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Filming The Pilgrim

Publicity still for The Pilgrim
Publicity still for The Pilgrim

Made in 1922 and originally released in 1923, The Pilgrim was Chaplin’s last film of less than normal feature length - it ran for an hour - and the last in which his leading lady was the charming Edna Purviance. The film is a gentle satire on small-town life and religion, with Chaplin as an escaped convict mistaken for the new pastor of a rural community. When the film first came out it suffered a good deal from censorship in some more puritanical states and cities of the United States. Today we have no such problems with this charming comedy and its sharp but good-hearted fun at the expense of the small hypocrisies of life.

In 1959 Chaplin reissued A Dog’s Life, Shoulder Arms and The Pilgrim slightly re-edited, in his omnibus film, The Chaplin Revue. He composed scores for all three films, including the song, Bound For Texas, in The Pilgrim.

The Pilgrim, 1923
The Pilgrim, 1923

Adapted from a text by David Robinson / Copyright 2004 MK2 SA

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