Der Tramp

Of course, Chaplin's early career is over-flowing with famous short comedies, but The Tramp is probably one of the most well-known of the early two-reelers, especially since it is one of the most direct studies of the famous character after whom the film is named. A lot of the Keystone and Essanay films have dated pretty badly, and The Tramp is no exception. Many people may find a lot of the plot confusing or pointless, just random slapstick comedy, although I have a feeling that some of it was not meant to be much more than that.

It starts out with the tramp wandering down a dusty road, soon knocked over by the gusts of wind created by two speeding cars, only to pick himself up and dusts his wildly over-sized pants off with the handy little brush that he carries with him, apparently for just such an occasion. There are some clever an amusing sight gags involving things like a pitchfork and huge bags of flour and lot of mallets to the head, but not much in the slapstick department that is entirely memorable.

What the film is more famous for is certain elements of the tramp's personality that we learn here, such as his efforts to be proper and presentable despite being broke and wearing pants big enough for two or three of him, along with a jacket that's too small. We also see him protecting a young woman from the bullies of several oafish men, each of whom could easily have brained the little fellow (as Chaplin later lovingly called him), except that he is too smart for them.

The film is most memorable for the closing shot, however. Things don't go as planned, we are not given a happily ever after ending, and the movie closes with the tramp again wandering alone down a dusty road, at first seemingly depressed, until after a second or two, he perks up and all but dances down the road. He didn't get what he wanted and he's still poor and lonely, but he faces his life with a smile and seems like he's off to make the best of it. In a lot of ways, that sums up one of the recurring themes that Chaplin espoused throughout his lengthy career.

Smile.

This film is pretty typical of the earlier incarnation of The Little Tramp character. Charlie is a hobo and is drawn to helping a lady who is being harassed by bad hobos intent on stealing her money. At first, Charlie is somewhat inclined to do the same thing (something the earlier Tramp shorts might have had Charlie doing and something the later version never would have even thought of doing). But very quickly he realizes this is wrong and devotes much of the movie helping her. The Tramp thinks that the girl is in love with him so he sticks around even after the evil hobos have departed. However, eventually he discovers she actually has a boyfriend and so he excuses himself from her life--leaving a note to that effect. In effect, this script is an early version of Chaplin's full-length film, THE CIRCUS--where Charlie again is in love with a young lady who he helps from danger but he eventually walks away when he realizes she loves another. Nice stuff and a good introduction to this character.

'The Tramp' is Charles Chaplin's first great cinematic achievement. Not only because here we see The Little Tramp first time in the way the audiences love him now but it is a very well put together movie overall. The story is great and the setting up of the scenes is good. While watching Chaplin's works (almost) chronologically it is good to see how he progresses - leaving the rough slapstick out and concentrating more on the storytelling and the subtlety of the visual gags. One can say that 'The Tramp' is a milestone in Charles Chaplin's career.

Chaplin's favorite character and one of the world's most indelible images is introduced in this movie, The tramp. Chaplin also sets up the theme that recurs in all of his best movies, the thing that man will do for love, whether real or imagined. It is a well known fact, that man is essentially a slave to woman, to her whims, fantasies, and urgings. It is what creates the love that is often opaque in the brusqueness and machoism that beguiles the maturity of man. Chaplin knew this and studied and exacerbated it in his movies, id est to ask the question; What is a man? What is a man without a woman? The yin and yang of the two creates humanity, so to speak. In this movie, he rescues a farmer's daughter from a bunch of thugs, and is brought by the woman home to the farm where he gets a job from her father. He stays because he loves the woman but does she love him? The melancholy of this movie eschews the laughs for the audience and the ordeals that Chaplin endures for her approval. A funny and touching movie.

This is the short feature in which Chaplin introduced his famous "Tramp" character, and it would be worth watching for that alone. The character is pretty well-defined, and is already recognizable as the one who would appear in many later films. The movie itself is pretty good, although not one of Chaplin's best, and it features the kinds of material that Chaplin would soon afterward learn to film as well as anyone of his time.

The story takes "The Tramp" through a series of events, from his desperate efforts to scratch up some food, to finding a sympathetic family, to facing up to his lot in life. It has some good comic moments, a little bit of excitement, and also some worthwhile thoughtful moments, just as in all of Chaplin's best movies. Here, the main thing keeping it from being better is that the best material is interspersed with some more routine sequences.

On the whole, there's certainly enough to make it worth watching in itself, and it is also one that all Chaplin fans will want to see so that they can watch the origins of Charlie's trademark role.