THE IDLE CLASS
starring Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
December, 1921
We must admit our disappointment in Charlie Chaplin's latest film effort, "The Idle Class" (First National), which, after all, turned out to be only a routine two-reel program farce. True, it is better than the average two-reeler since it has flashes of the Chaplin genius here and there, but, on the whole, it isn't what we expect of the comedian these days.
Charlie plays two roles: one an absent-minded man of wealth; the other, the typical Chaplinesque derelict. There are several humorous interludes, as a comic golf match and the complications ensuing when a man gets locked in a suit of armor. The real things of "The Idle Class" are the subtle shadings, given by Chaplin now and then, as the moment where the tattered adventurer sees the beautiful society girl pass him on horseback. The class tragedy of all the ages is caught in his eyes for just the fraction of a second.
THE IDLE CLASS
starring Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance
PICTURE PLAY
December, 1921
A month which has both Mary and Douglas on his film calendar may be said to have justified itself in the screen year. But, added to these, comes a new Chaplin release, a characteristic bit of slapstick and irony called "The Idle Class." It is only three reels, but they make up in rapidity what they lack in length, though there is a little gasp of astonishment when "The End" is flashed on the screen. These years of eight-reel Chaplin pictures have spoiled his audiences, which have grown into Oliver Twists in their taste for "more."
"The Idle Class" is a social satire which traces the adventures of a happy tramp and a blasé man about town. Charlie plays them both with such evident enjoyment that you feel he is not worrying about the moral. For undoubtedly he has a moral, though its exact point is lost in the rapid-fire action. At least he shows us that the life of the idler is not as simple as it looks, for his tramp is persecuted by cops and stray dogs, and the society chap is henpecked and harassed by the demands of fashion. In the end the tramp wins; at least he has the last word and casts the last stone.
The "plot," if you can call it that, is a jazzed version of a theme so often taken seriously in film drama. It confirms a recent statement of Chaplin's in an interview while he was in New York. "I wish people wouldn't insist on writing funny stories for me," he said. "What I want is the most serious ideas imaginable. I'll make them funny enough to suit my audiences."
So "The Idle Class" is the good, old, romantic idea of the wife who finds that her husband has a double in the lower walks of life. The humble tramp loves the beautiful lady from afar until, at a masquerade ball, he is introduced as her husband. This is the cue for the slapstick, which is further complicated by having the real costume of a knight in armor. Chaplin gives the distinctions between the low and high idle class with a dexterity which is uproarious. There is only one feature which the tramp and the clubman share in common. Their feet are the same.
This is one of the shorter pictures, tossed off, as it were, while he is resting. I have heard rumors that his next long picture will be taken from a delicious French pantomime. It is the story of a famous clown who wins the admiration of a small, ragged boy who has never had pennies enough to see him act. When the child lies at death's door with a fever, he cries constantly for his idol, and the celebrated jester cancels a performance and rushes to his bedside to go through with his choicest scenes. The boy recovers, and the two become fast friends in the world of nonsense. Needless to say, this story shouts aloud for Jackie Coogan.