Rent The Kid (1921)

4.0 of 5 from 119 ratings
0h 50min
Rent The Kid Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
One heaves rocks through windows. The other happens by in the nick of time to offer his services as an expert window repairman. It's a system that works. So does everything else about this beloved Charlie Chaplin classic whose blend of laughs and pathos changed the notion of what a screen comedy could be. For the first time as a filmmaker, Chaplin stepped into feature-length storytelling with this tale of the down-but-never-out Tramp (Chaplin) and the adorable ragamuffin (6-year-old Jackie Coogan) who, rescued as a foundling and raised in the School of Hard Knocks by the Tramp, is this inseparable sidekick.
Memorable scenes include a lesson in table manners, the bully brawl and the Tramp's angelic dream.
Actors:
, , , , , Beulah Bains, , , , , , , Frances Cochran, Elsie Codd, , Estelle Cook, Lillian Crane, Philip D'Oench, Dan Dillon,
Directors:
Writers:
Charles Chaplin
Studio:
Warner
Genres:
Classics
Collections:
10 Films to Watch if You Like: Limelight, All the Twos: 1902-62, All You Need to Know About Dump Month Movies, Cinema Paradiso's 2022 Centenary Club, Films to Watch If You Like..., Holidays Film Collection, Romantic Film Pairings for Valentine's Day, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Cycling Films, Top Films
BBFC:
Release Date:
22/09/2003
Run Time:
50 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono, English Dolby Digital 5.1, Silent
Subtitles:
Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
Bonus:
  • Introduction by David Robinson - Chaplin's biographer discusses the historical and cinematic context of the film
  • Chaplin Today: the Kid - Documentary by Alain Bergala with the participation of the renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami
  • Scenes Deleted in 1971 - Three scenes developing the role of the Kid's mother played by Edna Purviance, which were deleted by Chaplin from the film for the 1971 reissue
  • How to Make Movies (1918) - A film in which Chaplin shows the building of his new studio, and how movies are made there
  • My Boy (1921) - A later film starring Jackie Coogan in a role closer to that of The Kid
  • Jackie Coogan Dances (1920) - Jackie Coogan performs an impromptu dance for visitors at the Chaplin studios
  • Nice and Friendly (1922) - A home movie with Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Jackie Coogan and Charles Chaplin
  • Charlie on the Ocean (1921) - Newsreel footage of Charles Chaplin's first trip back to Europe
  • Jackie Coogan in Paris - Jackie Coogan in Paris during a charity fund-raising trip
  • Recording the new Score - Footage of Charles Chaplin conducting a section of his new score for The Kid
  • Photo Gallery - Production stills and photos of Jackie Coogan
  • Film Posters
  • Trailers
  • The Chaplin Collection
Disc 1:
This disc includes the main feature
Disc 2:
This disc includes the special features
BBFC:
Release Date:
10/05/2010
Run Time:
60 minutes
Languages:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Silent
Subtitles:
English
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
Bonus:
  • Introduction by David Robinson (6 mins)
  • Chaplin Today: The Kid - documentary (26 mins)
  • Scenes deleted for 1971 release (6 mins)
  • Recording the new score (1971) (2 mins)
  • Jackie Coogan dances (1920) (2 mins)
  • Nice and Friendly (1922) - featuring Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Jackie Coogan and Chaplin (11 mins)
  • Photo Gallery
  • Chaplin Trailer Reel
Disc 1:
This disc includes the main feature
Disc 2:
This disc includes the main feature in standard definition and special features

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Reviews (2) of The Kid

Chaplin in transition between shorts and features - The Kid review by RJ

Spoiler Alert
28/08/2019

Regarding Chaplin in general: I bought the Curzon Artifical Eye blu-ray collection of Chaplin films a few months ago on a whim after watching a documentary about him and have been trying to work through them. The trouble is, I'm just not sure if Chaplin is really for me. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but there is something about him that I find a little bit off-putting. I don't find him inherently funny, I find that I have to make an effort to engage with his style of humour. I haven't seen enough of Buster Keaton to make a fair comparison, but what I have seen (Sherlock Jr, for example) I just found immediately and effortlessly funny - properly, laugh-out-loud funny. Ditto Laurel and Hardy. With Chaplin's films I smile occasionally but very rarely actually laugh.

Regarding The Kid specifically: I would say it is almost-but-not-quite a feature film. I think it runs to about 53 minutes (this is the 1971 re-release), but if you take away the superfluous dream sequence which makes up the last part of the film it would be somewhere around 45 minutes. There's nothing particularly wrong with the dream sequence in itself, and a lot of people love it apparently, I just don't think it belongs in this film. The tone of it is very different to the rest of the film and I have not been able to come up with anything other than very tenuous arguments for it having a thematic resonance with the film as a whole either. It's also slightly troubling that the sequence features a 12 year old Lita Grey made up to look older and play a 'vamp', given that Chaplin started sleeping with her when she was 15. But - I don't want to get tangled up in the separating-art-from-artists debate. After the dream sequence the film ends abruptly with a tagged on happy ending.

Like most of what I have seen of Chaplin's work, The Kid is mildly amusing in places and quite sentimental. I feel compelled in almost every review I write to restate that I am not a film expert - I know a little bit about a lot of things when it comes to cinema. People with far greater knowledge than I could explain the importance of this film in the context of cinema... all I do know is that F.W. Murnau made Nosferatu about a year after Chaplin made The Kid and that (Nosferatu) is one of my favourite films (silent or otherwise) of all time. My point being that there are other films from this era to which I respond intuitively. With Chaplin, my honest feeling is that I find them interesting in terms of film history and mildly entertaining, but ultimately not really to my taste.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

‘Are you the father of this child?’ ‘Well – practically.’ - The Kid review by LJ

Spoiler Alert
19/10/2023

The opening title of ‘A picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear’ sums it up; an enjoyable silent movie (apart from the pointless dream sequence).

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

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