Charlie Chaplin - The kid (1921)

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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.

Charlie Chaplin`s first feature is a sad comedy about a woman who abandons her child with the intention of commiting suicide. The little Tramp finds the baby and takes him under his wing. When the woman, Edna, turns out to be an opera star five years later, she spends her extra time doing charity work for youngsters who live in the slums, hoping that she will find her son. Eventually, the truth comes out and the authorities take the baby away from Chaplin. He steals the child back, but is soon discovered and separated once again from him. A reunion at the mother`s mansion resolves things happily, yet the earlier somber tone prevails, making this sweet and heartwarming story resonate for the viewer.