The Story (continued)
In "the
Mansion," the millionaire escorts his new-found friend back
to his elegant mansion to warm up. The millionaire's butler (Allan
Garcia) tells him that his wife has sent for her baggage following
their divorce or separation. The millionaire hurls his wife's photograph
from the top of the liquor cabinet. The two buddies have a few strong
champagne toasts to their friendship, although half of the bottle
ends up down the Tramp's pants. The Tramp finds that the butler doesn't
like him. The millionaire becomes depressed about his marital situation,
reminded by the butler's news, and attempts suicide again with a
revolver, but the Tramp prevents a second suicidal attempt on his
life. The millionaire brightens up and suggests that they go out
to a night club together: "We'll burn up the town!" They
dress to go out on the town to celebrate.
In "Out on the Town," they enter a crowded
dinner and dance nightclub together. The Tramp's behavior causes
a series of unfortunate incidents to occur there. He slips on the
polished floor, and also sets fire to a lady's dress with his discarded
cigar butt. She is squirted with seltzer water to put the fire out.
In a hilarious spaghetti-confetti sequence, he confuses the spaghetti
on his plate with the strings of streamers which come floating down
from the ceiling. He finds himself helplessly sucking upward on an
endless strand of noodle. After a brief floor show - an Apache dance
- the drunken Tramp attempts to save the female dancer from her partner.
The rhythmic beat of the dancing possesses the Tramp. First, he passionately
and wildly whirls an unsuspecting woman around on the dance floor.
And then he takes a waiter with a food tray as his partner. Exhausted
by the energy he has expended, he falls stiffly backward, collapsing
into the arms of the millionaire.
In "Homeward Bound," the two of them zig-zag
home in the millionaire's Rolls-Royce, in the early morning. The
Tramp reprimands his companion for his reckless driving: "Be
careful how you're driving" but receives a reproach: "Am
I driving?" They cross over sidewalks, and narrowly avoid other
cars.
In "Come In, Get Out, Come In," they arrive
back at the mansion, and the Tramp is offered the limo: "Keep
it, it's yours." The butler throws the Tramp out onto the front
steps, where he sees the Flower Girl pass by. At his millionaire
friend's orders, he is fetched back inside. The Tramp is lent some
money to go buy some flowers, although the butler disapproves. He
runs after the Flower Girl in the neighborhood and with the real
millionaire's money buys up her whole basket of stock for ten dollars.
He gives her one bill: "Here's ten dollars." When she replies: "I
haven't any change, sir," he refuses the change and then thrusts
a second bill into her hands. The Tramp drives her home in the rich
man's car - he literally becomes the person she imagines with the
money and automobile in his possession.
As they pull up in front of her place, a cat is seen
sitting on a high windowsill. She thanks him for his kindness and
he asks: "May I see you home again?" The blind girl responds: "Whenever
you wish, sir." Once again, she is infatuated by his attention
to her, now mistakenly convinced that he is a real millionaire. He
is content to let her believe that he is very rich. As he smells
the boutonniere, the cat from above knocks a flowerpot on his head,
but he is so love-struck that he shrugs off any hurt. He climbs up
and stands on a large rain barrel to yearn after her from her second
floor window. The fat janitor from below catches him peeping and
startles him. The barrel topples over and water floods down on the
man as the Tramp scampers away to the limo.
In "This Time, Stay Out," he returns to the
millionaire's mansion in the limo, but the eccentric millionaire
has sobered up, and can remember nothing at all of what has happened.
He has to be drunk to recognize the Little Tramp as his friend. When
sober, he is icy and cold and wants nothing to do with the Tramp.
When drunk, he is friendly and supportive. The Tramp is pushed out
by the butler at the front door and goes away disappointed. He trails
a gentleman down the street for his discarded cigar butt - in the
borrowed limousine. He leaps from the car to elbow another bum away
from the discarded cigar butt.
In "Daydreams," the
Blind Flower Girl thinks of her millionaire friend, and tells her
grandmother: "...and then he brought me home in his car." Her
grandmother thinks: "He must be wealthy." She replies: "Yes,
but he's more than that."
