#799: CHAPLIN, Charlie: The Kid (1921/1972)

CHAPLIN, Charlie (United States)
The Kid [1921/1972]
Spine #799
Blu-ray

Charlie Chaplin was already an international star when he decided to break out of the short-film format and make his first full-length feature. The Kid doesn't merely show Chaplin at a turning point, when he proved that he was a serious film director — it remains an expressive masterwork of silent cinema. In it, he stars as his lovable Tramp character, this time raising an orphan (a remarkable young Jackie Coogan) he has rescued from the streets. Chaplin and Coogan make a miraculous pair in this nimble marriage of sentiment and slapstick, a film that is, as its opening title card states, "a picture with a smile — and perhaps, a tear."

53 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2016
Director/Writer



A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film scholar Tom Gunning.

Commentary

Featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland.

Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star

A video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven.

A Study in Undercranking

A program featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model.

Interviews

With Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin.

Excerpted audio interviews

With DP Rollie Totheroh and film distributor Mo Rothman.

Deleted scenes and titles

From the original 1921 version of The Kid.

“Charlie” on the Ocean


A 1921 newsreel documenting Chaplin’s first return trip to Europe.

Footage

Of Chaplin conducting his score for The Kid.

A 1922 silent short

Nice and Friendly, featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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