User reviews

Chaplin originally planned "The Pilgrim" as a two-reel short, but it expanded to a four-reel feature. When comparing it to his films at Mutual or before, it's evident how far Chaplin had come with his First National pictures: he took his time elaborating and extending fewer gags and set pieces and in developing the plot and characters. His First National films may not always be as continually uproarious as his Mutual ones, but they are, I think, more satisfying and affecting.

"The Kid", deservedly his most beloved First National release, greatly strained Chaplin's relationship with the distributors. He would leave yet another company to continue in his evermore-ambitious efforts. Jeffrey Vance, in "Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema", makes an interesting observation: he points out that Chaplin plays an escaped prisoner in both his last Mutual film, "The Adventurer", and in this film, his last First National release. They both reflect the filmmaker's escape from confining contracts.

There's some light satire on a religious community and parody of Westerns, and Chaplin gets plenty of mileage out of the common mistaken identity device. I didn't find any of the gags particularly memorable, but the hilarity is sustained throughout the film. "The Pilgrim" is, as religion can be, uplifting.

I've only seen this as the 40 minute reissue with Matt Monroe warbling Chaplin's song 'Bound for Texas' all the way through it. There's nothing at all wrong with the tune or the singing, except that it comes on too often and makes you realise just how ordinary the rest of the score is. Maybe the DVD's better - maybe!

The film itself is a pleasure, not a joy, but it does have some typically wonderful Chaplin moments in it: The jig with the collection-boxes, the cake/hat, the sticking on his chin of the little 'beard' to make him look tough (what an expression he put on as well!) The reissue moves swiftly along, and you're borne with it until you sadly realise that it's over - too fast. Personally, the storyline is too thin and the gags though numerous are just too disparate and inconsequential to put this amongst his very best, but on a good second level. Charlie's maturer and lesser efforts like this are still towering achievements in comparison with most of his contemporaries and successors best.

The Pilgrim is an outstanding example of Charlie Chaplin at work. So much of what Chaplin did was based on his physical ability to move like a dancer, and this film shows off his agility to the maximum. Charlie tumbles and jumps, turns on a dime, and makes every graceful movement funny. The plot is your basic silent movie plot, with a lot of mistaken identities and a love interest that leads to a plot climax and a happy ending for Charlie--but without the girl. (Charlie almost never got the girl at the end of his films. It was one of his enduring charms.) The difference between this and a typical silent film is the charisma of Charlie Chaplin. There is simply nothing else like it in film history.

Over-shadowed by such classics as THE GOLD RUSH or CITY-LIGHTS, THE PILGRIM is a delight and is perhaps Charlie's finest 'short'. Dropping his 'Little Tramp' character, Chaplin is now an escaped convict, heading out West disguised as a clergyman and who is mistaken for the new Pastor of a small Western town.

Sentiment is kept at a minimum and THE PILGRIM is filled with inventive sight gags and sequences, with perhaps the stand-out being the middle-section, where Charlie suffers from the attentions of a little boy (the bowler hat covered with custard and served as afternoon tea is a wonderfully surreal touch)..

The 1959 re-issued version is perhaps the version to see, as it comes with a wonderful score by Chaplin and a specially written theme song, 'Bound For Texas' sung by Britain's own Matt Monroe. It's a memorably jaunty song which you will be humming for days afterwards.

Having escaped from prison for a crime that is never mentioned, The Tramp disguises himself as a pastor as he heads for Texas. Arriving from train, he is quickly mistaken as the new curator / priest that the small town is expecting. The Tramp is once again placed into a situation that he was act his way out of. Finding himself in the middle of a sermon, The Tramp must perform is way off stage to convince the town that he a priest. The ending, although meant to be funny, is more political that humor. The 1920's outlook on Mexico was the same as it was since the end of the Mexican American War in the 1840's. The audience laughs as we see Mexico and its people as savage and unpredictable as ever. Although the Tramp survives to fight another day, he manages to throw a political message out to the audience before the end of the movie.

As was now his tradition when leaving a studio, Charlie Chaplin here begins his final short feature for First National with an escape from prison. It also appears he was vengefully trying to bankrupt the studio, with lots of fancy sets, costumes and location shooting in what is one of his larger scale short pictures.

