Charlie Chaplin - Film great?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 1:40am

So last week I sat through a Charlie Chaplin marathon consisting of The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator and Modern Times. Just curious of people's thoughts on these movies - both in terms of Charlie's career, their significance within the historic and social contexts in which they were released, and why they resonate still today. Do people find Chaplin overrated or not? I was surprised he wasn't included in the top 50 movie stars of all time by Premiere magazine.

Also, any other recommendations for Chaplin movies to watch? I'm thinking of picking up Limelight some time, and renting the Chaplin biography with Robert Downey Jr.

Updated On: 4/3/05 at 01:40 AM

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 1:43am

Others may disagree, but I would check out MONSIEUR VERDOUX--one of his few "talkies".


He plays a HIGHLY elegant man--the antithesis of The Little Tramp--who marries wealthy women and then kills them to get their money.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:13am

What year was it made in?

I'd like to pick up a Chaplin biography some time. He seems to have lived a very interesting life. I had no idea he got tangled in the Committee of Un-American Activities. Seems some of his films had a bit of critical commentary that hit a bit too close to home! (Random trivia fact: Apparently Adolf Hitler sat through The Great Dictator twice! To be a fly on the wall in that room...)

Updated On: 4/3/05 at 03:13 AM

[broadway_star_tomorrow]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:16am

I adore "Moderns Times." I wrote a paper on it for my OrgCom class.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:18am

Just as a sidenote: He was married to Eugene O'Neill's daughter. Imagine what their family get-togethers were like!!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:19am

Wasn't she something like 16 and he in his early 40s when they wed?

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:24am

The Great Dictator is my absolute favorite Chaplin film. I had no idea Hitler actually saw it! That makes it so much funnier in my mind.

[Yawper]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:55am

purely opinion - The Gold Rush is too slow for me, I get impatient. Some scenes in Modern Times are a little too formulaic. The Great Dictator is my favorite of these three.

My two major Chaplin recommendations are City Lights and The Circus. The Circus holds a special place in my heart because the first time I saw it was a fantastic night. A few years ago the original score was found at Chaplin's estate in Switzerland, researched and restored. During the process it was discovered that the film had been remastered at an incorrect speed when it had been joined to a recorded soundtrack when talkies came out. The original music couldn't be played fast enough to match the film at the incorrect speed. Corrected to the slower speed the film is even funnier because all the jokes and slapstick have better setup. After completing the research and remastering the researcher toured with the film and used local sinfoniettas playing the recovered score to provide live accompaniment. Another extra was that the screening here was in honor of the theater's anniversary - it opened the same year The Circus was released. The whole event was a throwback to 1928 and was just incredible.

The shorts of The Kid and A Dog's Life are worth checking out, too (they're both on one dvd).

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 8:05am

I love Chaplin. 'City Lights' is my favorite. The last shot gets me all choked up, even thinking about it. Chaplin loved to shoot foootage of guests at his film studio. He got footage of Pavlova. If only Nijinsky would have allowed Chaplin to film him upon his visit to the film studio. Nothing on film exists of the great dance legend.

[Jon]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 8:27am

Eugene O'Neill was devastated by the marriage of his daughter to a man just a few years younger than himself, and, in fact, refused to ever meet Mr. Chaplin.

Let's add to that the fact that BOTH of O'Neill's sons committed suicide. Not exactly a happy family.

My theatre did a play called EVERYBODY SMILE by the late N.Richard Nash (best known for THE RAINMAKER) based on the "what if?" premise of a meeting between Chaplin and O'Neill. It was one of Nash's last plays and might do well in New York with the right two actors in the leads.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:58am

I actually have the DVD of the Downey film in my room now. It's worth the watch, but personally, I think that something is lost when you learn so much about the real man behind the Tramp. If you're still interested in a biography of him, I highly recommend Kenneth S. Lynn's "Charlie Chaplin and His Times."

As far as silent era comedians go, I'm partial to Harold Lloyd -- at least as a character on film. In real life, he wasn't as interesting as Chaplin. He played the "I'm just an all-American guy" card too often.
Updated On: 4/3/05 at 09:58 AM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 3:00pm

Thanks for the tidbit, Yawper! Do you know if The Circus is available on DVD? It would have been amazing to have seen it played live with a real orchestra! As it is now, is the current release of The Circus the one at the incorrect speed?

