The Kid
Title Card: A picture with a smile - and perhaps, a tear.
Which, kinda says it all.
A smile; very much so. And perhaps, a tear; surprisingly, not this time. Though it has been so very long because I do remember how much I used to bawl as a youngster and for the longest time I couldn't watch this because it was too heartbreaking for me. Even in my twenties, little baby Uncle Fester would affect me every time I saw them trying to haul him away and The Tramp valiantly coming to his aid. Literally, kicking @ss and taking names.
Though a little a curious to the why of not shedding a heart warming tear on this last viewing, nonetheless I was still enamored to The Kid's antics.
During the window breaking scenes when he pulls back to throw a rock and bumps a cop, it was like watching a young Tramp. Perhaps it was simply Chaplin's directing, but Jackie Coogan did such a great job of a child acting like his father while still being himself.
Like so many other Chaplin films, this does come from Charlie's heart, and even more so since the harshness of the orphanage and its offices are drawn from his own childhood while his mother was in an asylum.
There are a number of scenes, where we see within Charlie's heart and tormented memories, looking to right the past wrongs and to win, instead of losing to such establishments.
And he does.
And we love him for it.