Review of The Vagabond (1916) by John S — 06 Mar 2012

The Tramp meets a woman who is being abused by her employers, and he takes it upon himself to rescue her and whisk her away. Their life together is pleasant but things become complicated when The Tramp falls in love with the woman, but the woman falls for another.

With The Tramp (1915), the short from Essanay, Charlie had taken his first step towards his unique genius, and with The Vagabond, he would take another step. But only just a step, it's not exactly a leap, like The Kid. The Tramp and The Vagabond (Man, Charlie like to use "The" in the titles of his films) were two of the very first films ever to display a mixture of comedy and pathos, which would become Charlie's trademark and he would later perfect in The Kid. The Vagabond comes close, but not as close as The Tramp or nearly as close as The Kid.

But on it's own, The Vagabond is an extremely endearing and adorable film with some beautiful touching moments and a few laughs. But only a few. It's a smidge disappointing because the film isn't very funny. There are a couple or so pretty good moments, but overall it's a letdown. That being so, the film is still very cute and amusing so, the film isn't really boring, it just works better as a drama with some funny moments, rather than the level of his masterpieces which are a perfect combination of laughs and tears.