“A picture with a smile – and perhaps, a tear.”
This simple title card description summarizes Chaplin’s modus operandi quite well. The Kid oscillates back and forth between pathos and slapstick comedy. Unlike other Chaplin classics, the tears invoked by the melodrama actually might outnumber the smiles. The plot revolves around a child, abandoned by its desperate mother to give him a more fortunate upbringing, only to end up being raised by a man equally poor man. The touching relationship between son and his accidental father carries the majority of the film. In poverty, both the Tramp and the Kid still lead rich lives due to the presence of the other.
No comments:
Post a Comment