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The Kid (1921)

Director: Charles Chaplin

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

'A picture with a smile and perhaps a tear' says the opening title of Chaplin's first feature. There's no perhaps about it, what with Charlie struggling to nurture a cast-off illegitimate child in the face of unfeeling cops, doctors and orphanage workers. As always, Chaplin's opulent Victorian sentimentality is made palatable both by the amazing grace of his pantomimic skills and the balancing presence of harsh reality: the drama and the intertwining gags are played out amongst garbage, flophouses, a slum world depicted with Stroheim-like detail. As for the smiles, they're guaranteed too, although the gags don't coalesce into great sequences the way they do in later features.

Author: GB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • jini said...
    Posted on Aug 06 2007 07:45 This is the best Chaplin film,next to Modern Times,mainly because of the brilliant performance by Jackie Coogan and the masterful routines of Charlie,which were nicely pared down compared to some of his other films..
    Some of Chaplin's films do not translate well in the 21st Century.
    The audience I saw it with actually laughed during the first shots,thinking the idea of a poor unmarried lady with a baby,being sent out into the cruel world was uproariously funny. I had to hide my tears.
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Cast & crew

Director: Charles Chaplin

Producer: Charles Chaplin

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller, Tom Wilson, Henry Bergman, Lita Grey full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 5 mins


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