The Pilgrim (1923)

Synopsis [spoilers]: Charlie is an escaped convict. He steals the clothes from a parson who was swimming at a lake. He arrives at a train station and a couple of elopers ask him to marry them; the girl's father soon arrives and thwarts the sweethearts' plans. Charlie picks up a city at random in the station's board and, after a first rejected outcome (Sing-Sing), Dallas is elected as his destination. By a coincidence, the folks in Dallas are expecting the arrival of their minister and mistakes Charlie for him. When a letter from the real minister arrives, warning that he will be late, the man who is supposed to read it is without his glasses and asks Charlie to do it for him; Charlie makes up a different text for the letter, namely that Lizzy is feeling much better. Charlie must now perform religious services. It begins with the choir, then proceeds with the collection -- Charlie is at a loss about these proceedings, so Charlie's new friend, the same man who received him, must guide him through them; Charlie wants to keep the results of the collection to himself but is prevented from doing so by his friend. Next comes the sermon: Charlie tells the tale of David and Goliath and is a total success. He then goes to the house where he will be lodged; they are receiving another couple's visit, with an incredibly obnoxious child, who drives everyone mad. Charlie is helping his landlady's beautiful daughter to bake a cake, and the child takes his father's hat and places it over the cake, whose shape it matches exactly. Charlie doesn't notice that and proceeds to lay the cake's cover on it. When the cake is served, the couple wants to leave but the man can't find his hat; the cake is served while he looks for his hat furiously. Charlie soon notices that the cake is abnormally hard, and eventually finds the hat under the cover. The man is furious and leaves with his wife and kid. Later in the afternoon, Charlie and the girl are idling in the front lawn when Charlie's former cellmate Nick passes in front of the house, greeting him, much to his discomfort. The girl invites him in; once inside, the guy steals one of the guests's wallet; Charlie, who had been watching him, manages to take it back and restore it to its owner. The landlady's wife says that she finally got the money to pay the house's mortgage; she puts it in a drawer, under Nick's attentive regard. During the night, Charlie stands guard; despite that, Nick overpowers him and steals the mortgage money; he flees the house, but is chased by Charlie. He goes to the casino to gamble, but there is a hold-up; Charlie boldly disguises himself as a robber and walks up to Nick and takes the money from him. The sheriff comes by the house the next morning and reveals that Charlie is an escaped convict and will never return with the money. But Charlie does. He is taken prisoner, but the sheriff takes pity of him and leads him to the Mexican border. He tells Charlie to pick some flowers on the other side of the border; Charlie doesn't realize that he is being given a chance to escape and comes back with the flowers. The sheriff takes Charlie forcefully back to the border and propels him across it with the foot. Charlie is happy to be free until he comes across a violent shootout which scares him; he returns to the border, but, not knowing where to go (presumably), he chooses to walk along the borderline.

Appraisal: This is my second viewing of it, but to be honest I had no recollection of any of it. According to my notes, I didn't like it much the first time, which is a mystery to me, since it is a respectable and entertaining movie. Note: this time, I saw the version contained in The Chaplin Revue (1959), which has a length of 39:40 min. I have no idea which one I saw the first time.

Rating: 65 (up from 45)