History Film / TheKid1921

Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''The Kid'' was his first feature film. It is considered the first {{Dramedy}}, mixing Chaplinesque slapstick with dramatic moments and heart. It was a huge hit and remains one of his best-remembered films. It also made Jackie Coogan a big star at the age of six, making him the first true child star in American movie history. Over four decades after this film, Coogan would play Uncle Fester on the original ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' series. After Chaplin received his lifetime achievement UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1972, he told Coogan "I think I would rather see you right now than anyone else."

* CurtainClothing: A variant where the tramp uses the bed sheet as clothing.

** [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You]]

* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: The evil Social Service workers who want to separate Chaplin from John.

%%* OrphansOrdeal

* RoofHopping: The infamous roof-chase scene in which Charlie out-runs a policeman to try and save John from being taken away.

* LineOfSightName: Apparently. Having resigned himself to being stuck with a baby, Charlie takes the infant into what is obviously the corner whorehouse. He leaves with a couple extra blankets wrapped around the baby, and one of the whores asks "what's his name?", whereupon Charlie answers with "John".

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* ParentalAbandonment, played ''very'' sympathetically, as the mother is unwed (which, back when this movie was made, was considered shocking, especially if you were white) and doesn't have the money to care for the child herself.

Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''The Kid'' was his first feature film. It is considered the first {{Dramedy}}, mixing Chaplinesque slapstick with dramatic moments and heart. It was a huge hit and remains one of his best-remembered films. It also made Jackie Coogan a big star at the age of six, making him the first true child star in American movie history. Over four decades after this film, Coogan would play Uncle Fester on the original ''Series/{{The Addams Family}}'' series. After Chaplin received his lifetime achievement UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1972, he told Coogan [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "I think I would rather see you right now than anyone else."]]

* SocietyMarchesOn: If the mother had abandoned her kid today (like leaving him in a stranger´s car), she would probably have suffered a lawsuit and forced child care for her son anyway. An episode of ''Series/ChicagoHope'' stressed this point, where a young mother left her newborn child in a trashcan. She was deemed unfit to take care of it by rule of law.

Has a place in the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry. Not to be confused with a [[Film/TheKid2000 totally unrelated film]] starring BruceWillis.

* DreamSequence / DreamBallet: A singularly bizarre scene. Charlie falls asleep and has a dream where he's suddenly an angel, and dances with a lot of women dressed as angels until people dressed as demons come in and tempt everyone to evil. It comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with the actual plot, and of course, sealing the deal, he wakes up and the movie continues as normal. Chaplin's longer films often had randomly inserted nonsensical dream sequences.

* ReCut: The original film was 1 hour, 8 minutes long. When Chaplin re-edited it and added an original score in 1971, he excised eight minutes of footage. The principal difference is a scene where the mother reconciles with John's father, a scene that is missing from the "authorized" version but can be found in the various public domain prints.

* AuthenticationByNewspaper: The owner of the night shelter identifies the Tramp and the kid when seeing the [[WantedPoster Wanted ad]] in the newspaper.

* HelloAgainOfficer: A common trope for Chaplin. The tramp encounters the local policeman again when trying to place the baby in the stroller and once again when fooling around with his wife.

* HotPursuit: The infamous roof-chase scene in which Charlie out-runs a policeman to try and save John from being taken away.

* RoofHopping: The aforementioned police chase scene taking place on the roofs of buildings.

This film is in the PublicDomain and may be viewed in its entirety at [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7825676509326646750 Google Video]]. Has a place in the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry. Not to be confused with a [[Film/TheKid2000 totally unrelated film]] starring BruceWillis.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_kid_1921.jpg]]

* OrphansPlotTrinket: The note the Tramp keeps from the mother. It later finds its way back to her, setting in motion the reuniting of and child.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The mother changes her mind very soon after abandoning the baby and frantically rushes back for him, but it's already too late.

* NoEnding: So, what happens next? It at least it ends on a happy note (we can presume Chaplin is at the very least on good terms with John's mother), though there is little resolution beyond that.

* OrphansPlotTrinket: The note the Tramp keeps from the mother. It later finds its way back to her, setting in motion the reuniting between of and child.

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->"A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..."
-->-- '''Opening title'''

!!This film contains examples of the following tropes:

* OrphansOrdeal

This film is in the PublicDomain and may be viewed in its entirety at [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7825676509326646750 Google Video]]. Has a place in the NationalFilmRegistry. Not to be confused with a [[Film/TheKid2000 totally unrelated film]] starring BruceWillis.