Charles Chaplin

The Kid

The Kid

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.”

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1921
  • 53 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #799

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1972 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland
  • Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven
  • A Study in Undercranking, a new program featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model
  • Interviews with Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin
  • Excerpted audio interviews with cinematographer 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
  • Nice and Friendly, a 1922 silent short featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Tom Gunning

New cover by F. Ron Miller

Purchase Options

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1972 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland
  • Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven
  • A Study in Undercranking, a new program featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model
  • Interviews with Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin
  • Excerpted audio interviews with cinematographer 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
  • Nice and Friendly, a 1922 silent short featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Tom Gunning

New cover by F. Ron Miller

The Kid
Cast
Carl Miller
The Man
Edna Purviance
The Woman
Jack Coogan
The Child
Charles Chaplin
A Tramp
Henry Bergman
Professor Guido/Shelter proprietor
Tom Wilson
Policeman
May White
Policeman's wife
Charles Reisner
Bully
Raymond Lee
Bully's kid brother
Jules Hanft
Country doctor
Frank Campeau
Welfare officer
Frank Blinn
Assistant to welfare officer
Edward Biby
Orphan asylum driver
Jack Coogan Sr.
Pickpocket/Devil
Lita Grey Chaplin
Flirtatious angel
Silas Hathaway
Abandoned newborn
Minnie Stearns
Woman with pram
Granville Redmond
Older man in studio
Credits
Director
Charles Chaplin
Written and produced by
Charles Chaplin
Music composed by
Charles Chaplin
Music associate
Eric James
Music orchestrated and conducted by
Eric Rogers
Cinematography
Roland Totheroh
Editor
Charles Chaplin
Production designer
Charles D. Hall
Assistant camera
Jack Wilson
Assistant camera
H. Wenger

Current

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