Le pélerin

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).

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.

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)

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.

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.