The Tramp (1915)

The Little Fellow finds the girl of his dreams and work on a family farm.

Director:

Charles Chaplin (uncredited)

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Billy Armstrong, Lloyd Bacon

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Tramp

Storyline

Charlie is a tramp on the road. A hobo manages to exchange Charlie's sandwich for a brick so Charlie must eat grass. The same hobo molests a farmer's daughter; Charlie comes to aid with the help of the brick. When two more hobos show up Charlie throws all three into a lake. The grateful girl takes Charlie home where he fails as a farmhand. He again helps drive off the hobos (who are now trying to break into the house). The girl's fiance arrives. Though a hero, Charlie, knowing he must go, writes a farewell note and leaves for the open road.

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Plot Keywords:

hobo | farm | farmhouse | fork | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 1915 (USA)

Also Known As:

Charlie on the Farm

Filming Locations:

Niles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

26 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was restored in 2014 through the Chaplin Essanay Project thanks to the financial support of The David Shepard.

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Goofs

Near the end of the movie, the note that "The Tramp" writes is shown twice. The two notes shown are in completely different handwriting and the word "good bye" is spelled differently.

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Connections

Featured in Shooting the Hollywood Stars (2011)

User Reviews

A cinematic icon is born!!!

Chaplin's favorite character and one of the world's most indelible images is introduced in this movie, The tramp. Chaplin also sets up the theme that recurs in all of his best movies, the thing that man will do for love, whether real or imagined. It is a well known fact, that man is essentially a slave to woman, to her whims, fantasies, and urgings. It is what creates the love that is often opaque in the brusqueness and machoism that beguiles the maturity of man. Chaplin knew this and studied and exacerbated it in his movies, id est to ask the question; What is a man? What is a man without a woman? The yin and yang of the two creates humanity, so to speak. In this movie, he rescues a farmer's daughter from a bunch of thugs, and is brought by the woman home to the farm where he gets a job from her father. He stays because he loves the woman but does she love him? The melancholy of this movie eschews the laughs for the audience and the ordeals that Chaplin endures for her approval. A funny and touching movie.