The Immigrant
Encyclopedia
The Immigrant is a 1917 American comedy short film starring the Charlie Chaplin
Tramp
character as an immigrant coming to the United States
who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean
, and befriends a young woman along the way. It also stars Edna Purviance
and Eric Campbell
.
The movie was written and directed by Chaplin.
According to Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's documentary series Unknown Chaplin
, the first scenes to be written and filmed take place in what became the movie's second half, in which the penniless Tramp finds a coin and goes for a meal in a restaurant, not realising that the coin has fallen out of his pocket. It was not until later that Chaplin decided the reason the Tramp was penniless was that he had just arrived on a boat from Europe
, and used this notion as the basis for the first half. Purviance reportedly was required to eat so many plates of beans during the many takes to complete the restaurant sequence (in character as another immigrant who falls in love with Charlie) that she became physically ill.
The scene in which Chaplin's character kicks an immigration officer was cited later as evidence of his anti-Americanism when he was forced to leave the United States
in 1952. In 1998, The Immigrant was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Later, hungry and broke, the tramp finds a coin on the street outside a restaurant and pockets it. He doesn't realize there is a hole in his pocket and the coin has fallen straight through and is back on the ground. He enters the restaurant, where he orders a plate of beans. There, he is reunited with Edna and discovers her mother is dead. Charlie orders a meal for Edna.
As they eat, they watch the restaurant's burly head waiter (Campbell) and other waiters attack and forcibly eject a patron who is short 10 cents in paying his bill. Charlie, intimidated by the waiter, checks and now realizes he has lost his coin. Terrified of facing the same treatment as the man he saw thrown out, the tramp begins planning how he will fight the huge man. Soon, however, he finds the same coin fallen from the head waiter's pocket onto the floor and makes many failed attempts to retrieve it without notice. He finally retrieves the coin and nonchalantly pays the waiter only to be thunderstruck when the waiter reveals the coin to be fake. Once again, Charlie prepares for the fight of his life. Just then, a visiting artist spots Edna and Charlie and offers them a job to pose for a painting. The two agree. The artist offers to pay for Edna and Charlie's meal, but Charlie declines the offer several times for reasons of etiquette, intending to eventually accept the artist's offer; however, he's dismayed when the artist does not renew his offer to pay at the last moment. The artist pays for his own meal and leaves a tip for the waiter. Charlie notices that the tip is enough to cover Charlie and Edna's meal and, without the artist noticing, palms the tip and presents it to the waiter as his own payment for his and Edna's meal. As a final riposte, he lets the waiter keep the remaining change - one small coin - after paying his bill. The waiter thinks the artist himself has given no tip whatsoever, and is clearly upset at this supposed action.
Afterwards, outside a marriage license office in the rain, the tramp proposes marriage to Edna who is coy and reluctant until Charlie physically carries the laughing girl into the office.
reveals that Chaplin developed the storyline for The Immigrant as filming progressed. Initially, the movie began as a comedy set in an artists cafe, with Purviance as a brightly dressed patron. This plot was abandoned almost immediately, before Chaplin's character was introduced, the documentary states, and Chaplin began again, with a story, still set in a cafe, about a man who has never been in a restaurant before displaying terrible table manners before meeting a lovely girl (Purviance) and shaping up. Initially, Henry Bergman
played the bully-ish head waiter, but Chaplin eventually replaced him with Eric Campbell
. According to Unknown Chaplin, Chaplin developed the idea of the tramp and Purviance's character being immigrants when he realized he needed more plot to justify the restaurant scenes. After filming the film's opening sequences of the arrival in America, he reshot parts of the restaurant scene to be consistent with the new plot (bringing Bergman back in a new role as an artist who resolves the subplot of Charlie being unable to pay for dinner), and added the epilogue in which the Tramp and Purviance are married.
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
Tramp
The Tramp
The Tramp, also known as The Little Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era....
character as an immigrant coming to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, and befriends a young woman along the way. It also stars Edna Purviance
Edna Purviance
Edna Purviance was an American actress during the silent movie era. She was the leading lady in many Charlie Chaplin movies. In a span of eight years, she appeared in over thirty films with Chaplin.-Early life:...
and Eric Campbell
Eric Campbell (actor)
Alfred Eric Campbell was an English actor who for many years was wrongly believed to be Scottish....
.
The movie was written and directed by Chaplin.
According to Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's documentary series Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin is an acclaimed three-part 1983 British television documentary about the career and the methods of the film luminary Charles Chaplin using previously unseen film for illustration....
, the first scenes to be written and filmed take place in what became the movie's second half, in which the penniless Tramp finds a coin and goes for a meal in a restaurant, not realising that the coin has fallen out of his pocket. It was not until later that Chaplin decided the reason the Tramp was penniless was that he had just arrived on a boat from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and used this notion as the basis for the first half. Purviance reportedly was required to eat so many plates of beans during the many takes to complete the restaurant sequence (in character as another immigrant who falls in love with Charlie) that she became physically ill.
