FILMS. 4th EDItION THE KID Baldelli, P, Charlie Chaplin, Florence, 1977 The Kid was the first feature film that Charles Chaplin devised and Lyons, Timothy J, Charles Chaplin: A Guide to References and directed, the longest film in which he had appeared since Keystones Resources. Boston. 1979 Tillie's Punctured Romance seven years earlier, three times longer Eisenstein, Sergei, Film Essays and a Lecture, edited by Jay Leyda, than the typical two-reeler at which he had specialized for six years, and almost twice as long as his other major films produced for First Haining, Peter, editor, The Legend of Charlie Chaplin, London, 1982. National since 1918. The films greater length reveals Chaplins Gehring, Wes D, editor, Charlie Chaplin: A Bio-Bibliography expansion of his comic focus to include more powerful and more Westport, Connecticut, 1983 personal social, moral, and emotional material. At the centre of the Robinson, David, Chaplin: The Mirror of Opinion, London, 1983 film is the Tramp's relationship to Little Jackie (Jackie Coogan). Kamin, Dan, Charlie Chaplin's One- Man Show, Metuchen, New a five-year-old child who has been abandoned by his unwed mother, Jersey, 1984. found and raised by the Tramp as his own surrogate son. Like the Smith, Julian, Chaplin, Boston, 1984 mongrel, Scraps, of A Dog's Life(1918), Jackie is a smaller, alternate Robinson, David, Chaplin: His Life and Art, London, 1985 version of the Tramp himself-a social outcast, defined as illegiti Saint-Martin, Catherine, Charlot/Chaplin, ou, La Conscience du mate by the laws and conventions of organized society, able to mythe. Paris. 1987 survive because he is tough though small, mentally agile though Silver, Charles, Charles Chaplin: An Appreciation, New York, 1990 uneducated, alternately hard-headed and soft-hearted when it be- Lynn, Kenneth S. Charlie Chaplin and His Times, New York, 1997. comes necessary to be either Milton, Joyce, Tramp: The life of Charlie Chaplin, New York, 1998 Chaplin transferred many of the Tramp's traits, as well as many of Turk, Ruth, Charlie Chaplin: From Tears to Laughter, Minneapo- his own comedic skills, to little Jackie. Coogan's brilliant perform- ance, responsible for much of the success and popularity of the film Kimber, John, The Art of Charles Chaplin, Sheffield, 2000 was the first by another performer that Chaplin totally dominated and controlled, in effect creating an alternative Chaplin in a different Articles physical guise(Edna Purviance's performance in A Woman of Paris, Virginia Cherrill's in City Lights, and Paulette Goddards in Moder Variety(New York), 21 January 1921 Times would be three later such transmutations ). Beneath the fictio New York Times, 22 January 192 material in the film one can strongly sense the influence of Chaplins Charlie Chaplins Art Dissected, 'in Literary Digest(New York), own personal experiences-his own life as an abandoned child of the 8 October 1921 London slums, the death of his own first child, born prematurely, and Grein, J.T,"Chaplin as Film Producer, "in Illustrated London the collapse of his own first marriage, at least partially resulting from News. 15 March 1924 the child’ s death. Grace, Harry A, " Charlie Chaplins Films and American Culture Framing the serio-comic study of Charlie and Jackie's domestic Patterns, in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism( Cleveland), bliss, their poor but tranquil existence vivified by love, is material of June 1952 an entirely different sort. The film begins with a sequence on the Brownlow,Kevin,""The Early Days of Charlie Chaplin, " in Film unwed mother's(Edna Purviance) difficult decision to abandon her London) Summer 1964. hild, depicting her relationship to the callous father (a painter who no yons, Timoth Roland H. Totheroh Interviewed: Chaplin longer thinks of the woman)and to the conventional societal defini Films, in Film Culture(New York), Spring 1972. tions of morality and legitimacy(fraught with explicit Christian Schickel, Richard, " Hail Chaplin-The Early in New York symbolism). Whereas the woman observes a socially"legitimate Times Biography Edition, 2 April 1972. marriage that pairs a young woman with an old, rich man, her own sort Carey, Gary, in Film Comment(New York), September-October 1972. of affair is considered illegitimate, even if the action resulted from Lefevre, Raymond, in Cinema(Paris), February 1974 love and not money. The Christian symbolism returns at the end of the Ferrari, A, in Telecine(Paris), March 1974 film when Charlie searching for the child who has been stolen from Monthly Film Bulletin(London), March 1975 him, falls asleep to dream of a more pleasant place where, as in so Salko, S, in Filmihullu(Helsinki), no. 2. 