Great Movies 100 Years of Film is going to be an interesting book, having viewed The Gold Rush, I’m now looking at the films that came with it as recommendations.

To be honest, I enjoyed The Kid much more than The Gold Rush, it’s fun, dramatic, has some great moments, and has some very nice moments.

This time around, Charlie Chaplin’s iconic creation, the little Tramp, is getting by on the tough streets on his own, when an orphaned child comes to him via a mixed up and dangerous route. Left by his unwed mother (Edna Purviance), who can barely sustain herself, she leaves him to the fates while she tries to make something of herself.

The Tramp comes across him, and after trying, repeatedly to pawn him off, ends up stuck with the young baby, whom he raises as his own.

Moving forward the Kid (Jackie Coogan) is now 5, and he and the Tramp have a little game rigged, the young scamp, and he truly is that, breaks windows, will avoiding the local beat cop, and the Tramp peddles new windows to the upset home owners. It works out well enough that they can scratch out a living, such at is, in a tiny one room apartment.

The Woman has made a success of herself and is giving back to the community, never forgetting the tough times she faced, and does charity work in the Tramp’s neighborhood… until she finally discovers the note she left with her baby is with the Tramp.

There are some really funny moments in the film, including one in which the Kid gets into a fight with a slightly larger boy, and soundly thumps him, but when the boy’s brother shows up, and threatens to thump the Tramp should the Kid win, things get really funny.

Chaplin weaves in a nice dramatic story as well, as the Kid falls sick, and the local orphanage learns of his existence tries to take him away from the Tramp to put him into the foster system. It never forgets though that it is there to entertain, and this one does so in spades.

Watching the Tramp sneak the Kid into a flop house, 10 cents a bed, and hiding him under covers, or watching how he eats pancakes, wrapping one around a brick of butter, dousing it in syrup and munching away…

The little Kid holds his own with Chaplin’s Tramp easily, and there are moments where he could easily steal the film out from under him. Watching him break a number of windows, scamper away, break another set, then scamper back, and then try to convince the beat cop he’s just an innocent… hilarious.

There’s one off moment in the entire film, which sees the Tramp having a dream on his doorstep, already heartbroken that the Kid is gone, and he dreams his neighborhood is a Heaven with folks wandering about in white smocks and wings, until temptation and sin arrive. Still, the way the end of the dream ties back in with the film’s reality is a nice touch, and leads us to the expected happy ending.

I quite enjoyed this one, and am looking forward to see what else Chaplin has in store for me, in the 4 other film recommendations.