But what really makes The Pilgrim stand out is that, like his earliest works for First National, A Dog's Life and Shoulder Arms, it is really a concerted effort, with all the breadth, sincerity and care in production of his full-length features. After some experimentation in The Idle Class and Pay Day the comic now returns to his roots, pushing pure pantomime to its limits. Sequences like his acting out of the story of David and Goliath or little asides such as his gestures describing features of people in a photo album demand the intention and intelligence of the audience, and are very rewarding gags as a result. The business with the hat in the cake is also a great routine, a classic Chaplin situation of the chaos caused by the little tramp becoming bigger than the tramp himself.

Chaplin regulars such as Henry Bergman make only fleeting appearances in The Pilgrim. One time stalwart Albert Austin, now busy as a director, does not feature at all. Making up for this deficit however is one of the more substantial appearances by Charlie's brother Syd Chaplin. His pompous husband makes a great counter-foil for the tramp – his looks of horror and indignant gestures are priceless – and he was really strong enough to have become a recurring character in his own right. Sadly this was Syd's last appearance in one of his brother's films.

The nicest thing about The Pilgrim is that it is a great return to stories driven by the little tramp's character – something that had been wavering in the last couple of Chaplin shorts. Many of the gags stem from his status as a plucky fugitive, and his complete inappropriateness – yet clever bluffing – in the role of a preacher. Once again we have a rounded yet unfulfilled love for Edna Purviance, and his redemption for her sake is given a credible build-up. With his last ever short, Chaplin demonstrates that these little movies where he had honed his craft were far from idle throwaways.

We end with the all-important statistic – Number of kicks up the arse: 2 (2 for).

Regardless of the terrific pictures that Charles Chaplin directed in the latter half of his career, he will always be best remembered for his portrayal of the Little Tramp, that bumbling yet kind-hearted vagrant with whom audiences continue to fall in love. Making his debut in 'Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914),' Chaplin's "Little Fellow" soon became one of cinema's most beloved and recognisable figures, and Chaplin one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Such was the character's success that, prior to 1940, it was a rare occurrence for Chaplin to portray anybody who wasn't the Tramp. One such attempt was in an unfinished short, 'The Professor (1919),' in which Chaplin portrays a poignant, lowly street performer named Professor Bosco. 'The Pilgrim (1923),' at around sixty minutes in length, was the last of Chaplin's "mini-features" before he dedicated his time almost exclusively to feature-length films, and it is interesting in that he doesn't play the Little Tramp, or, if he does, then it's a version of the character that we haven't seen before.

In the film, Chaplin plays an escaped prisoner, who, in his flight from the authorities, is mistaken for the young parson who was supposed to be arriving at a small country town. It wasn't unusual for the Little Tramp to find himself in trouble with the police {and, indeed, he did a spell in prison during 'Modern Times (1936)'}, so it's not altogether unreasonable to conclude that this convict is one and the same character. Despite missing many of his trademarks – the baggy trousers, the cane, the derby hat – his bumbling benevolence is precisely the same, even if one brief flashback shows him sharing a friendly cigarette with an unscrupulous fellow jailbird (Charles Reisner). Notably, a newspaper headline in the film betrays our hero's name to be "Lefty Lombard" alias "Slippery Elm," though these could easily be pseudonyms. 'The Pilgrim' is a film that places more emphasis on plain slapstick than any of Chaplin's feature films, and the pathos that is apparent in most of his works is noticeably lacking, as is any real romantic connection with leading lady Edna Purviance {the final occasion on which the two co-starred}.

Despite the absence of any real emotion, Chaplin's film still succeeds on its own terms, with the criminal's situation allowing for an assortment of amusing scenarios. Dressed as a parson, one is always expected to act in the most civilised fashion, and yet our poor hero finds that he just can't play the part. Chaplin's incredible skill for visual communication is most stunningly apparent in his character's gesticulated re-telling of the David vs Goliath legend, and, without the aid of sound, the audience can easily follow every single detail of the story. Also hilarious are the Pilgrim's attempts at making a cake {using the hat belonging to Chaplin's brother and co-star, Syd}, his response to the antics of Howard Huntington the dishonest thief, and his inability to take a policeman's hint beside the border into Mexico. In 1959, 'The Pilgrim' was one of three films {along with 'Shoulder Arms (1918)' and 'A Dog's Life (1918)'} that Chaplin slightly re-edited and combined to form 'The Chaplin Revue.' He also composed a new soundtrack, as well as a catchy title theme, performed by Matt Monroe, called "I'm Bound for Texas."

