binapiraeus In his last movie for First National, Charlie is once again a convict who just escaped from jail - and to disguise himself, stole the clothes of a priest! And, as fate would have it, on his train trip to 'nowhere', he gets off in a small Texan town where the people are just awaiting their new parson... So, without ANY knowledge about his new 'job', he's got to play the role - and his first church service becomes, of course, an INIMITABLE farce! (While he, from force of habit, always keeps an eye on the boxes with the collection money...) The only story from the Bible he seems to know is that of David and Goliath (and that's NO coincidence at all - for that was the very part Charlie played so often in all kinds of variations in his films!); and he tells it in a WONDERFULLY funny pantomime, which of course was ONLY possible back in the good old silent days...Then, he gets to know the family where he'll live; and the lovely daughter is, of course, once more Edna Purviance (this is the last movie he made together with her), and a romantic bond develops immediately... But very soon, complications turn up for the fugitive: his old jail mate happens to come to the same town - and although he plays the 'nice guy' in the beginning, in fact he intends to steal the family's money Edna's mother keeps in a drawer... So what is the 'parson' to do now?? Just like all the comedies Charlie Chaplin made for First National, "The Pilgrim" is another WONDERFUL example of comedy at its VERY best, FULL of funny scenes (like the one where the neighbors come to see Edna's family with their spoiled little boy; and Charlie has got to pull himself together while the brat keeps slapping him and pouring water over him - not quite unlike W.C. Fields in "The Old-Fashioned Way"...), not without a meaning, and with beautiful sentiments throughout, which however never slip into 'sentimentality' - a TREASURE for every fan of classic movies, and a PERFECT way to get the younger generations to know and love silent cinema!

hausrathman Escaped convict Charlie Chaplin assumes the identity of a preacher along the Mexican border in Texas in "The Pilgrim." The film would be Chaplin's last short, and, although it was certainly enjoyable and benefited from fine direction and nice production values, it sadly lacked the verve and energy of his earlier Mutual short films. Individual sequences shine -- like his sermon on David and Goliath -- but, overall, these sequences rarely build on themselves to reach true comic heights. Take, for example, the hat mistaken for a cake gag. The build-up itself was funnier than the resolution. It never reached the level of the clock scene in "The Pawnshop" or the Murphy bed scene in "One A.M." or the tramp's attempts to pay for his meal in "The Immigrant." I find this trait true of most of the shorts Chaplin produced for First National, with the exception of "Shoulder Arms." Good sequences are scattered here and there, but, overall, there is a certain lackluster attitude. Perhaps he felt he had accomplished all he could in short films. However, Chaplin regained his stride and reasserted his place on the comic throne in the features that followed "The Pilgrim." This film also deserves a special place in the Chaplin canon as his last comedy with Edna Purviance as his leading lady. Though not a great comedienne in her own right, she was certainly a lovely presence in his films.

MartinHafer This film was one of three that were later combined by Chapin into a compilation that was released to theaters in the late 1950s under the title "The Chaplin Review".The film, though a short, was a very complete story and had a lot more depth than earlier Chaplin shorts. In other words, less emphasis was placed on sight gags and more on the story itself. As a result, it played almost like on of his full-length films.Charlie is an escaped prisoner--an odd situation for Chaplin, I would think. However, being the good guy at heart, he is able to reform himself through the course of the film and live up to the image he created by the 1920s of the lovable Little Tramp (as opposed to the earlier incarnations which were often much more violent and mean).This film is beautiful technically and I have nothing negative to say. It's a fine short film.

caspian1978 Having escaped from prison for a crime that is never mentioned, The Tramp disguises himself as a pastor as he heads for Texas. Arriving from train, he is quickly mistaken as the new curator / priest that the small town is expecting. The Tramp is once again placed into a situation that he was act his way out of. Finding himself in the middle of a sermon, The Tramp must perform is way off stage to convince the town that he a priest. The ending, although meant to be funny, is more political that humor. The 1920's outlook on Mexico was the same as it was since the end of the Mexican American War in the 1840's. The audience laughs as we see Mexico and its people as savage and unpredictable as ever. Although the Tramp survives to fight another day, he manages to throw a political message out to the audience before the end of the movie.