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1921 — September The Idle Class (2 reels)
1922 — APRIL Pay Day (2 reels)
1923 — FEBRUARY The Pilgrim (4 reels)
The initial irony of Charlie's escape from prison in the garb of a minister of God sets the tone of the film and gives full scope to its satirical intention, carried out with a lightness of touch that in no way minimises the cruelty of its ridicule. Two sequences stand out with memorable clarity. One is the sermon on David and Goliath in which Charlie, mainly through his expressive hands, creates for his audience — his congregation — a clear and vivid vision of the Biblical story. It is surely not by chance that that particular story was chosen. For Charlie himself is a David in arms against the Goliath of Society and the myrmidons of Society — the Church, the State, and the Law; and we are irresistibly reminded of this as we watch the extraordinary pantomimic skill of Charlie the convict disguised as a minister. Through the film is the glowing comedy of Charlie's adaptability to the new role thrust upon him, together with certain lapses from it, as when he hangs upon the bars of a ticket-office grille much as a convict hangs upon the bars of his cell. The final sequence of The Pilgrim tends also to be remembered where much else is forgotten. It is in some measure the summing up not only of the film, but of Charlie's whole philosophy of life. Led to the frontier of Mexico by a well-intentioned sheriff who wishes to save him from a return to prison, Charlie is about to escape joyously into freedom, when gunshots testify to the presence of bandits on the Mexican border. Charlie is on the horns of a dilemma. On the one side of the frontier — prison; on the other — mortal danger. So Charlie runs steadily along the frontier, one foot in America, one in Mexico, daring fate to do its worst, and prudently postponing his final choice. This is perhaps the most enjoyable ending of any of Chaplin's films, and one that is typically significant.
1923-1947— United Artists Films.
1923 — A Woman of Paris (8 reels). Released 1st October.
Cast: Edna Purviance, Adolphe Menjou, Carl Miller, Lydia Knott, Charles French, Clarence Geldert, Betty Morrissey, Malvina Polo, Nelly Bly Baker. The opening shot of the film creates its atmosphere. Night, silence, and sadness expressed by a few roof-tops, a wall, a lighted window. The beauty and originality of the film lay in its psychological subtlety and in its simplicity of construction; every effect is made through understatement.