The Kid (1921)
98%RT Audience Score: 95%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Charles Chaplin’ irascible Tramp is given able support from Jackie Coogan as The Kid in this slapstick masterpiece, balancing the guffaws with moments of disarming poignancy.
If you’re looking for a good laugh and a few heartwarming moments, then you gotta check out Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid”. The Tramp is up to his usual shenanigans, but this time he’s got a little sidekick in the form of Jackie Coogan as The Kid. These two are a dynamic duo of slapstick comedy and emotional depth. You’ll be laughing one minute and tearing up the next. It’s a masterpiece of cinema that’ll leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Don’t miss out on this classic gem!
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
1921
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Stereo
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Aspect ratio:16:9 HD
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 21, 1921 Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2005
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller, Granville Redmond, May White, directed by Charlie Chaplin, written by Charlie Chaplin, produced by Charlie Chaplin, comedy, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Grace Kingsley, Mabel McElliott, Times (UK) Staff, Age Staff, Nick Dawson, Harry Carr, Carl Sandburg, Robert E Sherwood, John McDonald, Graeme Tuckett, directed by Charlie Chaplin, produced by Charlie Chaplin, MPAA rating, The Tramp, The Kid, The Woman, The Man, The Man’s Friend, Edna’s Maid, silent film, slapstick, orphan, adoption, fatherhood, poverty, childhood, heartwarming, emotional, classic, masterpiece, iconic, black and white, original score, Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length feature, little tramp, little orphan, melodramatic, fun, humanly played, Artful Dodger, Bowery bum, tender, literary charm, child performance, breakthrough, influential, warm comedy, personal progression, artistic ambition, emotionally heart-wrenching, child roles, slapstick comedy, political, real life issues, funny, touching, sweet, dream sequence
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jackie Coogan – The Kid
Edna Purviance – The Woman
Carl Miller – The Man
Granville Redmond – The Man’s Friend (uncredited)
May White – Edna’s Maid (uncredited)
Director(s)
Charlie Chaplin
Writer(s)
Charlie Chaplin
Producer(s)
Charlie Chaplin
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (50)
There’s really no classifying The Kid. The best one can do is say that it has all the old melodramatic material, but so jazzed up with fun and with its drama so simply and humanly played, that it almost fools you into believing it is like life.
June 25, 2021
Grace Kingsley
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Jackie, legging it madly ‘cross corners, is almost as good for box office purposes as our own Charles, playing the Artful Dodger to a Bowery bum.
May 17, 2021
Mabel McElliott
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Formerly it was the custom to say that Mr. Chaplin played down to the level of his audiences. Now it is to be hoped that he will lift his audiences up to this new level of his own.
August 5, 2020
Times (UK) Staff
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
The story is only of the average order… [but] the quality of the film lies in the joyous fooling of Chaplin and the Kid.
August 5, 2020
Age Staff
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
Chaplin is, of course, hilarious, but it’s Coogan’s cherubic charm that makes this so special.
August 5, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Nick Dawson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
To my mind The Kid is by long odds the best motion picture comedy ever made. It has more than humor; it has tenderness and literary charm. Incidentally it is the first child picture I ever saw that did not give me an acute pain to the bowels.
March 24, 2019
Harry Carr
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Those constant contenders who maintain that Charlie Chaplin is the master mummer of the movies and the world’s greatest actor, either in the silent or the spoken drama, now have another exhibit to put forward in behalf of their argument.
March 28, 2022
Carl Sandburg
Chicago Daily News
Chaplin, as always, demonstrates the marvelous quality which, in the cinema world, is so exclusively his own — the ability to be coarse without being offensive; to mix Rabelaisian wit with Chesterfieldian delicacy.
October 4, 2021
Robert E. Sherwood
LIFE
The Kid was a breakthrough for Chaplin and for the industry in the way it combined slapstick comedy with the kind of drama that touched viewers’ hearts.
August 1, 2021
John McDonald
Australian Financial Review
The Kid is a groundbreaking and immensely influential piece of work which still delivers laughs and astonishments today.
July 13, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Graeme Tuckett
Stuff.co.nz
There are always critics out there instructing their readers to watch classic Hollywood features because of their significance or historical relevance. With The Kid you should honestly watch it because it’s an incredibly funny and warm comedy.
January 21, 2021 | Rating: 10/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
Every single one of Chaplin’s features is a classic, but The Kid is his first, and one of his greatest in terms of personal progression and artistic ambition — plus, one of the most emotionally heart-wrenching child performances ever put to celluloid.
October 20, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Jordan M. Smith
IONCINEMA.com…
Plot
In Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid,” a little tramp takes in a little orphan and raises him, but is heartbroken when the orphanage takes him back.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The Kid stars Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp and Jackie Coogan as The Kid.
Charlie-Chaplin.jpg
