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| Rating: |
   
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| Run Time: |
20 min |
| MPAA Rating: |
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| Released: |
1917 |
| Directors: |
Charles Chaplin
|
| Genre/Type: |
Comedy
Slapstick
Romantic Comedy
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| Producers: |
Charles Chaplin
|
Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Charles Chaplin's next-to-last Mutual Studios 2-reeler is as funny as his other 11 Mutual entries, though there's a stronger inner lining of poignancy. En route by boat from an unnamed country, immigrant Chaplin tries to make the best of the nausea-inducing rough seas. He then befriends fellow emigree
Edna Purviance and her ailing mother. Months pass: Chaplin meets Purviance in a restaurant. Quickly ascertaining that her mother has died, Chaplin appoints himself Purviance's protector. He even promises to pay for the meal; after all, he's just found a silver dollar on the street. But when the dollar lands on the ground with a leadlike thud, Chaplin realizes he's as broke as ever--and now he's at the mercy of blood-in-his-eye headwaiter
Eric Campbell. But fortune smiles on Chaplin and Purviance when a famous artist decides to hire the girl as his model. Chaplin negotiates an excellent contract for his bride-to-be, and everything comes up roses.
| Actors |
Character |
Born |
| Charles Chaplin |
Immigrant |
Apr 16, 1889 in London, England |
| Eric Campbell |
Head Waiter |
|
| Edna Purviance |
Immigrant |
Oct 21, 1894 in Lovelock, Paradise Valley, NV |
| Henry Bergman |
The Artist |
|
| Albert Austin |
A Diner |
Dec 13, 1881 in Birmingham, UK |
| Gertrude Keller |
Walton's Housekeeper |
|
| Stanley "Tiny" Sandford |
Gambler on Ship |
|
| Valeska Suratt |
Masha |
Jun 28, 1882 in Terre Haute, IN |
| Jane Wolff |
Olga |
|
| Frank J. Coleman |
Ship's Officer and Restaurant Owner |
|
| John Rand |
Tipsy Diner Who Cannot Pay |
Nov 19, 1871 in New Haven, CT |
| Kitty Bradbury |
Her Mother |
|
| Raymond Hatton |
Munsing |
Jul 7, 1887 in Red Oak, IA |
| James T. Kelly |
Shabby man in Restaurant |
|
| Loyal Underwood |
Small Immigrant |
|
| Theodore Roberts |
J.J. Walton |
Oct 2, 1861 in San Francisco, CA |
The Little Tramp comes to America in
Charles Chaplin's two-reeler Mutual film The Immigrant (1917), an early, astute combination of social satire and straight comedy. Casting a critical eye on Lady Liberty rhetoric about welcoming the huddled masses, Chaplin pointedly contrasts symbols of American freedom with the reality suffered by the Tramp and his fellow poverty-stricken arrivals, as they are roped in like cattle and treated roughly by immigration authorities. At the same time, Chaplin mines humor out of the Tramp's refusal to be brought low, whether he's fishing amid seasick travelers, negotiating the perilously rocking boat, fending off an arrogant waiter, or finding love with
Edna Purviance. Chaplin's technical restraint let his mime and sly visual compositions speak for themselves. Chaplin was already a star from his work for
Mack Sennett and a seasoned director from his Essanay shorts, but his twelve shorts for Mutual turned him into an international superstar; The Immigrant and
Easy Street (1916) presaged the social commentary of such later Chaplin features as
The Kid (1921) and
The Gold Rush (1925).