What's the plot of City Lights? This is different from Limelight, right? Was Chaplin ever nominated for any Oscar aside from the lifetime achievement one he received? Was it because of the Un-American Activities tangle that he stopped releasing films? Such a shame - Modern Times in particular was so ahead of its time, it seems. And The Great Dictator speaks for itself. Was America involved in WWII by then?

Jon - did you act in the show? Sounds like an interesting premise. I'll look it up at the library/bookstore.

Evelyn - Thanks for the advice! I'll look into Harold Lloyd, but after Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe is next on my list of classics to educate myself on!

By the way, anyone who read the latest issue of Premiere magazine, do you agree with their list of the Top 50 Movie Stars Of All Time?

[Yawper]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:36pm

The Circus is out on DVD, but I don't know if the 2004 special 2 disc set is speed corrected or not. My 1993 release definitely isn't.

City Lights is about the tramp falling for a blind girl, who mistakenly believes he is wealthy. It's better than Limelight IMHO.

The Great Dictator was released in 1940 so no the US was not officially in the war yet. A lot of under-the-table help was being given to the involved Allied powers, though.

Chaplin posed a few problems for the US establishment. HUAC didn't like his politics, but the stickler was that he developed an amoral reputation. He had been implicated in a few sex scandals and had a really nasty divorce. The powers that were conveniently washed their hands of him by telling him, after he had left for a trip overseas, that re-entry into the US would not be guaranteed (Chaplin had never obtained US citizenship). Rather than put up a fight he merely relocated to Switzerland. He released a few films and did some other work after leaving the US, but by and large he settled down with Oona and raised his family.

[AndyHardy]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 10:50am

"Smile though your heart is breaking"

So glad to see others here who appreciate the genius that is Charles Chaplin.

Yawpers, your assessments are spot on!! Happy to know someone else appreciates The Circus. Though not his best film, it still contains some of his funniest (and most underappreciated) scenes.

Watch "City Lights." It is, in my opinion, Chaplin's true masterpiece. All of his humor, timing, storytelling, pathos and agility are presented here in their finest form. The "boxing ring" scene alone is perhaps one of the best uses of choreography ever put on celluloid. I can't express how floored I am that one person could be so talented.

As for bios -- there are so many. The best one (and many other cinephiles agree) is "Chaplin: His Life and Art" by David Robinson. Check Amazon.com

Also, an easy and informative read is "Tramp;..." by Joyce Milton. This bio is pretty thorough and works hard at describing the eras that Chaplin lived in and how important he was in those eras. It is relatively easy to find in your local bookstore as it is still in print. But Robinson's is more indepth into both his life with an analysis of the art he created.

Chaplin's own autobiography is interesting but is more intersesting once you know Chaplin's "story" and you can see how much Chaplin embellished and/ or altered his life in this text.

The film "Chaplin", though not a masterpiece, is a good biopic that does capture a lot of what Chaplin was all about and I liked Downey Jr. very much in the film.

..just my two cents. Wish I could be enjoying these films over again for my first time. You are in for some fun Type_A_Tiff.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 11:36am

Chaplin was a genius, and absolutely a film great. "The Kid" is one of my all time favorite movies.

Robert Downey Jr. was stunning playing him in the movie - and Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks was perfection too.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:06pm

Thanks for your input, guys. I'll check out City Lights and the other ones that were mentioned. Just curious how he was accepted at the Academy Awards - graciously and with open arms, or was there still reluctance from the Hollywood community after the HUAC fiasco?

[cturtle]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 6:42pm

THE GREAT DICTATOR is one of my all-time favorites. i just added it to my dvd collection. MODERN TIMES is also classic. chaplin was a genius :)

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 6:48pm

I really enjoyed Modern Times, although I think The Great Dictatory has a slight edge. His commentary seems so avante for his day, especially considering the US weren't involved in WWII at the time!

(By the way, what on earth are you doing on here instead of enjoying the London nightlife??)

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 8:11pm

You Chaplin fans on highspeed internet might enjoy this figure skating program by Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze from the 2001 World Championships. It was their long program. They finished second, but I felt they should have won this competition.

http://cruelladekwan.com/otherskaters/b&s.htm

Make sure you right-click and save the link. For those that do, tell me what you think and if they captured Chaplin's tramp character.

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 8:23pm

Thank you AndyHardy for introducing me to Chaplin.