To me, this movie is perfection.

Fantastic!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors. From his post-Essanay period after leaving Keystone, 'The Immigrant' is among the very best of his early output, one of his best from his Mutual period and one of his first classics. As said with many of his post-Keystone efforts, it shows a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career, from 1914, The Essanay and Mutual periods were something of Chaplin's adolescence period where his style had been found and starting to settle. Something that can be seen in 'The Immigrant'. The story is more discernible than usual and is never dull, and does it while not being as too busy or manic.On the other hand, 'The Immigrant' looks good, not incredible but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious.'The Immigrant' is one of the funniest and most touching early efforts of Chaplin. It is hilarious with some clever, entertaining and well-timed slapstick and has substance and pathos that is very moving. It moves quickly and there is no dullness in sight. The second half is both hilarious and enchanting.Chaplin directs more than competently and the cinematic genius quality is emerging. He also, as usual, gives a playful and expressive performance and at clear ease with the physicality and substance of the role. The supporting cast acquit themselves well, particularly a charming Edna Purviance and their chemistry is sweet to watch. Eric Campbell is both amusing and formidable.In summary, terrific. 10/10 Bethany Cox

THE IMMIGRANT (Mutual Studios, 1917), Written, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin in his eleventh short subject for Mutual, is another well-produced comedy with a good mix of proper story and funny sight gags. Though the film itself could have developed into feature length form, allowing more plot and character development to Chaplin's title role and others around him, the end result, is a story divided in two parts: the first being an introduction of Charlie and other immigrants before they just come off the boat; the second with Charlie in America waiting his ship to come in.PART ONE: The opening introduces an assortment of various immigrants gathered together on a boat crossing the Atlantic Ocean awaiting their arrival to the land of opportunity. One of the immigrants is a nameless passenger whom will be classified as Charlie (Charlie Chaplin). As he tries keeping balance and avoiding seasickness as the ship sways back and forth in seesaw fashion, Charlie, unable to eat a hearty meal, offers his seat in the mess room to a young girl (Edna Purviance) traveling on board with her widowed mother (Kitty Bradbury). On deck playing a game of cards, one of the players (Henry Bergman) sneaks away long enough to lift the entire life savings from Edna's sleeping mother to use for further gambling purposes. However, it's Charlie who wins the cash. After learning of Edna's misfortune, Charlie, as a friendly gesture, offers her his winnings. As the ship passes the Statue of Liberty and docks on Ellis Island, the passengers part company. PART TWO: Charlie, broke and hungry, finds a coin (possibly a silver dollar) resting on the sidewalk and uses it to spend on a square meal at a nearby restaurant. While there, Charlie reacquaints himself with Edna, inviting her to accompany him for dinner. After Charlie witnesses what happens to a diner who's ten cents short on his bill by a giant-sized waiter (Eric Campbell), also his server, Charlie discovers, to his shocking surprise, the coin to pay for he and Edna's meal is gone!Others featured in the cast of Chaplin stock players include: Albert Austin (Man in restaurant); Frank J. Coleman (Immigrant/ Restaurant Manager), John Rand, James T. Kelly and Loyal Underwood. Take notice Henry Bergman can be spotted playing two different roles, that of a shipboard passenger, another as an accomplished artist.Once again, Charlie presents himself as both gentleman of nerve and gentleman of heart. Though it's never fully realized of Charlie's country origin, one would assume that since Chaplin is of British birth that his character is one coming to America from his native England. A funny and agreeable silent comedy with some truly classic scenes, the best saved for its second half in the restaurant involving Chaplin and his Goliath-sized waiter (Campbell).For the documentary, "Unknown Chaplin," it was profiled as to how THE IMMIGRANT was developed. Using existing outtakes showing Henry Bergman playing the waiter, it's been said that Chaplin found something not right with the picture. Once substituting Bergman with the fierce looking Campbell, the restaurant scene developed into one of the funniest sequences in the entire movie. Sources note that when THE IMMIGRANT was completed, Chaplin had as much as 90,000 feet of negative, having Chaplin himself spending four days and nights editing and putting the pieces together to his satisfaction, which indicates what a perfectionist Chaplin was and how dedicated he was to his craft. Even the final result is atypical Chaplin, making this every bit worth his lost coin of admission to see.Reviewed from 1990s video cassette copy from Blackhawk/Republic Home Video distribution, the twenties-style orchestration and sound effects on the soundtrack from 1930s reissue simply turns this into pleasant viewing experience. Restored prints with clear visuals, new orchestration and silent speed projection (30 minutes from standard 21) from KINO Video, availability on VHS or DVD, is the print occasionally used for Turner Classic Movies broadcasts (TCM premiere: December 6, 1999). Beware of some poor copies of THE IMMIGRANT and some with missing opening inter-title, "A widow and her daughter" pertaining to Edna and mother) with inappropriate/ bad scoring that hurts the significance of such a great comedy classic. Next Chaplin Mutual comedy: THE ADVENTURER. (****)

This was my first ever exposure to the works of Charlie Chaplin and remains one of my favorites. We watched THE IMMIGRANT at the introduction to our discussion of silent film in my film history class and it was this movie (as well as EASY STREET, my all-time favorite Chaplin) that solidified my Chaplin fandom. It's clever, funny, and tells a pretty coherent story over the course of its meager twenty-four minute run-time, which isn't necessarily the case for all his films in my opinion. Whereas some just seem to drop Chaplin in an amusing situation and let him do his thing (e.g. THE CURE, where he's let loose in a health spa), THE IMMIGRANT tells the brief story of…well…an immigrant. Chaplin's lovable tramp is one of many immigrants huddled aboard a ship bound for America where he hopes to make a new life. On his journey, he meets and falls for a beautiful woman making the journey to America with her ill mother. Upon making landfall, Chaplin is penniless (having given his gambling winnings to the beautiful woman after her mother's money was stolen) and hungry. He finds a coin in the streets and pops into a restaurant for a meal when he crosses paths with the woman again. He continues to woe her, hoping to win her heart while at the same time dodging the angry brute of a waiter who's not afraid to rough up patrons who try to skip out on a bill.THE IMMIGRANT is one of the most consistently funny Chaplin short films I've had the pleasure of watching. The gags are funny and, unlike some of his other films, the jokes don't run on too long. As I mentioned before, I also love the fact that there's a solid little story in there. It's the usual stuff: boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy wins girl. We've seen the same thing in plenty of his films, but it's the jokes and visual gags that make each movie special. I love the entire restaurant sequence, with Chaplin caught between trying to win the woman's heart while quietly panicking over his restaurant bill when his coin is discovered to be bogus. It's a fun movie and that doesn't wear out it's welcome halfway through with stale gags. I always have a hard time writing comments on Chaplin's films and putting up a convincing argument for new people to check them out; these movies were made before cinematography was more than some basic lighting and a locked down camera so there really isn't much to say aside from…it's funny. Check it out. It won me over and, if you've never seen it, it might win you over as a Chaplin fan too.

I should say this right up front: I don't like Chaplin very much. I haven't really liked him in anything except THE CIRCUS and parts of MODERN TIMES. Keaton's lovable underdog appeals to me much more than the sometimes stupid, sometimes crazy, sometimes downright douchey tramp. I just don't root for this character, but in smaller doses like this, he's a little more tolerable. The gags here aren't great, but they're not bad. Most of the boat stuff didn't do much for me, but the entire restaurant scene is actually quite enjoyable. I'm still not going to seek out any more Chaplin, but it's nice to know that his shorts might be better for me than his features.