An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master who can't find work and can't pay the rent.An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master who can't find work and can't pay the rent.An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master who can't find work and can't pay the rent.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is on the second disc in the 2-Disc Chaplin Collection DVD for The Kid (1921), released in 2004 by Warner Brothers.
- GoofsIn the still showing the Satue of Liberty as 'policeman of the port.." it is a mirror shot and t6he torch is in the left arm.
- Quotes
[first title card]
Title Card: Midway between the immeasurable distance from horizon to horizon, but nearing the coveted shore - America!
Featured review
Jackie Blair's father was killed in France. His mother died traveling in steerage. This leaves little Jackie Blair (Jackie Coogan) alone when he appears at Ellis Island, and the immigration officials want to send him right back. Captain Bill (Claude Gillingwater) appears on the scene asking for a job—but he's too old and no one wants him. He sees lonely little Jackie, pities him and asks the eight Pinkosuwitz children to include him in their games.
Thus, the Captain accidentally engineers Jackie's escape. The orphan is mixed in with the Pinkosuwitzes when they leave the immigration building. When they find they've gained a ninth child, they send him on his way. This leaves Jackie to follow Captain Bill back to his very modest home—for which the old salt is unable to pay the rent. Jackie tries to make himself useful. He even sings and dances with an organ grinder to make money for the Captain's medicine. Little does either guess that Jackie's wealthy grandmother (Mathilde Brundage) has everyone in immigration looking for the boy. When Jackie turns up at the matron's party for unfortunate children, he may be reunited with her. Or he may go to jail when he's suspected of stealing her hand-bag.
Jackie Coogan had just become a hit—the first great child star of the movies—when he appeared with Charlie Chaplin in "The Kid." This film is a tepid rehash of the Chaplin film. The slapstick gags are indifferently conceived and spaced far apart so that they don't build on one another. The makers of this film have no idea how to sustain comic momentum in the way Chaplin does.
Nor can they deliver the same emotional wallop. Where Chaplin discovers Jackie as an infant and raises him for five years, Captain Bill finds Jackie already in boyhood and spends perhaps a week with him. The tearjerking scene from "The Kid," where the social workers tear Jackie away from Chaplin, has a weak parallel in this film. And instead of Jackie's wealthy mother seeking him, he is being sought by his wealthy grandmother.
This is still worth watching for one reason: Jackie Coogan. He is just as charming here as he was in the Chaplin film, and just as adept with sentimental scenes and slapstick gags, even if the filmmakers make poorer use of his talents. "My Boy" does have one scene I'll never forget. When Captain Bill puts a sleeping Jackie to bed, the little boy puts his hand on the old man's face. After the Captain covers him up, he takes out Jackie's arm and puts the boy's hand on his face again. What a lovely moment.
Thus, the Captain accidentally engineers Jackie's escape. The orphan is mixed in with the Pinkosuwitzes when they leave the immigration building. When they find they've gained a ninth child, they send him on his way. This leaves Jackie to follow Captain Bill back to his very modest home—for which the old salt is unable to pay the rent. Jackie tries to make himself useful. He even sings and dances with an organ grinder to make money for the Captain's medicine. Little does either guess that Jackie's wealthy grandmother (Mathilde Brundage) has everyone in immigration looking for the boy. When Jackie turns up at the matron's party for unfortunate children, he may be reunited with her. Or he may go to jail when he's suspected of stealing her hand-bag.
Jackie Coogan had just become a hit—the first great child star of the movies—when he appeared with Charlie Chaplin in "The Kid." This film is a tepid rehash of the Chaplin film. The slapstick gags are indifferently conceived and spaced far apart so that they don't build on one another. The makers of this film have no idea how to sustain comic momentum in the way Chaplin does.
Nor can they deliver the same emotional wallop. Where Chaplin discovers Jackie as an infant and raises him for five years, Captain Bill finds Jackie already in boyhood and spends perhaps a week with him. The tearjerking scene from "The Kid," where the social workers tear Jackie away from Chaplin, has a weak parallel in this film. And instead of Jackie's wealthy mother seeking him, he is being sought by his wealthy grandmother.
This is still worth watching for one reason: Jackie Coogan. He is just as charming here as he was in the Chaplin film, and just as adept with sentimental scenes and slapstick gags, even if the filmmakers make poorer use of his talents. "My Boy" does have one scene I'll never forget. When Captain Bill puts a sleeping Jackie to bed, the little boy puts his hand on the old man's face. After the Captain covers him up, he takes out Jackie's arm and puts the boy's hand on his face again. What a lovely moment.
- J. Spurlin
- Feb 8, 2007
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime55 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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