Charlie Chaplin's first feature length comedy is feature length, but a comedy in name and intention only. The plot, about a drifter conning the daughter of a rich man, is old hat and is never lightened with anything more than a pratfall. Meaning, that you don't find Chaplin mischievous, you think he is a jerk. Then there is Marie Dressler, who is the definition of frumpy and unattractive. She is much more likable, but the fact that we are to believe that she is dumb enough to want to marry Chaplin, undermines all her likability. All in all, not a high tower of the comedy genre, but a fair beginning for Chaplin and the feature length comedy.
P.S. I got this as part of a double disc, four movie DVD pack in the $5.50 bin at Wal-Mart. Charlie Chaplin's Tillie's Puntured Romance and The Kid coupled with Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. and The General. I knew there was a better reason for that bin than copies of Amos and Andrew, Rambo III, and Sheena.
P.S. I got this as part of a double disc, four movie DVD pack in the $5.50 bin at Wal-Mart. Charlie Chaplin's Tillie's Puntured Romance and The Kid coupled with Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. and The General. I knew there was a better reason for that bin than copies of Amos and Andrew, Rambo III, and Sheena.