I don't mean this as in the film is some kind of abstract comedy, it's very grounded as all Chaplin's films were: it's just whether genuine comedies or some of his more dramatic works they always have a strong moral that is totally obvious by the end. This one has more fun, it's Chaplin in all his spontaneity and lightness. The ending in particular is more symbolic than an obvious spelled out moral, it contributes to the fun of the whole piece rather than taking itself more seriously.

Just a quick digression: it's surprisingly interesting the church and its practices would be criticized and mocked so openly way back in a mainstream film from 1923. But apparently that sort of thing was going on even back then.

Funny as always, full of spirit, lots of mimicking and situational comedy going on. 7/10.

Two words: "WATCH IT!"

Throughout this last of Charlie's short(er) films, he puts on a clinic of amazing pantomime that could never be as funny if it were a talking picture! He makes you believe it's all for real - whether on screen it appears to be "real" or is obviously pantomime as part of the story in and of itself. Think about this while watching it - really think how Chaplin makes it look easy, whereas if one of us average Joes tried it, we'd probably come off looking histrionic and ridiculous! ;-) lol

There are also some great sight gags, one of which involves Charlie on the back of a man, trying to close a drawer with his feet, while the man tries opening the same drawer with his hands; and back and forth they furiously go! I just mention this one in particular as I'd not yet seen any other reviewers do so, but it's just one great scene amidst many others!

Anyway, even without the Little Tramp in his familiar costume, you can still see him shining through as I think this film presents many of the same type of story elements and character qualities that led to the Little Fellow becoming an immortal icon. :-)

(9 out of 10 stars for not enough romantic interaction between Charlie & Edna, but that's strictly just my personal preference. Except for "Burlesque on Carmen", I would probably say that about nearly every picture they made together. ;-) lol)

CHARLIE CHAPLIN is an escaped convict mistaken for the new pastor upon arriving in a small Mexican town and greeted by Deacon MATT SWAIN and a few members of his congregation.

Although there are pratfalls for the comedian right from the start, this is a mistaken identity comedy that depends more on sight gags than frantic slapstick and has some charming moments.

One of the funniest sequences has him delivering his first sermon at the church, based on the tale of David and Goliath, amusing mainly for the young boy who doesn't find the sermon boring. Some funny business with baking a cake while distracted and pouring the dough over someone's bowler hat stands out, as does the business with his former jailmate who wants to steal money from the Deacon but meets with resistance from Charlie who has fallen in love with an innocent girl (EDNA PURVIANCE) and wants to go straight. There's also the scene with the hyperactive little brat, a boy who drives Chaplin and brother SYD CHAPLIN insane with his unrelenting pranks.

Chaplin was still polishing his craft at this time, but it's not one of his best comedies. Needless to say, even lesser Chaplin is worth watching and so is this one, given a brisk background score including a ballad written by Chaplin.

Disguised as a priest, an escaped convict makes his way to Texas. He ends up in a small rural town where the townsfolk mistake him for their new church minister, due that day. He settles into his new identity and its perks but there is always the chance that his true identity is discovered.

A Charlie Chaplin short film from the silent era. Doesn't have the plot, social commentary nor humour of Chaplin's classics from that era (especially The Kid and The Gold Rush). There are some great laugh out loud moments but these are few and far between with the humour largely relying on repetitive sight gags that wear thin quite quickly.

Plot is okay though fairly basic. Consistent with the repetitiveness mentioned before, it does drag at times. In terms of characters, the kid who keeps tormenting the priest is also one of the most annoying characters ever committed to screen, making some scenes quite unbearable.

Overall more miss than hit but has its moments.

The tramp escapes from prison and, with wanted posters everywhere, takes a train to a place picked randomly – Texas. Disguised as a minister he is fortune enough to be mistaken for the real deal when he stumbles into a welcoming party for a town's new minister, Reverend Phillip Pin. A mixed blessing this as it puts more pressure on his disguise and makes it even more important he cover up the telltale signs of a life spent behind bars.

