The Kid
Charlie Chaplin was already an international star when he decided to break out of the short-film format and make his first full-length feature. The Kid doesn’t merely show Chaplin at a turning point, when he proved that he was a serious film director—it remains an expressive masterwork of silent cinema. In it, he stars as his lovable Tramp character, this time raising an orphan (a remarkable young Jackie Coogan) he has rescued from the streets. Chaplin and Coogan make a miraculous pair in this nimble marriage of sentiment and slapstick, a film that is, as its opening title card states, “a picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.”
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1972 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland
- Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven
- A Study in Undercranking, a new program featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model
- Interviews with Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin
- Excerpted audio interviews with cinematographer Rollie Totheroh and film distributor Mo Rothman
- Deleted scenes and titles from the original 1921 version of The Kid
- “Charlie” on the Ocean, a 1921 newsreel documenting Chaplin’s first return trip to Europe
- Footage of Chaplin conducting his score for The Kid
- Nice and Friendly, a 1922 silent short featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock
- Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Tom Gunning
New cover by F. Ron Miller
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1972 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Chaplin historian Charles Maland
- Jackie Coogan: The First Child Star, a new video essay by Chaplin historian Lisa Haven
- A Study in Undercranking, a new program featuring silent-film specialist Ben Model
- Interviews with Coogan and actor Lita Grey Chaplin
- Excerpted audio interviews with cinematographer Rollie Totheroh and film distributor Mo Rothman
- Deleted scenes and titles from the original 1921 version of The Kid
- “Charlie” on the Ocean, a 1921 newsreel documenting Chaplin’s first return trip to Europe
- Footage of Chaplin conducting his score for The Kid
- Nice and Friendly, a 1922 silent short featuring Chaplin and Coogan, presented with a new score by composer Timothy Brock
- Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Tom Gunning
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Cast
- Carl Miller
- The Man
- Edna Purviance
- The Woman
- Jack Coogan
- The Child
- Charles Chaplin
- A Tramp
- Henry Bergman
- Professor Guido/Shelter proprietor
- Tom Wilson
- Policeman
- May White
- Policeman's wife
- Charles Reisner
- Bully
- Raymond Lee
- Bully's kid brother
- Jules Hanft
- Country doctor
- Frank Campeau
- Welfare officer
- Frank Blinn
- Assistant to welfare officer
- Edward Biby
- Orphan asylum driver
- Jack Coogan Sr.
- Pickpocket/Devil
- Lita Grey Chaplin
- Flirtatious angel
- Silas Hathaway
- Abandoned newborn
- Minnie Stearns
- Woman with pram
- Granville Redmond
- Older man in studio
Credits
- Director
- Charles Chaplin
- Written and produced by
- Charles Chaplin
- Music composed by
- Charles Chaplin
- Music associate
- Eric James
- Music orchestrated and conducted by
- Eric Rogers
- Cinematography
- Roland Totheroh
- Editor
- Charles Chaplin
- Production designer
- Charles D. Hall
- Assistant camera
- Jack Wilson
- Assistant camera
- H. Wenger