THE IDLE CLASS came out in 1921, the same year that Chaplin posted his first long feature, THE KID, and it shows touches of an artist getting to the top of his art thanks to subtler physical comedy, and a mordant take on class differences -- be it in nature, at golf, or at a tycoon's house.
Edna Purviance looks splendid as the wife of the rich nobleman portrayed by Chaplin, so splendid in fact that she catches the Tramp's eye and he already imagines the bliss of marriage and children with her... she in fine clothes, he in rather more modest attire. The problem is that the nobleman - the exact replica of the Tramp, only in finer clothes - has a drinking problem. In one of the silent cinema's most famous sequences, Purviance threatens to leave if he does not put an end to drinking: she walks away, we see Chaplin from behind, apparently convulsing in sadness, possibly crying, and that is when he turns around and we see that he is shaking his drink in a shaker before pouring it in a glass and downing it.
Just over 30 minutes long, THE IDLE CLASS had me chuckle all the way, thanks to clever comic sequences and a masterly performance from Chaplin. Great score, too, Bossa Nova-like, so it cannot have been the original item, though it certainly dovetailed with the action. Congratulations and thank you, Charlie! 9/10.
Edna Purviance looks splendid as the wife of the rich nobleman portrayed by Chaplin, so splendid in fact that she catches the Tramp's eye and he already imagines the bliss of marriage and children with her... she in fine clothes, he in rather more modest attire. The problem is that the nobleman - the exact replica of the Tramp, only in finer clothes - has a drinking problem. In one of the silent cinema's most famous sequences, Purviance threatens to leave if he does not put an end to drinking: she walks away, we see Chaplin from behind, apparently convulsing in sadness, possibly crying, and that is when he turns around and we see that he is shaking his drink in a shaker before pouring it in a glass and downing it.
Just over 30 minutes long, THE IDLE CLASS had me chuckle all the way, thanks to clever comic sequences and a masterly performance from Chaplin. Great score, too, Bossa Nova-like, so it cannot have been the original item, though it certainly dovetailed with the action. Congratulations and thank you, Charlie! 9/10.