The Kid (1921) IMDB Score: 8.4/10
The Kid (1921): Film Summary
The opening title reads: “A comedy with a smile—and perhaps a tear.” As she leaves the charity hospital and passes a church wedding, Edna deposits her new baby with a pleading note in a limousine and goes off to took their life. The limo is stolen by thieves who dump the baby by a garbage can. Charlie the Tramp finds the baby and makes a home for him.
Five years later, Edna has become an opera star but does charity work for slum youngsters in the hope of finding her boy. The doctor, called by Edna, discovers the note with the truth about the kid and reports it to the authorities who come to take him away from Charlie. Before he arrives at the Orphan Asylum, Charlie steals him back and takes him to a flophouse.
The proprietor reads of a reward for the kid and takes him to Edna.
Charlie is later awakened by a kind policeman who reunites him with the kid at Edna’s mansion.
Review:
It is hard to find such delightful and adorable movies these days as “The Kid”. It is a silent movie but so rich, winning, and beautiful that you don’t need words. Chaplin and 6-year-old Coogan are possibly the most charming pair I have ever seen in my life. The film succeeds in being light and full of joy, but also overwhelmingly sad and sentimental. I always get my eyes filled with tears of sadness and happiness.
And I really never cry in movies. And the music… it’s simply Oscar-level! The movie is sympathetic, full of feeling and touchingly funny moments. It is truly a masterpiece, showing what an extraordinary talented person Charlie Chaplin was, considering this film is over 80 years old! So don’t pass it up because of its age; don’t pass it up.