director: Charles Chaplin

Awards: -

Synopsis: The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy.

Tagline: This is the great film he has been working on for a whole year

Classification: PG

Release date: 6 February 1921 (USA)

Running time: 50min (1971 edit with music score)

Language: English

Categories: Comedy, Drama, Family

Main

Trailer

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
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Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

2.5

Kid, The (1921)

He may seem innocent but rocks through windows and fisticuffs tell another story...

Genre: Silent Family Drama Comedy

Starring: Charlie Chaplin (Gold Rush; Modern Times), Jackie Coogan (Oliver Twist; Huckleberry Finn)

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin (The Circus; The Great Dictator)

Overview: When our lovable tramp finds a baby in a basket with a note asking that they take care of the orphan, he raises the kid himself.

Performance:

Child actors. They're a double-edged sword. The cuter they are, the younger they have to be. The younger they are the harder they are to choreograph, to teach the delivery of lines and to be believable. Well I think I've found the perfect medium for the 5 year old actor. Silent Film. Give a kid a brick, tell him to throw it at that window, he'll do it. Make him wear an oversized cap and pour copious amounts of syrup on pancakes, he's a natural. No lines to worry about, just keep smiling. This kid is so cute you'll want to kick his head in, Punch-Drunk Love style.
Rating: 9

Cinematography:

Some Silent Films are about epic grandeur or surreal expressionism, a film to remember for art's sake. This one is clean, simple, and with an artful little dream sequence that makes you realize that these guys really know what they're doing, even though they aren't showy about it. This is highly professional by today's standards. Just imagine how good this was back in 1921.
Rating: 9

Script:

Did you know that Charlie Chaplin married 4 times and had 11 kids? He was 73 when his last child was born. Between being given Honorary Officer status from the French for his films and being accused of being a Communist, this guy has led quite an interesting life, but it doesn't end there. After his death someone stole his corpse. It was recovered three months later, but isn't that just a little creepy...
Rating: 7

Plot:

Good times. So simple even your kids will get it, though watching a five-year-old throw rocks at windows and getting into fist fights might not be something for the younger ones to learn just quite this early. The dream sequence at the end with angels flying around (even getting into antics) is a nice little end touch too.
Rating: 8

Mood:

The silent era is unsurpassed for having such a specific look. The styles and manners of the actors reveals a little part of history, and for that alone, this is why silent film is so memorable for me. Charlie Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd set quite a standard, and when you see a familiar-looking silent film, you'll know it's one of these guys who planted that seed in the industry.
Rating: 9

Which one is getting punished here?!

Overall Rating:84% (No Kidding)

Aftertaste:
As a comic, Chaplin's got it. He adds the element of the girl, but he doesn't make it a cliché. He doesn't always get the girl, and I guess being a tramp, that makes a lot of sense, it's more realistic. Seeing the life of a kid cared for and loved, but with the law stepping in because someone somewhere decided that this was not the right life for a child is also a nice political statement, and it's always nice to have a film with subtext, cause then you can call it art... even Chaplin.

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

2010-05-26 05:49:10

eternality_tan
Reviews: 159
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

3.5

3.6

4.1

3.7

4.2

3.7

Kid, The (Charles Chaplin, 1921)

THE SCOOP
Director: Charles Chaplin
Plot: The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy.

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Family
Awards: -
Runtime: 50min (1971 edit with music score)
Rating: PG

IN RETROSPECT
The first feature-length film by Charles Chaplin, The Kid is like the appetizer to a sumptuous buffet characterized cinematically by later films such as The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936). The Kid, as its title plainly suggests, is a story about a kid. Chaplin did not give him a name, so I will refer to him as Kiddo. Kiddo is played by Jackie Coogan, an immensely popular child actor of the pre-Depression era.

In the story, Kiddo is abandoned by his biological mother at birth in a car outside the home of an affluent family. Circumstances arise and very quickly he falls into the hands of The Tramp (Chaplin), a down-to-earth and humble man who lives alone. True to the nature of The Tramp as characterized in Chaplin’s later works, he tries very hard to shun responsibility for taking care of the child. After a series of comical situations involving a lady with a pram and an unsuspecting policeman, he gives up and ends up taking care of Kiddo himself.