The scene in which Chaplin's character kicks an immigration officer was cited later as evidence of his anti-Americanism when he was forced to leave the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1952. In 1998, The Immigrant was selected for preservation in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Cast
- Charles Chaplin - Immigrant
- Edna PurvianceEdna PurvianceEdna Purviance was an American actress during the silent movie era. She was the leading lady in many Charlie Chaplin movies. In a span of eight years, she appeared in over thirty films with Chaplin.-Early life:...
- Immigrant - Eric CampbellEric Campbell (actor)Alfred Eric Campbell was an English actor who for many years was wrongly believed to be Scottish....
- The head waiter - Albert AustinAlbert AustinAlbert Austin was an actor, film star, director and script writer, noted mainly for his work in Charlie Chaplin films. He was the brother of actor William Austin....
- A diner - Henry BergmanHenry BergmanHenry Bergman was an American actor of stage and film, known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin....
- The artist
Synopsis
The film begins aboard a steamer crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and initially showcases the misadventures of an unnamed immigrant (Chaplin) who finds himself in assorted mischief while, among other things, playing cards, eating in a mess hall, and avoiding seasick passengers. Along the way, he befriends another unnamed immigrant (Purviance) who is travelling to America with her ailing mother. The tramp, feeling sorry for the two penniless women, attempts to secretly place his winnings from his card game in the woman's (Purviance) pocket, but ends up being mistakenly accused of being a pickpocket. The woman (Purviance) manages to clear the tramp's name. Upon arrival in America, the tramp and Edna part company.Later, hungry and broke, the tramp finds a coin on the street outside a restaurant and pockets it. He doesn't realize there is a hole in his pocket and the coin has fallen straight through and is back on the ground. He enters the restaurant, where he orders a plate of beans. There, he is reunited with Edna and discovers her mother is dead. Charlie orders a meal for Edna.
As they eat, they watch the restaurant's burly head waiter (Campbell) and other waiters attack and forcibly eject a patron who is short 10 cents in paying his bill. Charlie, intimidated by the waiter, checks and now realizes he has lost his coin. Terrified of facing the same treatment as the man he saw thrown out, the tramp begins planning how he will fight the huge man. Soon, however, he finds the same coin fallen from the head waiter's pocket onto the floor and makes many failed attempts to retrieve it without notice. He finally retrieves the coin and nonchalantly pays the waiter only to be thunderstruck when the waiter reveals the coin to be fake. Once again, Charlie prepares for the fight of his life. Just then, a visiting artist spots Edna and Charlie and offers them a job to pose for a painting. The two agree. The artist offers to pay for Edna and Charlie's meal, but Charlie declines the offer several times for reasons of etiquette, intending to eventually accept the artist's offer; however, he's dismayed when the artist does not renew his offer to pay at the last moment. The artist pays for his own meal and leaves a tip for the waiter. Charlie notices that the tip is enough to cover Charlie and Edna's meal and, without the artist noticing, palms the tip and presents it to the waiter as his own payment for his and Edna's meal. As a final riposte, he lets the waiter keep the remaining change - one small coin - after paying his bill. The waiter thinks the artist himself has given no tip whatsoever, and is clearly upset at this supposed action.
Afterwards, outside a marriage license office in the rain, the tramp proposes marriage to Edna who is coy and reluctant until Charlie physically carries the laughing girl into the office.
Production
Episode 1 of the 1983 documentary series Unknown ChaplinUnknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin is an acclaimed three-part 1983 British television documentary about the career and the methods of the film luminary Charles Chaplin using previously unseen film for illustration....
reveals that Chaplin developed the storyline for The Immigrant as filming progressed. Initially, the movie began as a comedy set in an artists cafe, with Purviance as a brightly dressed patron. This plot was abandoned almost immediately, before Chaplin's character was introduced, the documentary states, and Chaplin began again, with a story, still set in a cafe, about a man who has never been in a restaurant before displaying terrible table manners before meeting a lovely girl (Purviance) and shaping up. Initially, Henry Bergman
Henry Bergman
Henry Bergman was an American actor of stage and film, known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin....
played the bully-ish head waiter, but Chaplin eventually replaced him with Eric Campbell
Eric Campbell (actor)
Alfred Eric Campbell was an English actor who for many years was wrongly believed to be Scottish....
. According to Unknown Chaplin, Chaplin developed the idea of the tramp and Purviance's character being immigrants when he realized he needed more plot to justify the restaurant scenes. After filming the film's opening sequences of the arrival in America, he reshot parts of the restaurant scene to be consistent with the new plot (bringing Bergman back in a new role as an artist who resolves the subplot of Charlie being unable to pay for dinner), and added the epilogue in which the Tramp and Purviance are married.