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"The Kid" 127
the King," and the rest earned millions for his parents. Only Shirley Temple, in the thirties, achieved comparable popularity. When he reached his teens Coogan lost his "cuteness." After a spotty adult career, he tried vaudeville for which he wore a toupee and is now reported to be part-owner of a kitchen-ventilator company. But his amazing performance in his first film will never be forgotten.
"The Kid" is characterized by genuine pathos — a "picture with a smile — perhaps a tear." A single misstep might have made it mawkish but no such misstep was made. Some touches remind one of Griffith, whom Chaplin admired. There is a similar simplicity in statement, a similar emotional intensity, a similar use of symbolism. One or two scenes have the feeling of "Broken Blossoms." The constructed sets, supplemented by Los Angeles' own back alleys, achieve a rather "Londonish" look.
The two "offensive" scenes sometimes objected to were those where Chaplin peeps under the infant's blanket to investigate its sex, and the humanly handled episode of the moist baby. Certain other of the early scenes, instead, might be considered tasteless or banal: the dissolving from the unmarried mother to a painting of Christ carrying the cross; or her standing in front of a church with the stained-glass window lighting up and haloing her head; or the symbolism at the wedding where, in a heart-shaped iris close-up, rose petals fallen from a young bride's bouquet are stepped on by the elderly husband; or the symbolical book, entitled "The Past," opening on the page "Regrets"; or some flowery titles, typical of the period, mentioning "The Crucible of Sorrow," etc.
Direction and acting, on the whole, are very fine, Edna Purviance's first emotional scenes however, seemed rather stilted even at the time of first release. The photography, although clear, is not up to the best work of the period. Chaplin was still using an open-air stage, with