Category: 1920s

The Yukon is the setting for this gem, where the “Little Tramp” has gone to make his fortune during the Klondike Gold Rush.  Along the way he teams up with a miner and is smitten by a dance hall girl.

This film is highlighted, by the blizzard that almost blows a shack off a cliff and Chaplin’s famous ‘dance of the dinner rolls’.

1hr. 35min.

A destitute single mother, in a fit of desperation, abandons her baby in an expensive car in front of a lavish home; thinking her son would have a better life.  The car is then stolen and dumped in a back alley on the poor side of town.  The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) finds the child, proceeds to raise him and name him John.  When John is 5 he helps the Tramp with his window repair work; John throws a rock through the window and the Tramp repairs it.  The two have an unshakable bond that is threatened when the doctor tending to John when he is ill, realizes that the Tramp is not his father and immediately calls the authorities.

In this silent milestone, Charlie Chaplin not only plays his beloved “Little Tamp” character, but also directed, produced and wrote the screenplay.  In 1971 when the film was re-released, Chaplin also wrote a new musical score for it.

 

1hr. 8min.