A Dog's Life

Charlie Chaplin, was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp”, and he is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.
A Dog’s Life was Chaplin’s first film for First National Films. Chaplin plays with an animal as “co-star”. “Scraps” (the dog) was the hero in this film, as he helps Charlie and Edna toward a better life. Edna Purviance plays a dance hall singer and Charlie Chaplin, The Tramp. Sydney Chaplin (Chaplin’s brother) had a small role in this film; this was the first time the two brothers were on screen together. Charles Lapworth, a former newspaper editor who had met Chaplin when he interviewed him, took a role as a consultant on the film.