In "That Afternoon," the Tramp again meets
the drunken millionaire on one of the city's sidewalks. He welcomes
his "friend" again with open arms, and arranges a "swell
party" in his honor. At the party, the tipsy Tramp mistakes
a bald head for fancy ice cream or a cream pudding. When he is offered
real pudding, he dismisses it. And then he swallows a whistle, a
party favor. With an attack of hiccups, he whistles with each spasm.
When he steps outside to avoid distracting the other guests, he first
attracts a taxi, and then is surrounded by a wild assortment of dogs.
In "The Morning After," morning brings an
unpleasant awakening. He finds himself sharing a warm double bed
with the millionaire, who wakes up sober and doesn't recognize him
at all. Once again, the Tramp is ruthlessly ordered out of the mansion.
The millionaire is planning an ocean voyage to Europe, leaving at
noon. After being thrown out by the butler and neatly stealing some
fruit on the way, the Tramp pulls a banana from his back pocket and
strolls away unperturbed, non-chalantly peeling the banana and taking
a bite. Disillusioned again, the Tramp tries to find the Blind Girl
at her familiar street corner location, but she is not there. Looking
through her home's window, he learns that she is sick in bed with
a fever, attended by a doctor and her grandmother. He sits dejectedly
on the stairs where he was earlier hit with a falling flowerpot.
In "Determined to Help," the Tramp finds
his purpose in life. He is determined to pay for a doctor and become
her benefactor, so he takes a job as a street cleaner, a sanitary
engineer with a shovel and a trash barrel. Shuffling along in his
white street-sweeping uniform, he sees the natural remains of a horse-drawn
cart - and shovels up the manure. He turns away from following a
long procession of mules, and then he does a double-take when an
elephant ambles down the street, part of a circus animal procession.
The girl's grandmother shields her from the bad news - they have
received a Final Notice of $22 rent due, facing eviction from the
dispossessing landlord who has signed the notice: M. B. Mint. The
blind girl is hopeful: "He's coming today!" At lunch time
during his work break, the Tramp accidently swaps soap for a wedge
of cheese, providing a fellow laborer with a soap sandwich. Bubbles
float from the worker's mouth as he is cursed. The Tramp is warned
about being back on time for his job.
In "Playing the Gentleman," "to play
the part of a gentleman without the millionaire was difficult, but
he did his best." He takes food to the girl at her home, delighted
at being able to play the role as breadwinner. The blind girl's grandmother
is not at home when he calls. The Tramp empties the largesse from
a bag - fruit, a head of cauliflower (that looks like a giant boutonniere),
and a plucked duck. The Tramp reads to her from the newspaper about
a Viennese eye specialist in town who can cure her blindness. "Wonderful,
then I'll be able to see you," she says, giving him some hesitation
and cause for alarm. The gift of sight that he wishes to give her
may also cause tremendous loss. She asks him to hold the skein of
yarn she is raveling up. But his joy turns to concern when he realizes
that she has somehow caught a loose thread from beneath his vest
that is slowly unraveling his long underwear. As he continues to
talk to her, he squirms and writhes as the threads from his underclothes
slither against his skin and he is slowly stripped of his undergarments.
He shifts from side to side so that the unraveling won't catch somewhere.
Then, he feverishly pulls the thread out to feed it into her hands
until there is nothing left.
The Tramp also reads to her the Final Notice about
overdue rent, upsetting the girl. But he promises: "Now don't
worry. I'll pay it the first thing in the morning." He returns
to his street-sweeping job, but loses it for being late once too
often. His employer fires him: "You're late for the last time!" As
he walks away, he is enticed into making some "easy money" outside
the Main Street boxing arena.
In "That Night," to keep up pretenses of
being rich and to earn reward money to pay the overdue rent, he enters
a fixed boxing contest. As a stand-in, he must not hurt his crook-opponent,
and the plan is to split the purse 50-50 following the match. He
believes that the fight is fixed in his favor. |