Charlot, vagabundo

A two-reel Charlie Chaplin release, with the famous comic hero a "Knight of the Road" and again rescuing a beauty in distress with the aid of his trusty brick, this latest addition to the Chaplin series is a laugh-getter of the first rank. Nearly all of the situations and bits of business are clean, honest fun, and the few seconds of vulgarity which Mr. Chaplin permits himself should be cut from the film. - The Moving Picture World, May 1, 1915

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.

I am very fond of Charlie Chaplin, his films and shorts. And I do love The Tramp. I don't consider it the very best of his shorts, but I do understand its importance and significance, being the short to introduce the iconic character The Tramp. I quite like the comedy in the Tramp. While it is not among the most special or funniest of all the comedy in Chaplin's biography, there are some inspired gags especially the ones with the pitchfork and the bags of flour, not to mentions the bashings on the head with the mallet. The Tramp has a lovely and touching comical-love story and moves along quickly. Some might say that the short may have dated slightly, maybe so though if so I think it is part of the charm, but the photography is very nice with a beautiful and perhaps iconic closing shot and the short is very well-edited. Speaking of the ending, it is one of genuine pathos. Edna Purviance is a cute, sweet and charming love interest, but the real jewel in the crown is the performance of Chaplin who down from his appearance to his mannerisms is excellent as the tramp. All in all, maybe not among the best of Chaplin's efforts but still wonderful and a milestone as well. 9/10 Bethany Cox

'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.

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.