The Vagabond (1916)

Charlie, the emotional violinist, flees to a gipsy camp, only to find himself playing for an abducted girl. Soon, a unique birthmark will pave the way for an unexpected rescue and a marvellous new life. But, will she forget him so easily?

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writers:

Charles Chaplin, Vincent Bryan

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Street musician
Edna Purviance	...	Gypsy drudge
Eric Campbell	...	Gypsy chieftain
Leo White	...	Old Gypsy woman
Lloyd Bacon	...	Artist
Charlotte Mineau	...	Girl's mother
Albert Austin	...	Trombonist
John Rand	...	Trumpeter
James T. Kelley	...	Musician / Gypsy
Frank J. Coleman	...	Musician / Gypsy

Storyline

After passing the hat and taking the donations intended for German street musicians Charlie heads for the country. Here he finds and rescues a girl from a band of gypsies. The girl falls in love with an artist whose portrait is later seen in a shop by the girl's real mother. The mother and the artist arrive in a chauffeured auto and offer Charlie money for his services, money which he rejects.

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Plot Keywords:

saviour | camp | encampment | fire | campfire | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1916 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gipsy Life

Filming Locations:

Lone Star Studio - 1751 Glendale Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lone Star Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min (restored) 26 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The camera and cameraman are reflected in the car window as Edna is riding with the Artist.

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Alternate Versions

Kino International distributes a set of videos containing all the 12 Mutual short films made by Chaplin in 1915 - 1917. They are presented by David Shepard, who copyrighted the versions in 1984, and has a music soundtrack composed and performed by Michael Mortilla who copyrighted his score in 1989. The running time of this film is 26 minutes.

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Connections

Featured in Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)

User Reviews

An Interesting Sign of Things to Come

This must have seemed like a real change-of-pace from Chaplin when it first came out, since it has a much different tone than almost any of his previous short features. It has a few funny moments, but this time humor is not the emphasis - except for the familiar presence of Charlie's usual tramp-like character, it feels more like one of the short melodramas from the same era, rather than a comedy.

As "The Vagabond", Charlie performs a few antics, mostly towards the beginning, but then gets involved in the life of a young woman in distress (Chaplin regular Edna Purviance), and the story turns more serious. It is not one of his best films, but it is always watchable, and is quite interesting as a fore-runner of the way that Chaplin would combine slapstick and humanity to much greater effect in the masterpieces that he would go on to create some years later.