<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $250,000 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $5,450,000 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Kid is a 1921 American silent comedy - drama film written by, produced by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his adopted son and sidekick . This was Chaplin's first full - length film as a director (he had been a co-star in 1914's Tillie's Punctured Romance). It was a huge success, and was the second - highest - grossing film in 1921, behind The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse . In 2011, The Kid was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ." Innovative in its combination of comedic and dramatic elements, The Kid is widely considered one of the greatest films of the silent era . </P> <P> An unknown woman (Edna Purviance) leaves a charity hospital carrying her newborn son . An artist (Carl Miller), the apparent father, is shown with the woman's photograph . When it falls into the fireplace, he first picks it up, then throws it back in to burn up . The woman decides to abandon her child in the back seat of an expensive automobile with a handwritten note imploring the finder to care for and love the baby . However, the car is stolen . When the two thieves discover the child, they leave him on the street . The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) finds the baby . Unwilling at first to take on the responsibility, he eventually softens and names the boy John . Elsewhere, the woman has an apparent change of heart and returns for the baby, but is heartbroken and faints upon learning of the baby having been taken away . </P>

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