The Kid (1921)

Charlie Chaplin, potentially the biggest star to have ever come out of Hollywood, secured his enduring and unrivaled legacy with The Kid (he received a twelve minute standing ovation when he accepted his honorary Academy Award), a feature film that managed to seamlessly blend Chaplin's (considerable) comedic and dramatic talents.  Released in 1921, the film costarred the popular child-actor Jackie Coogan as the titular kid and Chaplin's frequent collaborator Edna Purviance as the kid's long-lost mother.

The film opens with a women holding a newborn son wandering around a city without a place to go or a means to feed her child; she reluctantly (and tearfully) leaves her child in a nice automobile located in an affluent area with a note pleading for them to take care of the child.  Through unforeseen events, the child winds up with the Tramp, Chaplin's lovable vagabond, who, after trying to pass off the infant on several people, becomes attached to the child and christens him John (Coogan's given name).  A few years pass and the Kid has become the Tramp's partner in crime and surrogate son.  A doctor, apalled at the squalor the two live in, informs the government that the Kid is not the Tramps biological son and has him taken away.  The Tramp's desperate attempts to recover the only family he has coincide with the mother's (who has become a success on the stage, that constantly regrets giving up her child) realization that the plucky child she befriended on the poor side of town is actually her long lost son.

Chaplin, one of the three great silent comics during the twenties (along with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd), set himself apart from the pack for two main reasons: his being the ultimate auteur (he produced, directed, wrote, scored, and acted for The Kid) and his understanding that gags can make a comedy funny, but pathos can make a comedy great.  His performance in The Kid is one of his best: it is at times incredibly funny, at times tragic, and at times both.  A rooftop chase to regain the Kid is both incredibly emotional and laced with humor throughout, very few actors can do this well, and none could do this as well as Chaplin.

The plot is simple (as is often the case with silent films), though it is both highly effective and fitting for Chaplin's strengths as an actor and director as well as fitting for the Tramp persona.  Hardly an hour long (give or take a few minutes), The Kid may lack complexity, but it more than makes up for it with its raw emotional power and the performances of Chaplin and Jackie Coogan as the lovable ne'er-do-wells at the heart of the story.  The Kid is also admirable because of its economy, there is not a scene in the film that does not forward the plot or develop the characters in some way (though there is a dream sequence that runs a bit long), and in an age of incessant CGI and transforming robots, that is something that should be cherished.

The Kid is Charlie Chaplin's first feature film, as well as being one of the best, most enduring films he ever made, and just about every film he made can be classified as a cinematic classic.  The Kid is, and will remain, a great film that should be seen by everybody at some point, even if they don't really care for silent film.

10/10

Note: This review was previously posted in another blog I wrote.