The Kid focuses directly on the relationship between The Tramp and Kiddo. It has no other subplot which makes the film a “simple-minded” endeavor by Chaplin on the intricate bonding between two “simple-minded” characters whom we can clearly relate to. The Tramp-Kiddo construct allows The Tramp to explore his maternal side when he takes on the role as the “mother” of Kiddo. And because his paternal instincts are not strong to begin with, The Tramp faces the challenge of proving his manhood to his “son”.

In a key scene, The Tramp sees Kiddo in a fight with a local boy. His maternal self tells him to intervene but his paternal self takes over as he teaches Kiddo how to fight. His antics are seen by the local boy’s big, always-ready-for-a-fight brother who insists on squaring against him if Kiddo wins (in which he does). The result is hilarious as The Tramp goes one-on-one with the burly man, the sequence itself a prelude to the boxing match in City Lights. More importantly, this scene tells us that The Tramp’s sexual identity tends toward femininity than masculinity as he adopts defensiveness as opposed to aggressiveness in the “fight scenes” in both films.

Many have the misconception that Chaplin does only comedy. In fact, he is equally adept in dramatic exposition. He reached his peak in City Lights in an extraordinary act of balancing the rigors of both genres. The Kid is not an excellent film, but it is a fair glimpse of his talent in this respect. The ending leaves me puzzled as to why Chaplin did not feature Kiddo (as observed in person on screen) in the final minutes. Because if he did so, the Tramp-Kiddo relationship would have been climatically (and satisfyingly) completed after it was separated during the last third of the film. The Kid is decent Chaplin fare, but like I mentioned, it is only an appetizer to greater things to come from the legendary filmmaker.

SCORE: 7.5/10
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Recommendations: Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010), To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), The Visitor

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Last updated: 2010-04-24 11:47:19 by eternality_tan

2010-04-24 11:44:03

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Kid, The (1921)

He may seem innocent but rocks through windows and fisticuffs tell another story... Genre: Silent Family Drama Comedy Starring: Charlie Chaplin ( Gold Rush ; Modern Times ), Jackie Coogan (Oliver Twist; Huckleberry Finn) Directed By: Charlie Chaplin ( The Circus ; The Great Dictator ) Overview: When our lovable tramp finds a baby in a basket with a note asking that they take care of the orphan, he raises the kid himself. Performance: Child actors. They're a double-edged sword. The cuter they are, the younger they have to be. The younger they are the harder they are to choreograph, to teach the delivery of lines and to be believable. Well I think I've found the perfect medium for the 5 year old actor. Silent Film. Give a kid a brick, tell him to throw it at that window, he'll do it. Make him wear an oversized cap and pour copious amounts of syrup on pancakes, he's a natural. No lines to worry about, just keep smiling. This kid is so cute you'll want to kick his head in,...

(Read More...)

2010-05-26 05:49:10

eternality_tan
Reviews: 159
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Kid, The (Charles Chaplin, 1921)

THE SCOOP Director: Charles Chaplin Plot: The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy. Genre: Comedy/Drama/Family Awards: - Runtime: 50min (1971 edit with music score) Rating: PG IN RETROSPECT The first feature-length film by Charles Chaplin, The Kid is like the appetizer to a sumptuous buffet characterized cinematically by later films such as The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936). The Kid, as its title plainly suggests, is a story about a kid. Chaplin did not give him a name, so I will refer to him as Kiddo. Kiddo is played by Jackie Coogan, an immensely popular child actor of the pre-Depression era. In the story, Kiddo is abandoned by his biological mother at birth in a car outside the home of an affluent family. Circumstances arise and very quickly he falls into the hands of The Tramp (Chaplin), a down-to-earth and humble man who lives alone. True to the nature of The...

(Read More...)

2010-04-24 11:44:03

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