The Pilgrim

Audience Reviews

View More

Steve D @RT35616104 Feb 20, 2024 Ok but not among its stars best. See more Jithin K @Jithin Oct 28, 2023 A few familiar tropes in movies today, probably making some of its first appearance in cinema at that time. We're No Angels and Romans seem to be versions of this movie too. As always Chaplin is pretty great even if the film doesn't try too much. See more Petros T @PetrosTserpelis Aug 15, 2021 The jokes are sparser than usual and the satire could've cut deeper, yet "The Pilgrim" remains an enjoyable tale of identity theft that eschews the simplistic dichotomy of good vs bad. See more Nov 29, 2020 Something about Charlie Chaplin breaking out of prison and heading south to Texas almost feels engraved in our hearts - like, of course we knew he did that. An escaped convict is the role he's born to play. Everything about his style of humor, the idiocy he often portrays, complements the type of person who is uncultured, unsophisticated, and criminal... thrust into a Christian society that longs for a new pastor, who he becomes. Chaplin is a behaviorist who merely exaggerates the human body's potential, miming psychologically-motivated physicality to make various points about our condition. He is able to understand the story our bodies tell in relation to one another, and utilize a varying frame rate to advantageously highlight these caricatures. Of course, our attention span is different today, our perception of what plays too long, such as the slapping child. But for a film that exists in a time where we moved at a far different pace, it never badly runs into that problem, suggesting Chaplin's idea of what an audience likes was a bit ahead of its time. Unquestionably, whether you're watching this now, or a century ago, Pilgrim is hilarious. See more Dec 7, 2013 Classic Chaplin comedy, short and sweet. See more Jul 30, 2013 Has some good moments, but doesn't go far enough with poking fun at small-town morals. The little western ballad about going to Texas was written by Chaplin, but the version recorded in the '70s that I think was accompanying the VHS copy I watched seemed out of place. Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd plays multiple roles. Mack Swain and Loyal Underwood are large and small deacons from the congregation, who are expecting their new parson at the train station. Tom Murray is the town sheriff. Purviance is a girl from the congregation. And Charles Reisner is a local crook. Based on the quick glimpse of Chaplin's wanted poster, I think his character was actually known as Lefty. From the first time we see Lefty he is disguised as a preacher. Immediately he is tested by having to lead a church service. He gives an amusing pantomime of the David and Goliath story and watches the congregation's tithing carefully. When he meets the church member and her daughter (Purviance), who will give him room and board, he decides to turn over a new leaf. Reisner's character, who goes by many aliases, recognizes Lefty from time they spent in jail together. Lefty constantly keeps an eye out for the sheriff and now he needs to make sure the other crook doesn't ruin the nice situation in which he finds himself. There are a handful of good physical gags, yet despite the longer run time, the characters and story do not feel like they are developed as fully as they could be. See more Read all reviews

The Pilgrim

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING