''The Idle Class'' is a 1921 American silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by Charlie Chaplin for First National Pictures.

Plot summary

The "

Little Tramp : ''See The Tramp for the character played by Charlie Chaplin''. ''Little Tramp'' is a musical with a book by David Pomeranz and Steven David Horwich and music and lyrics by David Pomeranz. Based on the life of comedian Charles Chaplin and na ...

" (Charlie Chaplin) heads to a resort for warm weather and golf. At the golf course, the Tramp's theft of balls in play causes one golfer ( Mack Swain) to mistakenly attack another ( John Rand). Meanwhile, a neglected wife (

Edna Purviance Olga Edna Purviance (; October 21, 1895 – January 13, 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over 30 films with hi ...

) leaves her wealthy husband (also played by Chaplin) until he gives up drinking. When the Tramp is later mistaken for a pickpocket, he crashes a masquerade ball to escape from a policeman. There, he is mistaken for the woman's husband. Eventually, it is all straightened out, and the Tramp is once more on his way.

Review

Helen Rockwell of the ''New York Telegraph'' wrote,

"...instead of going for a five-reel affair, he has returned to his first short love. But what there is of ''The Idle Class'' is so good and so funny that one realizes how much better is it to be entertained by two reels than bored in five."

Chaplin biographer

Jeffrey Vance Jeffrey Vance (born May 21, 1970) is an American film historian and author who has published books on movie stars including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Career While working as an archivist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists he met El ...

describes ''The Idle Class'' as “one of Chaplin’s funniest short comedies.” He notes that Chaplin began production on the film in January 1921 with the working title ''Vanity Fair'':

“Ultimately, Chaplin favored a more equivocal title—''The Idle Class''—for it is purposely not clear in the film which is the idle class: the idle rich or the idle poor. Chaplin plays both. The film took five months to complete, an amazingly long time for a two-reel comedy.” Vance speculates, “It is perhaps ironic that the story of ''The Idle Class'' centers on an unhappy marriage between an absent-minded husband and a lonely wife. This state of affairs could easily describe the principal characters of the tragi-comedy that was Chaplin’s own marriage. In the film Chaplin manages to dramatize the two sides of his own personality: Charlie the Tramp and the Absent-minded husband, rich and neglectful, absorbed to his own interests and indifferent to others. The latter was certainly how
Mildred Harris Mildred Harris (April 18, 1901 – July 20, 1944) was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was 10 years old. She was a ...
is first wiferegarded Chaplin.”Vance, Jeffrey (2003) Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema New York: Harry N. Abrams, pg. 117 and 121. ISBN 0-8109-4532-0

Cast

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consid ...

as Tramp / Husband *

as Neglected Wife * Mack Swain as Her Father * Henry Bergman as Sleeping Hobo / Guest in Cop Uniform * Al Ernest Garcia as Cop in Park / Guest * John Rand as Golfer / Guest *

Rex Storey Rex may refer to: * Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title ** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom People * Rex (given name), for people with the given name * Rex (surname), for people with ...

as Pickpocket / Guest * Lita Grey as Guest

References

External links

* * * 1921 films 1921 comedy films Silent American comedy films American silent short films American black-and-white films Short films directed by Charlie Chaplin 1921 short films Articles containing video clips American comedy short films First National Pictures films 1920s American films {{short-silent-comedy-film-stub