The Immigrant
1917 · 24m · USA
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Genres: comedy, drama, romance
Tones: darkly comic, humorous, tender
Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character endures a rough Atlantic crossing as an immigrant to America, befriending a young woman robbed of her savings, then navigates a tense restaurant encounter where he discovers he's lost his only coin.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
The Atlantic crossing sequences and the restaurant tension are Chaplin actually saying something about being poor and foreign — not just pratfalls. Pivot point in his work.
Chaplin transitions mid-film from slapstick boat-deck to social conscience with extraordinary tonal command, and the dropped-coin set piece remains a marvel of pathos through prop. Among the Mutuals' finest.
Pivots from slapstick on a rolling ship to genuine social commentary in a restaurant — Chaplin's compression of empathy into two reels is the technique here. Vimeo captcha is blocking the page so I can't verify cut, but the film is canonical.
Reviews
In its roughness and apparent simplicity it is as much a jewel as a story by O. Henry, and no full-time farce seen on our stages in years has been more adroitly, more perfectly worked out.
The Immigrant is Chaplin's most famous short for a reason — a seamless blend of humor, romance, suspense and social commentary.
Festivals
- National Film Registry 1998, Selected for Preservation