The Idle Class *** (1921, Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Mack Swain) – Classic Movie Review 11,756

Writer-director Charles Chaplin’s 1921 comedy The Idle Class is a lesser but still entertaining and amusing Chaplin short film, just past his silent short peak, still playing the tramp but indulging in all the pleasures of being rich, so he gets involved with a beautiful woman at a fancy dress ball.

Chaplin impresses with his vibrant energy and some inventive moments and clever jokes make it stand out. Edna Purviance is a welcome presence as the beautiful neglected wife and so is Mack Swain as her father. Purviance leaves her wealthy husband (also played by Chaplin) until he gives up drinking. The tramp is mistaken for a pickpocket and to evade a cop crashes a masquerade ball, where he is mistaken for the woman’s husband.

It runs just 32 minutes.

Chaplin said that with four more pictures to deliver to First National Pictures after The Kid, he wrote it in ‘quiet desperation’, inspired by a set of golf clubs he found in the props room – ‘That’s it, the tramp plays golf!’

Charles Chaplin’s 1922 comedy The Idle Class.

A Dog’s Life (1918) is the first of Chaplin’s nine films for First National, followed by The Bond (1918), Shoulder Arms (1918), Sunnyside (1919), A Day’s Pleasure (1919), The Kid (1921), The Idle Class (1921), Pay Day (1922), and The Pilgrim (1923).

The cast are Charles Chaplin as Tramp / Husband, Edna Purviance 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 as Pickpocket / Guest, Lita Grey as Guest, Lillian McMurray, Loyal Underwood, Lolita Parker, Howard Olsen, Edward Knoblock, Granville Redmond, Carlyle Robinson, and Jo Van Meter.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,756

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