It is often said that The Kid was Charlie Chaplin's first feature. Technically, this isn't correct. Chaplin was the male lead in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), although he did not have creative control for that film. This can't be said for Chaplin's Shoulder Arms (1918), which at 46 minutes runs slightly longer than the litmus test of Buster Keaton's five reeler Sherlock, Jr. (1924).

But The Kid was more important than any of Chaplin's earlier films, because it launched the career of his talented young co-star, Jackie Coogan. Coogan was the six year old son of Vaudeville entertainers. Chaplin had seen the child performing on stage with his parents, and gave him a bit part in his short A Day's Pleasure (1919).

Impressed, Chaplin made Coogan the title character of his next feature film. This required a legal battle with his distributers, who wanted to pay him for the movie as if it were a short. At one point, Chaplin took the finished film out of state to avoid its confiscation.

The Kid was an enormous box office hit. The combination of Chaplin's tramp character and little Jackie Coogan was ripe for both comedy and tear-jerking sentimentality. Coogan went on to become the biggest child star of the silent era, and later made a middle-aged comeback as a supporting actor on television.

Another child with a feature debut in The Kid was twelve year old Lita Grey, who plays the flirtatious angel of the engaging dream sequence. She would become Chaplin's second wife just three years later, in a marriage hastened by pregnancy.

The Kid remains very popular today with Chaplin fans, but it is not one of his best features. Part of the problem is with leading lady Edna Purviance, whose saintly unwed mother character makes a preposterous transition to becoming an international opera star. She also appears to be a full-time charity worker, leading to a miraculous reunion with little Jackie, whom she had abandoned years before.

Chaplin made some forty shorts and features with Purviance between 1915 and 1923. But her undeniable comic talents go to waste in The Kid. Her virtuous character is established early through heavy symbolism. Her suffering is compared with that of Christ bearing the cross. Another camera shot has her face framed with the stained glass window of a church. (Chaplin cut these scenes from later re-issues of the film, but they have since been restored.)

Fortunately, the action soon moves on to Chaplin's tramp assuming responsibility for the abandoned baby. But whenever comic momentum builds between Chaplin and young Coogan, you can be sure that Purviance will soon show up to spoil the fun. One of her subplots is a romance with the child's father (Tom Wilson), a callous artist. He subsequently courts her, apologizing for his past indifference. Her new wealth and fame seemingly doesn't even provide a motive for his complete transition.

Perhaps someday, someone will provide a count of all the times that Chaplin's tramp is approached by an intimidating policeman walking his beat. This story idea is used many times, not only in The Kid but throughout Chaplin's films. The tramp gets the better of the humorless officers, but there's always another one waiting around the corner.

Charles Reisner was the associate director for The Kid, and also has a supporting role as a stupid bully. The tramp wins their street fight by repeatedly crowning him over the head with a brick, much to the delight of the score, which was composed by Chaplin himself. By the 1920s, Chaplin was directing, producing, composing and starring in his films, and probably would also have been the cinematographer if it had been physically possible.

Chaplin's greatest features are The Gold Rush (1925) and Modern Times (1936). While not as inventive or consistent, The Kid remains entertaining, and is the only feature starring both Chaplin and Coogan. (66/100)

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8