This was the first movie Charlie Chaplin made under his new contract for First National, and there for the first time he was granted a GREAT deal more artistic freedom in comparison to the many 'assembly line' two-reelers he'd made until then - and for the first time, the ACTUAL extent of his UNIQUE all-round talent shone like a diamond! Once more, he uses the big city slums he knew all too well from his own childhood as background for his lovely story: the little tramp, whose 'home' is a ruined shack without a roof, constantly trying to get hold of some kind of food, eluding the policemen who lurk at every corner, and searching in vain for a job, one day rescues a little doggie from a bunch of big, wild street dogs, and they become - companions in poverty...
They become inseparable, and very soon they find a lovely female company, too: a young nightclub singer (Edna Purviance), who's just been fired because she was unwilling to yield to the advances of her boss - and they become involved not only with a couple of crooks who stole the wallet of a rich drunkard, but also with the money that they buried and that the doggie finds while digging in Charlie's 'home shack'... And Charlie doesn't hesitate to use that money for building a farm for him and the girl - and for the doggie and its family! Well, in 1918 strict Hollywood censorship was still FAR away, and you COULD still get away back then with making your dreams come true with other people's money - and anyway, it wasn't HIM who'd stolen it, and the silly drunk with the top hat surely wouldn't miss it much...
This so VERY human, romantic and inventive comedy gives us a 'first taste' of Charlie's masterpieces which were to come soon, like "The Kid" and "The Gold Rush" and "Limelight"; but still without the 'sentimentalism' that those who are no great fans of his work usually 'accuse' him of - it's just plain, GREAT fun with innumerable moments of incredibly witty and unusual humor, showing the dreary life of the poor, yet also most clever ways to escape it! One of the GREATEST gems of Old Hollywood, which provides ENDLESS entertainment for the whole family...
They become inseparable, and very soon they find a lovely female company, too: a young nightclub singer (Edna Purviance), who's just been fired because she was unwilling to yield to the advances of her boss - and they become involved not only with a couple of crooks who stole the wallet of a rich drunkard, but also with the money that they buried and that the doggie finds while digging in Charlie's 'home shack'... And Charlie doesn't hesitate to use that money for building a farm for him and the girl - and for the doggie and its family! Well, in 1918 strict Hollywood censorship was still FAR away, and you COULD still get away back then with making your dreams come true with other people's money - and anyway, it wasn't HIM who'd stolen it, and the silly drunk with the top hat surely wouldn't miss it much...
This so VERY human, romantic and inventive comedy gives us a 'first taste' of Charlie's masterpieces which were to come soon, like "The Kid" and "The Gold Rush" and "Limelight"; but still without the 'sentimentalism' that those who are no great fans of his work usually 'accuse' him of - it's just plain, GREAT fun with innumerable moments of incredibly witty and unusual humor, showing the dreary life of the poor, yet also most clever ways to escape it! One of the GREATEST gems of Old Hollywood, which provides ENDLESS entertainment for the whole family...