As part of my recent film education I have been watching quite a few Chaplin films of this period as Sky have been showing them as a season over the last few weeks and what I have found is what everyone already knows – which is that the enduring popularity of Chaplin is not a fluke or accident. No, The Pilgrim yet again demonstrates the talent and skill that Chaplin had because it is very funny, imaginative and well put together. The story is simply and allows for a series of scenarios where Chaplin can work his comedy such as the hat becoming part of the pudding, the early confused chase and so on. However in the smaller moments you can also see plenty of evidence of talent; my favourite moments of the film are the frequent bits of habitual behaviour that betray the tramp as a convict. Having bought a ticket for the train he then climbs under the car because he is not aware of any other way of doing it, or while buying the ticket he leans against the bar as one would in a cage. Little things like this running along with the bigger scenarios make the film that much funnier for having a consistency to it.

In front of the camera Chaplin delivers perfectly. I have yet to get into his later films (although I will do) but I will be interested to see how he acts when he has the ability to deliver dialogue with sound. The reason for this is that silent film acting is much different from dialogue driven because near everything has to be done with body language and gestures; goes without saying that he is great at it. He is well supported by a cast getting familiar to me after seeing several of his shorts and the turns from Swain, Purviance, Underwood and others are good.

Overall then another classic comedy from Chaplin that is consistently funny due to the bigger laughs blended with lots of clever amusing detail.

In his last movie for First National, Charlie is once again a convict who just escaped from jail - and to disguise himself, stole the clothes of a priest! And, as fate would have it, on his train trip to 'nowhere', he gets off in a small Texan town where the people are just awaiting their new parson... So, without ANY knowledge about his new 'job', he's got to play the role - and his first church service becomes, of course, an INIMITABLE farce! (While he, from force of habit, always keeps an eye on the boxes with the collection money...) The only story from the Bible he seems to know is that of David and Goliath (and that's NO coincidence at all - for that was the very part Charlie played so often in all kinds of variations in his films!); and he tells it in a WONDERFULLY funny pantomime, which of course was ONLY possible back in the good old silent days...

Then, he gets to know the family where he'll live; and the lovely daughter is, of course, once more Edna Purviance (this is the last movie he made together with her), and a romantic bond develops immediately... But very soon, complications turn up for the fugitive: his old jail mate happens to come to the same town - and although he plays the 'nice guy' in the beginning, in fact he intends to steal the family's money Edna's mother keeps in a drawer... So what is the 'parson' to do now??

Just like all the comedies Charlie Chaplin made for First National, "The Pilgrim" is another WONDERFUL example of comedy at its VERY best, FULL of funny scenes (like the one where the neighbors come to see Edna's family with their spoiled little boy; and Charlie has got to pull himself together while the brat keeps slapping him and pouring water over him - not quite unlike W.C. Fields in "The Old-Fashioned Way"...), not without a meaning, and with beautiful sentiments throughout, which however never slip into 'sentimentality' - a TREASURE for every fan of classic movies, and a PERFECT way to get the younger generations to know and love silent cinema!

Charlie Chaplin escapes from prison as he steals a preacher's clothes. There is a $1000 reward for him. A couple of elopers mistake him for the real thing and try to get him to marry them before the arrival of the father. He gets on the train. When it arrives at the Texas town of Devil's Gulch, he tries to surrender to Sheriff Bryan. Only the town was expecting the arrival of reverend Pim and the sheriff assumes that Charlie was their reverend. It turns out that the real Pim is delayed a week. He fakes a sermon and then he is recognized by an old cell mate.

I didn't love the fake sermon or David and Goliath. Playing with the kid is loads of fun. That part is so reminiscent of 'The Kid' including having Edna Purviance around. The kid eating the frosting off the hat hit me hard on the funny bone. That's the part I love the best.

Edna Purviance's last film on screen with the comedic Charlie Chaplin was the February 1923 released "The Pilgrim," his second shortest feature film at 47 minutes. 1918's 'Shoulder Arms' was two minutes shorter. The film also marked the fulfillment of Chaplin's contract with First National, signed in June 1917, a pact calling for eight pictures with no time limitations to complete them.

