The Kid, a 1921 film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is a tale of a tramp (Chaplin) who happens upon an abandoned baby and raises it as his own. Made in 1921, this film draws greatly upon Chaplin's own experiences as a child, and was a breakthrough for the silent film actor from shorts into successful feature length films. Still reeling from the end of World War I and the start of Prohibition, the United States in 1921 was dealing with its newfound prosperity and stricter moral code on the part of the state. This film helped to prove that Chaplin's comedic stylings could be extended to six-reel films, especially if the story is given this level of dramatic importance and nuance. The political and social commentary present in The Kid deals with the issues of the state imposing its notion of morality on the average citizen, something familiar to those living through Prohibition.
The tramp and John (Jackie Coogan) develop a very close relationship as they deal with the pitfalls of their impoverished lives and the forces that constantly seek to keep them apart. A film that has been dubbed one of the first films to blend comedy and drama into a seamless whole, The Kid is full of moments of both broad slapstick and physical comedy, as well as tearjerking moments of pathos. Through the use of mood, energy, choreography and cinematography, Chaplin's film manages to combine the broad laughter of the comedic sequences with touching social commentary and personal relationships between the characters, making one of the first fully fleshed-out dramedies.
The beginning of the film provides the audience with an intertitle that serves to demonstrate the mood and intention of The Kid: "A picture with a smile - and perhaps, a tear." In this film the smiles (and tears) come from the central relationship of the Tramp and the boy, John. Both of the characters are outcasts - the Tramp is rejected by society, while John is abandoned by his mother. The two find companionship and family in each other, but John is torn away from the Tramp by the unforgiving arm of the State. The rest of the film is a desperate race by the Tramp to get the boy back, as John himself is forced to choose between his birth parents, who abandoned him, and the tramp who took him in and raised him as his own.
The film lives or dies by the interplay between Chaplin and Coogan, and in that respect the film manages to demonstrate a very strong sense of familial ties and close friendship. As the boy grows up, Chaplin and Coogan have a tightly interwoven interplay as they continually scam patrons by breaking windows and then repairing them at a cost. By building up the camaraderie between the two characters, the pathos that occurs when John is separated from the Tramp is made all the more tragic. Coogan's outstretched arms and naked emotion as he silently wails for the Tramp is made all the more effective by Chaplin's subtle look of sadness. This scene, along with the rest of the film, displays an element of sadness and deep drama that, to date, was not present in feature-length films.
The film makes good use of Chaplin and Coogan's stock in trade, which was physical slapstick comedy - Chaplin's entire physicality is broad and in keeping with silent film buffoons and tramps, and Coogan's expressive face demonstrates a depth of emotion that is well suited to his role. Elaborate scenes of slapstick comedy, including the first scene with the baby, demonstrate Chaplin's mastery of a scene, as he constantly attempts to hand the baby off to different parties, only to continually end up with the baby again.
The Kid deals with themes of family and abandonment, as well as loss and regret. Both the parents and the Tramp feel great sorrow for not having the child in their lives. The mother herself immensely regrets the decision to give the baby up, and attempts to do charity work in order to make up for this crime. The Tramp, meanwhile, is filled with grief and sorrow when he is separated from John, and stops at nothing to get him back. The mother, whose "only sin [was] motherhood," is a full-fledged character instead of a device to These moments of emotional weight are made even more powerful when compared to the slapstick goofiness that came before, combining the macabre and the dramatic with the comedic.
The Kid combines comedy and drama in a brave silent film that tackles the oppressive nature of loneliness and societal notions of family. Chaplin's bravura performance combines emotional weight with dramatic underplaying (a rarity in the often-exaggerated acting styles of silent film) and heightened slapstick comedy, while Coogan's childlike innocence charms the audience into sympathy and relatability. Chaplin's own childhood mirrored that of John's - he was separated from his mother at a very young age and sent to an orphanage, making The Kid an extremely personal film as he tries to exorcise the demons that came from his abandonment. Combining Chaplin's personal message with the themes of family, abandonment and loss, The Kid is a personal film that resonated greatly with the audience of the day.
Works Cited
Chaplin, Charlie, dir. The Kid. Warner Home Video, 1921. Film.
