Not much to be said about this Chaplin short. Charlie was introducing the tramp character, it was early in his career (1915), he had responsibility for everything and was working like a coolie. So it isn't surprising that "The Tramp" lacks the wit, sophistication, sentimentality, and innovative quality of some of his later productions. (The sentimentality could get pretty heavy handed.) The gags are mostly crude here. Charlie hits somebody. Somebody hits Charlie back. Charlie kicks him in the pants, and so forth. Compare this with, say, "The Idle Class" to see what a difference time, intelligence, and talent made. By the way, Chaplin's status in the 1940s as persona non grata in the USA has been attributed to his being a communist/socialist/pinko/subversive/fellow traveling spy (when in fact it probably had more to do with his fondness for young girls), but you'd never know it from this specimen. He takes advantage of just about everyone but Edna Purviance, and he abuses them for the fun of it, even his lessers on the social ladder. At this point, the tramp wasn't exactly a sympathetic figure.
Review of The Tramp
