It's a rugged, filthy, hard-knock life for Charlie Chaplin's Tramp, who barely has the means to keep himself fed and under a roof at night, much less to provide for the abandoned infant he's just stumbled across in an alleyway. Circumstance has put the two together, though, and after using his brain to get through the child's early years, the Tramp's put him to work as part of a slightly-shady window replacement scheme. They aren't exactly living above the board, and the policeman always seems to stumble by at precisely the wrong moment, but they're happy and the care they have for one another shines bright despite the absence of a voice track. Chaplin, of course, was already an expert of pantomime at this stage of his career, but Jackie Coogan, the titular kid, constantly steals scenes from the star with an expressive, densely emotional performance. No surprise that he was born to a family of actors and went on to a long career in the industry (including a role as Uncle Fester in the original Addams Family TV series). A touching, inventive, effective blend of tenderness and madcap comedy that shows Chaplin's versatility as a star and as a writer/director, while getting in and out in a mere 53 minutes.

My first Chaplin film. Loved it!

It's a cute little story and certainly my favorite silent Chaplin movie. The short runtime helps, because normally I fail to keep my attention for longer periods when there's no dialogue. The most impressive thing for me is, that this is more than 100 years old and is still fun to watch. It blows my mind just to think about it. I mean, even The Kid has been dead for 29 years and here I am, still watching this iconic little movie on the internet. That's amazing in itself.

i initially gave this a 9, given that it was really good but that it didn't live up to some of the epics of today. i then went away, and a day later i was still thinking about this movie and how perfectly it had played out and mustered my emotions even without any spoken dialogue. given that i have upped my score to 10. a true masterpiece in storytelling even 100 years later

Who knew that one day The Kid actor will go on to become Uncle Fester in the 1964 Addams Family TV show and Tramp go on have a successful career. The Kid while being a comedy film is also quite heartwarming and go on to show how both of those character become like genuine father and son even if not really related. There is literally a reason why the alley that was used in the movie will go on to become one of the most famous filming location for the silent film era. For being more than one hundred years old, The Kid still holds up pretty well as being Charlie Chaplin early filmography.