“TRAMPS AND ORPHANS”

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection continues its excellent re-issuing of Charles Chaplin’s major works with The Kid, the first full-length feature from the filmmaker. Released in 1921, Chaplin expanded on the two and three reelers he had been making (a “reel” at that time was approximately 10-15 minutes long) to the six-reels of The Kid (the original cut was just over an hour; Chaplin re-edited it in the early 70s to create the now standard 53-minute version). It’s still a short film, but longer than what were considered “shorts.”

The Kid received high acclaim on its release and was one of the writer/actor/director’s most popular pictures. This was in part due to the presence of young Jackie Coogan in the titular role. Coogan, who grew up to play Uncle Fester in The Addams Family television series of the 1960s, steals the movie from right under Chaplin’s little mustache. At age five, Coogan displays a mastery of acting, mime, and acrobatics that is still remarkable today. He is a natural in front of the camera, and he has loads of charisma to boot.

As for Chaplin, he, too, is marvelous in this story about how his famous Tramp character finds an abandoned baby on the street and takes it upon himself to raise the child. Only a few years later, after he and his illegally-adopted son have bonded and are “partners” in petty crime, does the kid’s mother re-enter the scene.

Another aspect that set The Kid apart from previous Chaplin entries was his reliance more on drama than comedy. There is no question that he infused his comedies with pathos from the very beginning, but his last several shorts for the First National Company (his distributor at the time) were “dramadies.” As the opening title of The Kid reads: “A picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.” My father, who had seen the film in the 1920s, recalled how there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the authorities take Coogan away from Chaplin and the boy is crying and reaching out to his “dad.”

Criterion delivers another superb-looking 4K digital restoration of the 1972 re-release version, also featuring an original score by Chaplin on an uncompressed monaural soundtrack (the score is lush, melodic, and gorgeous, as are all of the artist’s compositions). There’s a new audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland that is informative and serves as a nice complement to the piece, since the movie is silent.

Supplements include Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by another Chaplin historian, Lisa Haven; A Study in Undercranking, a new documentary featuring silent film specialist Ben Model on the tricks with speed used by filmmakers of the period; vintage interviews with Coogan, and Chaplin’s second wife Lita Grey Chaplin (who appears in the film as an angel); vintage audio interviews with cinematographer Rollie Totheroh and film distributor Mo Rothman; deleted scenes and titles from the original 1921 release; a 1921 newsreel documenting Chaplin’s first return trip to Europe; footage of Chaplin conducting his score in Hollywood in 1971; a 1922 silent short, Nice and Friendly, featuring Chaplin and Coogan, made with and for Lord and Lady Mountbatten for their wedding; and trailers. The booklet essay is by film scholar Tom Gunning.

Another terrific addition to the Criterion-Chaplin library. Here’s hoping that The Circus is next!

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