The Kid

Written and Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Photographed by Roland Thothero
Cast
• Charlie Chaplin
• Edna Perviance
• Carl Miller
• Tom Wilson
• Jack Coogan
• Henry Bergman
• Lita Grey


The movie ‘the kid’ is a real classic. I really feel the movie had a really good story followed by some really good direction. The movie starts with a tragedy when an unwed woman leaves her new born baby in a car hoping that her child will be in safe hands. The car was than stolen and the unfortunate child was thrown in the garbage can. Charlie Chaplin in this movie acts as a very poor person who is unable to fulfill even his basic needs, he finds the child in the garbage can and thus he wants to get rid of the child. He tries to but is unable to get rid of him because of a policeman. However he decides to adopt the child when he reads the note attached on the baby’s cloth. After five years the child is now grown up. He helps Charlie to earn money by breaking the windows with rocks and then Charlie Chaplin repairs them. On the other end the mother of the child is now a star and misses her child more than anything. She donates more and more in the hope to find her child some day. The child is taken to the orphanage when the child gets ill and the doctor get to know that the child is not the son of Charlie. Charlie fights with the police to get the child back. The mother than knows about his son through the doctor who shows the note to her which was written by herself when she dropped the child in the car. Charlie takes the child to a motel. The proprietor reads of a reward for the Kid and takes him from a sleeping Charlie to his mother. Charlie after he wakes up is unable to find his child and dreams to be with him. The dream comes true when a policeman wakes him up and takes him to the house of the child’s mother where he meets him.
I feel the movie gives a strong message to all. Chaplin and the child both give remarkable performances in The Kid Making that kind of movie at that time was certainly a great task. With those limited resources and without use of words being spoken, I feel the movie is still very interesting and worth watching for all.

By: Raza Ali