Charlie Chaplin's film The Immigrant uses cinematic techniques to dramatize the experiences of immigrants in the early 20th century. The film begins on a steamer crossing the Atlantic, where Chaplin's character befriends another immigrant woman traveling with her ill mother. Upon arriving in America, Chaplin's character helps the woman after her mother passes away. The two are then offered jobs posing for a painting. Later, outside a marriage license office in the rain, Chaplin's character proposes to the woman. Throughout the film, Chaplin employs mis-en-scene techniques like black and white cinematography to set the historical period and convey mood, as well as physical acting without words to move the plot and comedy forward.