The Kid was Charlie Chaplin's first full-length movie. It, more than anything else to that date, made Charlie Chaplin a living legend. It took over a year to produce, and was an incredible success for Charlie Chaplin, both financially and artistically.
Over the next year, Charlie Chaplin continued working on The Kid, as his perfectionism takes more and more time in creating his film masterpieces. Sadly, he and Mildred Harris divorce at this time, in one of the most bitter Hollywood divorces seen up to this point. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as The Kid is finally released to unanimous praise, and record box office success, in 1921. Charlie Chaplin had gone through a very difficult time, and needed time to relax, and renew himself. He took his first vacation, returning to Europe to crowds that were beyond his wildest dreams.
In a bittersweet moment, he learns of Hetty Kelly's death from her brother while in London. More cheerfully, he begins several friendships in London that become lifelong, including with the famous writer H. G. Welles. In addition, he and Sydney brought their mother, Hannah, to the States, where she lived the rest of her life, under the best medical care that Charlie's money could provide.
Returning to America, and to his work, Charlie Chaplin quickly produced his next film, The Idle Class. Charlie Chaplin began working on his next film, Payday, in his professional life, and meets the European actress Pola Negri, with whom he has an off-again, on-again romantic relationship that goes on for nearly a year.
Over the course of that year, Charlie Chaplin releases his next film, The Pilgrim (about an escaped convict who takes on the role of a preacher to avoid recapture), and prepares for his first dramatic film, A Woman of Paris, designed to catapult Edna Purviance into her own career. Audiences by now had associated the name Charlie Chaplin with comedy, however, and were not expecting serious fare. Although a good movie, it died at the box office — and gave Charlie Chaplin his first commercial failure.
In a messy divorce
Despite the birth of a second son, Sidney, in 1926, Charlie & Lita's marriage broke apart — bitterly, and publicly. Charges went back and forth, with newspapers gleefully displaying the details of the Chaplins' marital woes. Charlie Chaplin always refused to discuss his marriage with Lita; Lita, however, wrote a one-sided account, Wife of the Life of the Party. The divorce ended in 1927 with a record-breaking divorce settlement of $825,000. The stress was enough to permanently turn Charlie Chaplin's hair prematurely white. During all of this, Charlie Chaplin continued to film The Circus (read review), one of his lesser-known, but best, films.
In 1928, Charlie Chaplin released The Circus to popular acclaim, and also received a special Oscar for his work on the film as director, actor, producer. Sadly, this positive year was also crushingly negative, as Charlie's beloved mother died. Charlie Chaplin's life continued to be centered around his work, even in his grief, as he began work on his next film towards the end of that year: City Lights (read review).