The Kid Review

Click here for my previous review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Number 91 on the top 1000 films of all time is Charlie Chaplin's first feature-length film, the Kid.  

Made in 1921, the Kid begins with an unnamed, unmarried woman deciding to abandon her newborn child in a car.  The car is stolen and the thieves leave the baby on the street.  The Tramp (Charlie chaplin) finds it and takes him in.  Five years later, the Tramp and the kid (Jackie Coogan) have formed a father, son relationship.

This is the first Charlie Chaplin film I've seen since The Great Dictator and the first silent film since Modern Times, and it was classic Chaplin.  Ture, it definitely wasn't laugh a minute, I've never found Chaplin hilarious, but it did have its moments.  Chaplin's comic timing and physical comedy were great especially the scenes with the Tramp and the Bully.  Chaplin and Coogan's onscreen relationship was also great, made so by how the two had a great off-camera relationship.  I read that this was because that Jackie Coogan was very much a surrogate son for Chaplin who had lost his own son only days before.

Chaplin described this film as "a picture with a smile- and perhaps, a tear," and whilst it was funny in places, it was also emotional.  The saddest moment is when the kid is taken away from the Tramp, due to how he was lying about being the boy's father.  This scene was done well and the Tramp's anguish was evident, as is the Kid's.  He put up a good fight to stop them from taking away his son and why shouldn't he?

My criticism with this film would my usual criticism with Chaplin films.  It just wasn't engaging throughout, due its very nature as a silence film.  As a culturally ignorant millennial, I'm used to witty dialogue and a catchy soundtrack.  Although to be strictly fair, this wasn't the fault of The Kid per se, but more how it was made before any strict copyright laws.  THis means it is in the public domain and free to be edited, chopped and changed by whoever deemed fit.  Whoever credited the bootlegged version I was watching had decided to delete the soundtrack.

However, we're still early in the list and I amy come across a Charlie Chaplin film that completely changes my mind.