ENGLISH TEXT BELOW

En fattig mor lægger sit nyfødte barn i en bil i et rigmandskvarter i håb om, at barnet vil få et bedre liv. Da bilen bliver stjålet, ender barnet i armene på vagabonden Charlie. Nogle år efter arbejder Charlie som glarmester, og ’sønnen’ sætter skub i forretningen ved at baldre ruder i nabolaget. Men snart kommer børneværnet på sporet af den lille familie, og i mellemtiden er drengens mor blevet rig og vil have sin fortabte søn tilbage. Filmen er båret af et intenst og udtryksfuldt samspil mellem Chaplin og barnestjernen Jackie Coogan, og Chaplin balancerer mesterligt mellem det patosfyldte, det menneskeligt vedkommende og det socialt anklagende.

An impoverished mother places her new-born child in a car in a wealthy neighbourhood in the hope that he will have a better life there. When the car is stolen, the child ends up in the arms of the vagabond Charlie. A few years later, Charlie works as a glazier while his ‘son’ boosts the business by smashing windows in the neighbourhood. Soon, however, the child protection services are on the trail of the little family, and in the meantime the boy’s mother has become rich and now wants her lost son back. The film rests on the intense and expressive interaction between Chaplin and the child star Jackie Coogan, with Chaplin adroitly striking a balance between pathos, poignancy and social criticism. SCORE: Charles Chaplin.