You can read the poem upon which this film was based. I guess a lot of the satire is lost to our "blind" modern eyes. This is a rare chance to see early Chaplin doing some fairly straight acting.
Well, I've just been told that my comment isn't long enough. Good writing is succinct writing everywhere else.
But I'll plow on with more thoughts. It's interesting to see how much the tragedy in being a run-down bum is felt in this short. The Tramp is such a resourceful character in most shorts that feature him that there is no sense of his being really a loser in life. The poor who identified with his plight also enjoyed his ultimate victories and small defeats of the powerful, I will guess. If we looked at him today, we'd wonder why he couldn't fit into the models of success we hold dear: offices, stores, anything that requires conformation to behaviorial requirements -- must have been all that kicking!
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