19 many other Chaplin dream sequences, the painful realities of earthly Papson, S, "The IBM Tramp, "in Jump Cut(Berkeley), April 1990. existence no longer exist. In this dream, considered irrelevant by Randisi, S, "The Flirting Angel and the Tramp, " "in Filmfax(Evans- some critics, Chaplin recreates a comic version of"the Fallas ton, Illinois), June-July 1993. a group of heavenly angel-people, including the Tramp and all his Rosi, F, ""Entre Le kid et La terre tremble, in Positif (Paris), no. other neighbors in the slum, fly through the now white-washed and 400,June1994 flower-garlanded streets of a utopian city. The dream collapses and Woal, M, and L K. Woal, ""Chaplin and the Comedy of Melo- the perfect peace turns to bitter chaos when the Satanic spirits of drama, " in Joumal of Film and Video(atlanta), voL 46, no 3, 1994 lechery and jealousy sneak through the gates of the heavenly city. Gunning, Tom, "Buster Keaton or the Work of Comedy in the Age of Although the sleeping Tramp is roused from this dream to be reunited Mechanical Reproduction, in Cineaste(New York), vol. 21, with Jackie and Edna, the dream sequence suggests Chaplin's sense 995 of the fragility and ce of the true moments of human love and Nysenholc, A, ""Chaplin: du reve au mythe vivant, 'in Revue Belge happiness, only temporary escapes from the sordid realities and du Cinema(Brussels), no 42, Summer 1997. painful necessities of earthly lifeFILMS, 4 THE KID th EDITION 631 Baldelli, P., Charlie Chaplin, Florence, 1977. Lyons, Timothy J., Charles Chaplin: A Guide to References and Resources, Boston, 1979. Eisenstein, Sergei, Film Essays and a Lecture, edited by Jay Leyda, Princeton, 1982. Haining, Peter, editor, The Legend of Charlie Chaplin, London, 1982. Gehring, Wes D., editor, Charlie Chaplin: A Bio-Bibliography, Westport, Connecticut, 1983. Robinson, David, Chaplin: The Mirror of Opinion, London, 1983. Kamin, Dan, Charlie Chaplin’s One-Man Show, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1984. Smith, Julian, Chaplin, Boston, 1984. Robinson, David, Chaplin: His Life and Art, London, 1985. Saint-Martin, Catherine, Charlot/Chaplin; ou, La Conscience du mythe, Paris, 1987. Silver, Charles, Charles Chaplin: An Appreciation, New York, 1990. Lynn, Kenneth S., Charlie Chaplin and His Times, New York, 1997. Milton, Joyce, Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin, New York, 1998. Turk, Ruth, Charlie Chaplin: From Tears to Laughter, Minneapo￾lis, 1999. Kimber, John, The Art of Charles Chaplin, Sheffield, 2000. Articles: Variety (New York), 21 January 1921. New York Times, 22 January 1921. ‘‘Charlie Chaplin’s Art Dissected,’’ in Literary Digest (New York), 8 October 1921. Grein, J. T., ‘‘Chaplin as Film Producer,’’ in Illustrated London News, 15 March 1924. Grace, Harry A., ‘‘Charlie Chaplin’s Films and American Culture Patterns,’’ in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (Cleveland), June 1952. Brownlow, Kevin, ‘‘The Early Days of Charlie Chaplin,’’ in Film (London), Summer 1964. Lyons, Timothy J., ‘‘Roland H. Totheroh Interviewed: Chaplin Films,’’ in Film Culture (New York), Spring 1972. Schickel, Richard, ‘‘Hail Chaplin—The Early Chaplin,’’ in New York Times Biography Edition, 2 April 1972. Carey, Gary, in Film Comment (New York), September-October 1972. Lefèvre, Raymond, in Cinéma (Paris), February 1974. Ferrari, A., in Téléciné (Paris), March 1974. Monthly Film Bulletin (London), March 1975. Salko, S., in Filmihullu (Helsinki), no. 2, 1979. Papson, S., ‘‘The IBM Tramp,’’ in Jump Cut (Berkeley), April 1990. Randisi, S., ‘‘The Flirting Angel and the Tramp,’’ in Filmfax (Evans￾ton, Illinois), June-July 