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

Charlie loses his hat outside the bar, is seen inside wearing it, then picks it up where he lost it when he leaves. When he escapes from the gypsy, he is hatless at first, but the next shot shows the hat suddenly back in place.

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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 Chaplin Today: The Circus (2003)

User Reviews

Very good though it has a glaring plot problem

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.