Chaplin plays an escaped convict who ends up disguised as a minister and travels to Devil's Gulch, Texas, where a congregation greets its new pastor. At his first service, Chaplin pantomimes the story of David and Goliath, a scene film scholar Donna Kornhaber labels as one of the comedian's "greatest acts of physical storytelling."

Frequently in a Chaplin comedy there appears a boy. The son of future director Charles Reisner, who plays the crook in "The Pilgrim," four-year-old Dean Riesner was that young boy, a rare screen appearance for him since his mother wanted him to have a normal childhood. But cinema was in his blood as he became older and he turned to scriptwriting, penning two of Clint Eastwood's more famous films, 1971s 'Play Misty for Me' and the first 'Dirty Harry' among others.

One of the last works in Chaplin's long, storied movie career was to provide a musical score for "The Pilgrim" and a re-edit job for both that and "A Woman in Paris." In 1959 he wrote the song 'I'm Bound For Texas,' which was sung by Matt Monro for his final First National comedy. Later, at 87, Chaplin in the last months of his life wrote most of the musical score for "A Woman in Paris" as well as made several new cuts for its re-issuance in 1977, released shortly after his passing.

Barely reaching four reels, Chaplin plays a convict who escapes from the slammer and, needing a change of clothes, misappropriates the clothing of a minister while he bathes. He hitches a bus ride to a small Texas town, a town that just so happens to be in need of a new minister. He installs himself at the pulpit, and thus, acquires both respect and a place to sleep, but of course, neither is a breeze of contentment. There are several entertaining setpieces, notably his congregational depiction of David & Goliath in glorious pantomime, where David, a pathetic little wimp, finds his laughable methods ineffectual, and is beheaded for his efforts. The other great sequence involves the child of the lady he's staying with, who is a little terror, tormenting Chaplin and others in the house. The plot them proceeds to get in the way, as the little kid's father turns out to be an old cellmate, and the sheriff comes a-knockin', but the brevity of the enterprise ends up working most definitely to its advantage, as the problem is resolved quickly and amusingly, and fades out to presumably smiling patrons. A fun little quickie.

{Grade: 8/10 (B) / #4 (of 6) of 1923}

The comedy is hit and miss, and it's never laugh out loud funny, but it's hard not to keep an eye on Chaplin. The funniest stuff is the most subtle, e.g. when the two men break an (illegal) bottle of alcohol, and, each thinking the other doesn't know about it, walk off trying to act like nothing's happened, or when Charlie the faux preacher picks up the collection boxes from the two sides of the church and, noticing one is noticeably lighter than the other, glares briefly at that side of the congregation. I also liked the little tyke who sits in Charlie's lap and wallops him repeatedly, leading eventually to Charlie kicking him backwards to get rid of him (ok, that wasn't so subtle, was it). A lot of the other stuff is cute but doesn't seem all that inspired, e.g. burning the behind with a candle flame, the hat inadvertently covering the cake and becoming frosted, etc. That along with a pretty tepid story and no love interest gives this one a lackluster feel unfortunately.

I chuckled over finding this from Brian Cady's article for TCM: "The 'slapping boy' is played by three-and-a-half-year old Dean Reisner and son of The Pilgrim's assistant director Charles Reisner (who also plays the pickpocket). Dean would grow up to become a leading screenwriter in Hollywood, penning the "do you feel lucky, punk" scene for Dirty Harry (1971). Keep that line in mind while he wallops Charlie and his brother in The Pilgrim."

This short comedy has some funny moments and a few observations about human nature thrown in. It is one of Chaplin's more popular shorts, due to the good slapstick sequences, even though it might not have as much substance as some of his other features.

At the beginning, Charlie gets mistaken for a town's new preacher, and starting with that, he finds himself in some increasingly complicated situations. There are some good gags and some funny moments that arise as "The Pilgrim" tries to figure out what is expected of him, and tries to fit in.

Edna Purviance is engaging as usual, and Syd Chaplin gets a chance to show his versatility, so both of them add something. A few of the scenes are drawn out a little too long, but in general it's a pretty good feature that most Chaplin fans will enjoy.