1993. Rosi, F., ‘‘Entre Le kid et La terre tremble,’’ in Positif (Paris), no. 400, June 1994. Woal, M., and L.K. Woal, ‘‘Chaplin and the Comedy of Melo￾drama,’’ in Journal of Film and Video (Atlanta), vol. 46, no. 3, 1994. Gunning, Tom, ‘‘Buster Keaton or the Work of Comedy in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,’’ in Cineaste (New York), vol. 21, no. 3, 1995. Nysenholc, A., ‘‘Chaplin: du reve au mythe vivant,’’ in Revue Belge du Cinéma (Brussels), no. 42, Summer 1997. *** The Kid was the first feature film that Charles Chaplin devised and directed, the longest film in which he had appeared since Keystone’s Tillie’s Punctured Romance seven years earlier, three times longer than the typical two-reeler at which he had specialized for six years, and almost twice as long as his other major films produced for First National since 1918. The film’s greater length reveals Chaplin’s expansion of his comic focus to include more powerful and more personal social, moral, and emotional material. At the centre of the film is the Tramp’s relationship to Little Jackie (Jackie Coogan), a five-year-old child who has been abandoned by his unwed mother, found and raised by the Tramp as his own surrogate son. Like the mongrel, Scraps, of A Dog’s Life (1918), Jackie is a smaller, alternate version of the Tramp himself—a social outcast, defined as illegiti￾mate by the laws and conventions of organized society, able to survive because he is tough though small, mentally agile though uneducated, alternately hard-headed and soft-hearted when it be￾comes necessary to be either. Chaplin transferred many of the Tramp’s traits, as well as many of his own comedic skills, to little Jackie. Coogan’s brilliant perform￾ance, responsible for much of the success and popularity of the film, was the first by another performer that Chaplin totally dominated and controlled, in effect creating an alternative Chaplin in a different physical guise (Edna Purviance’s performance in A Woman of Paris, Virginia Cherrill’s in City Lights, and Paulette Goddard’s in Modern Times would be three later such transmutations). Beneath the fictional material in the film one can strongly sense the influence of Chaplin’s own personal experiences—his own life as an abandoned child of the London slums, the death of his own first child, born prematurely, and the collapse of his own first marriage, at least partially resulting from the child’s death. Framing the serio-comic study of Charlie and Jackie’s domestic bliss, their poor but tranquil existence vivified by love, is material of an entirely different sort. The film begins with a sequence on the unwed mother’s (Edna Purviance) difficult decision to abandon her child, depicting her relationship to the callous father (a painter who no longer thinks of the woman) and to the conventional societal defini￾tions of morality and legitimacy (fraught with explicit Christian symbolism). Whereas the woman observes a socially ‘‘legitimate’’ marriage that pairs a young woman with an old, rich man, her own sort of affair is considered illegitimate, even if the action resulted from love and not money. The Christian symbolism returns at the end of the film when Charlie, searching for the child who has been stolen from him, falls asleep to dream of a more pleasant place where, as in so many other Chaplin dream sequences, the painful realities of earthly existence no longer exist. In this dream, considered irrelevant by some critics, Chaplin recreates a comic version of ‘‘the Fall’’ as a group of heavenly angel-people, including the Tramp and all his other neighbors in the slum, fly through the now white-washed and flower-garlanded streets of a utopian city. The dream collapses and the perfect peace turns to bitter chaos when the Satanic spirits of lechery and jealousy sneak through the gates of the heavenly city. Although the sleeping Tramp is roused from this dream to be reunited with Jackie and Edna, the dream sequence suggests Chaplin’s sense of the fragility and transience of the true moments of human love and happiness, only temporary escapes from the sordid realities and painful necessities of earthly life. —Gerald Mast