The Vagabond (1916)

You won't be disappointed!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

In 1914 and early 1915, Chaplin did his first comedy shorts. In general, they were pretty awful--with almost no plot and consisting of him mugging it up on camera and hitting people. However, in 1915 he left Keystone Studio and began making better films with Essenay (though there are some exceptions) and finally, in 1916, to Mutual where he made his best comedy shorts. These newer films had more plot and laughs and usually didn't relay on punching or kicking when they ran out of story ideas.This film tells a complete story--more so than almost any other Chaplin short. In fact, in many ways it is reminiscent of some of his later full-length films--in particular, THE CIRCUS. There were two problems with the film, though. One is a pretty lousy plot device on which the whole film relies. A woman was apparently stolen by gypsies as a little girl and later, as an adult, her portrait is painted and the girl's biological mother recognizes this 20-something year-old as her long-lost daughter!!! Talk about unbelievable! The other problem is that in the version I saw from THE ESSENTIAL CHAPLIN COLLECTION, there were no title cards to explain the action. I had to read the box to get an idea of what was occurring! It's a shame, as without these two problems, it would have been among Chaplin's best shorts.

This is one of my favorite Chaplin comedies, but that doesn't mean it's one of his funniest. Gags notwithstanding, The Vagabond is decidedly the most serious film Chaplin had produced up to this time. You might say this short served as a dress rehearsal for his later features such as The Kid, films with melancholy story elements and (in some cases) sad endings. Here, Chaplin tells a melodramatic story in a straightforward fashion, elevating his Tramp to the role of hero. Having already proved that he could provoke laughter, it appears Chaplin wanted to see if he could inspire sympathy, enough so to draw viewers into a dramatic situation, and make them care about what happens to his "little fellow." In my opinion he succeeded admirably, for watching this movie almost 90 years after it was released I find it still works beautifully, like a vintage automobile still in perfect working order.Although this project marked a new chapter for Chaplin, he assembled it from decidedly old-fashioned ingredients. The plot must have felt familiar to audiences even in 1916: leading lady Edna Purviance plays a young woman kidnapped by gypsies as a child, held captive as their "drudge" ever since. Charlie is a traveling musician who rescues her - - after an exhilarating fight in which Edna takes part. Having fallen in love with her, he is prepared to take care of her forever after. However, the idyll is interrupted when a handsome young artist happens by and paints Edna's portrait, which he takes back to the city to exhibit. Her wealthy mother sees the picture in a gallery, recognizes a distinctive birthmark, and realizes that the portrait's subject is her daughter. With the artist in tow, the mother arrives at Charlie's camp via automobile and brusquely takes her daughter away, leaving Charlie forlorn. Just as we're bracing ourselves for a sad ending, Edna belatedly becomes aware of her feelings for Charlie, and orders the car to turn back and retrieve him.As a lead-in to the melodrama concerning the gypsies, Chaplin gives us a comic opening sequence set in a saloon. Charlie, a busker with a violin, has a dispute with a band of musicians who are competing for coins from the same clientèle. But even here it's striking how much Charlie has evolved since his Keystone days: when he pockets the coins intended for the combo it's an honest mistake, that is, he sincerely believes the money is a reward for his performance, and when he's confronted he doesn't understand why, but promptly defends himself. Charlie is no longer the aggressor, no longer larcenous, drunk or rude: only two years after his screen debut, he's matured into a likable character.It's to Chaplin's credit that the recognition device with the birthmark, ever popular in the world of opera, is served up straight and somehow doesn't feel hokey. Maybe that's because The Vagabond plays like a dramatized folktale, what with its strolling minstrel, wicked gypsies, and damsel in distress; the birthmark feels just as natural in this context as Cinderella's glass slipper or Rapunzel's long hair. Charlie's rescue of Edna and their escape together in one of the gypsies' own wagons is a thrilling sequence, splendidly filmed and edited, belying those critics who insist that Chaplin the director was insufficiently "cinematic." This is followed by a poignant scene set the next morning, when Charlie helps Edna clean herself up. The tone is gentle and the gags are mild, and by the time the scene ends we're on his side. Charlie doesn't have to be funny every moment he's on screen. We've been won over: we care what happens to this guy and the girl he's rescued. And when Edna's head is turned by another man, and it looks like Charlie's going to get jilted, it's heart-breaking.As I mentioned above, this is not the most laugh-packed comedy Chaplin ever made, but nonetheless I believe it's one of his strongest short films, and therefore highly recommended to silent comedy buffs, and to anyone open to viewing great works from the cinema's early days. Personally I feel that The Vagabond is Chaplin's first masterpiece in the two-reel format.

What can I say other than that I thought this was just boring and unoriginal. Predictable melodrama done without any original comedy sequences and wooden acting. No wonder so many people think so lowly of silent movies. These primitive, poorly made Chaplin shorts seem to be the only ones available. Meanwhile, all those masterpieces are rotting in their vaults...

A pathetic fiddler tries to scrape a living together playing on the street and in bars. He chances upon a gypsy camp where he plays for a pretty young girl. However her father beats her savagely and the tramp helps her escape. When the pair happen upon a painter, events are set in motion to reveal the girl's true parentage.One of Chaplin's Mutual short films this shows him still developing the kindly tramp personae on film. As a result the humour is not yet fully developed although we do get one funny scene of people being hit over the head etc. The plot is as basic as above and is typical of the day - audiences wanted to see the poor people suddenly being elevated to better things, no matter what the device. However from modern views I wanted Chaplin to be funnier and the message to be toned down or at least be more realistic.Overall this will please fans of Chaplin and I think it is one of the first films he directed himself. The cast are good and it's always nice to see the little tramp act done well. However more routines and less aspiration would have been better.