Information about The Kid (1921 Film)

The Kid
Theatrical poster for The Kid (1921)
Directed by	Charles Chaplin
Produced by	Charles Chaplin
Written by	Charles Chaplin
Starring	Charles Chaplin Edna Purviance Jackie Coogan Henry Bergman Lita Grey
Music by	Charles Chaplin (composed 1971)
Release date(s)	January 21, 1921
Running time	68 min.
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English intertitles
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Kid is a 1921 Charlie Chaplin film. It featured Jackie Coogan as his adopted son and sidekick. It was a huge success, and was the second-highest grossing film in 1921, behind The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The Kid is about a Tramp (Chaplin) that finds an abandoned baby in an alley and takes care of him. As the baby gets older, they are perfect together and they form little schemes to scam people.

The Kid is notable as being the first feature length comedy film to effectively combine comedy and drama, as one of the opening titles says: "A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..." The most famous and enduring sequence in the film is the Tramp's desperate rooftop pursuit of the welfare agents who have taken the child, and their emotional reunion. Audiences of the time were deeply affected by the film and the relationship of the Kid with the much-loved Tramp character, from whom they had not previously seen such emotional depth.

Chaplin and Coogan both give remarkable performances in The Kid. The film made Coogan, then a vaudeville performer, into the first major child star of the movies. Many Chaplin biographers have attributed the genuinely close and touching relationship portrayed in the film to have resulted from the death of Chaplin's firstborn infant son just before production began. The portrayal of poverty and the cruelty of welfare workers are also directly reminiscent of Chaplin's own London childhood. Several of the street scenes were filmed in Olvera Street, almost ten years before it was converted into a Mexican-themed tourist attraction. At the time Olvera was merely a nearly-forgotten, grimy alley, and was well suited to underscore the back-alley squalor prevalent in the film.

After production was completed in 1920, the film was caught up in the divorce actions of Chaplin's first wife Mildred Harris, who sought to attach Chaplin's assets. Chaplin and his associates smuggled the raw negative to Salt Lake City, Utah (reportedly packed in coffee cans) and edited the film in a hotel room there. Before release he negotiated for and received an enhanced financial deal for the film with his distributor, First National Corporation, based on the power of the final film. Chaplin edited and reissued the film in 1971, and he composed a new musical score (considered by many to be one of his finest).

Lita Grey, who portrays a tempting angel in the film, became Chaplin's second wife from 1924 to 1927. The elderly Chaplin and co-star Coogan met for the last time in 1972, during Chaplin's brief return to America for an Honorary Academy Award.

Cast and Credits

• Charlie Chaplin ... Tramp
• Edna Purviance ... Mother
• Jackie Coogan ... The Kid
• Tom Wilson ... Cop
• Jack Coogan Sr... Pickpocket / Guest / Devil
• Henry Bergman ... Empresario
• Lita Grey ... Angel of Temptation
• Written and Directed by Charles Chaplin
• Photographed by Roland Totheroh

See also

• List of United States comedy films

External links

• Free download on the Internet Archive
• Scenes of The Kid

Charlie Chaplin  •  • [ e]

Keystone Studios (1914) Making a Living • Kid Auto Races at Venice • Mabel's Strange Predicament • Between Showers • A Film Johnnie • Tango Tangles • His Favourite Pastime • Cruel, Cruel Love • The Star Boarder • Mabel at the Wheel • Twenty Minutes of Love • Caught in a Cabaret • Caught in the Rain • A Busy Day • The Fatal Mallet • Her Friend the Bandit • Mabel's Busy Day • Mabel's Married Life • Laughing Gas • The Face on the Bar Room Floor • Recreation • The Masquerader • His New Profession • The Rounders • The Property Man • The New Janitor • Those Love Pangs • Dough and Dynamite • Gentlemen of Nerve • His Musical Career • His Trysting Place • Tillie's Punctured Romance • Getting Acquainted • His Prehistoric Past Essanay Studios (1915–1918) His New Job • A Night Out • The Champion • In the Park • A Jitney Elopement • The Tramp • By the Sea • His Regeneration (uncredited) • Work • A Woman • The Bank • Shanghaied • A Night in the Show • Burlesque on Carmen • Police • Triple Trouble Mutual Film Corporation (1916–1917) The Floorwalker • The Fireman • The Vagabond • One A.M. • The Count • The Pawnshop • Behind the Screen • The Rink • Easy Street • The Cure • The Immigrant • The Adventurer First National (1918–1923) A Dog's Life • The Bond • Shoulder Arms • Sunnyside • A Day's Pleasure • The Professor • The Kid • The Idle Class • Pay Day • The Pilgrim United Artists (1923–1952) A Woman of Paris • The Gold Rush • The Circus • City Lights • Modern Times • The Great Dictator • Monsieur Verdoux • Limelight Later productions & misc. A King in New York • The Chaplin Revue • A Countess from Hong Kong • The Freak • The Nut • Souls For Sale • A Woman of the Sea • Show People • Chaplin Stock company Edna Purviance • Eric Campbell • Albert Austin • Henry Bergman