The Immigrant (1917) on Netflix
Charlie crosses the Atlantic as an immigrant, dodging seasick passengers and winning a card game. When he slips his winnings into a penniless young woman's bag, he is accused of theft.
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- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.5/1010,100 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
On a steamship bound for the United States, Charlie passes the voyage playing cards, eating in the mess hall and staying out of the way of passengers laid low by the rolling deck. He befriends a young woman who is traveling with her ailing mother, and the two of them have been left with nothing after a pickpocket took their money. That same thief loses his take to Charlie in a card game, and Charlie, sorry for the two women, tries to put his winnings back into the young woman's bag without being seen. The gesture goes wrong and he is taken for a thief himself until she speaks up for him. When the ship reaches New York, the passengers gaze at the Statue of Liberty, and the two of them go their separate ways.
Cast
- Tom Harringtonas Marriage registrar
- Janet Sullyas Passenger (as Janet Milly Sully)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Immigrant (1917)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Edna Purviance had to eat plate after plate of beans while Chaplin shot take after take of the restaurant scene, and the repeated meals actually made her physically ill.
- Henry Bergman was originally cast as the film's bullying head waiter, but Chaplin later cut him from that part and gave the role to Eric Campbell instead.
- When Charlie Chaplin was forced to leave the United States in 1952, critics pointed back to the moment his Tramp kicks an immigration officer in this film as proof of his supposed anti-Americanism.
- Chicago's city censorship board would only allow the film to be shown after two specific shots were removed: a close-up of a stolen moneybag and a scene of someone thumbing their nose as an insult.
- In 1932, producer Amedee Van Beuren bought Chaplin's old Mutual comedies for just $10,000 apiece, dubbed in music and sound effects, and reissued them through RKO, and Chaplin had no legal way to stop him.
