The Kid
“A picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.”
About The Kid
An unmarried mother, played by Edna Purviance, leaves her newborn in a limousine with a note asking the owner to care for the child. Thieves steal the car and dump the baby in an alley. Charlie Chaplin's Tramp finds him, fails to pass him on, and keeps him. Five years later the boy, played by Jackie Coogan, breaks windows so the Tramp can show up as a glazier and be paid to fix them. When the county takes the sick child for an orphanage, the Tramp fights the truck and gets him back. The mother, now a successful performer, recognizes the note. She takes in both of them.
Cast & crew
More about The Kid
Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and edited it, and plays the Tramp. Roland Totheroh photographed it. First National distributed it. He previewed a cut for First National executives, then took 50 percent of the box office after the company's $1.5 million advance and got the film back after five years. Shooting ran through 1919 and 1920. The premiere was at Carnegie Hall on January 21, 1921. The United States release was February 6, 1921. The original cut is 68 minutes.
Themes
Background
First National had been paying Chaplin for two-reel comedies. The Kid was the feature he forced through that contract.
In film history
The Library of Congress placed it on the National Film Registry in 2011.
Making
Chaplin used a private screening of the unfinished feature to change his First National deal before he would release it.
Audiences
It was a large commercial hit and the second-highest-grossing film of 1921.
Look
Roland Totheroh photographed the alley, the rooftop chase after the orphanage wagon, and the dream.
Music
Silent on first release, with English intertitles. Chaplin composed and recorded a score for the 1972 reissue.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 2011. The original cut is 68 minutes. Chaplin's 1972 reissue runs 53 minutes. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- It is Chaplin's first feature as a director.
- The alley used near Hollywood and Cahuenga was later named Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley.
- For the 1972 reissue Chaplin cut scenes he thought too sentimental and recorded a new score. That version runs 53 minutes.
- It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1921.
- A U.S. rental figure of $2,500,000 has also been listed beside the $5,450,000 gross.
Scenes
- The boy smashes a window and the Tramp arrives with new glass.
- The Tramp fights the orphanage driver and pulls the boy off the truck.
- In the dream, the slum has wings and the fight starts again among angels.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Kid (1921).webm)
