The other day I watched the Charlie Chaplin silent film, The Kid. Now apparently this movie was fairly risky back in 1921, when it was made. In the movie a woman has a child out of wedlock. Today, that is the basis of some shows like Pregnancy Pact, Sixteen and Pregnant, and countless others. But let me get back to the movie at hand.
Not only does this woman have a child out of wedlock but she abandons it in some random vehicle. Now I'm not too sure about this next part, I think they're criminals. They're wearing scary clown makeup and acting aggressively. My assumption can't be that far off.
Well, a different man finds the baby and a comedic scene ensues when he tries to give the baby to the wrong woman. Then when he goes to put it back where he found it a police officer is watching him. With no other option the man he takes the baby boy home. Tucked in the folds of it's blanket is a note left by the mother. It reads something along the lines of "love and care for this orphan child". The man does love and care for it. The rest of the movie the baby is a few years older.
Now that you know a little about the film I am going to discuss things I enjoyed or didn't. Something that I didn't care for was the dream scene near the end. I found it tedious, and pointless. I still can't figure out the significance. Besides that little part, there wasn't anything else I had qualms with.
One thing I liked was their use of exaggerated movement and music to emphasize points. Probably all silent films do that but a I still liked it.
I also enjoyed the humor. You must think I'm pretty sick and twisted finding humor in a movie about an abandoned baby but that's how I role. I'm kidding, the movie was meant to be funny. There was a lot of physical comedy (not like there were many other options for a silent film) that was actually kind of funny. Anytime there was a fight scene it was very well choreographed. I'm fairly certain Scooby-Doo got it's chase scene from this era of film. My favourite, though, was when the one guy had a pillow stuffed in his shirt to make him look muscled and menacing.
Overall I thought this film was good. Had it greatly exceeded 50 minutes my opinion may have changed. I'm glad I was able to watch this classic.
