Here is the plot summary from Netflix:
Considered one of Charlie Chaplin's best films, The Kid also made a star of little Jackie Coogan, who plays a boy cared for by The Tramp when he's abandoned by his mother, Edna. Later, Edna has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son. When she finds him and wrests him from The Tramp, it makes for what turns out be one of the most heart-wrenching scenes ever included in a comedy. Chaplin also directs.
Viewing Due Date: 1/31/10
Next Film Released on 2/01/10
Viewing Due Date: 1/31/10
Wow. I'm looking forward to this one as well. It sounds good! Plus, it will be my first Charlie Chaplin movie.
ReplyDeleteThe movies in our film study keep getting better and better. At only 50 minutes in length I wasn't ready for this movie to end. It's a great combination of humor and drama that invokes emotion the entire way through. The acting was superb and the plot, although it could have been complicated, was seamlessly told. You can really see a progression in film production from movie to movie. I'm fascinated by the evolution of the title cards - in "The Kid" they are simple, funny (at times), and poetic at other times. The music is brilliant as well, foretelling the mood for each scene. This was a great movie and I'll give it a 5 out of 5 on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteThis movie blew my socks off. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. It was my first Charlie Chaplin film so I was really looking forward to seeing it and, honestly, had high expectations. They were exceeded. As a side note, I didn’t realize that Chaplin wrote, directed and composed his own music for all of his movies. I always thought he just acted. What a rock star!
ReplyDeleteThe story is quite simple – the Tramp finds a baby and despite his best efforts he ends up raising the child. There are beautiful bonding scenes between the Tramp and the Kid as well as an incredibly gut-wrenching one where a social worker comes and tries to take the child away. Jackie Coogan, the actor who plays the Kid, gave a stellar performance. Also, after doing a bit of research, I found out he grew up to be Uncle Fester in The Addams Family.
This movie stylistically felt different from the previous two silent films we have seen. DW Griffith uses a lot of bird/nature shots in order to tell part of the story – like letting you know you are on a farm by extensive shots of chickens walking around. The Kid felt cleaner, as though Chaplin only put in the most necessary scenes in order to get his message across. It worked. I give this movie a five (out of five) on my Netflix ratings.
Juror #3 - I agree that the movies are getting better and better. I can't wait to see how they progress.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/29/charlie.chaplin.restoration/index.html?hpt=C2
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