Character Balancing Act. The Little Tramp joins THE CIRCUS. A whirlwind story that finds Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) visiting a circus and, via a chase involving a pickpocket, being hired as a clown, finding love, learning to walk tightrope, losing love, and eventually leaving the circus in a bittersweet finale. Written, directed and produced by Charlie Chaplin, THE CIRCUS is … Read More
THE GREAT DICTATOR
The Agitprop that Dares Speaketh. Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie. For years, he resisted synchronized sound in his films, thinking it would destroy his career. Maybe he was right, considering he only made a few more movies after THE GREAT DICTATOR; maybe it was self-fulfilling prophecy, or maybe it was a combination of changing times and aging man. No matter, as … Read More
SHOULDER ARMS
War is only as stupid as its combatants. Too soon? A comedy set during World War I – during World War I. Long before Rambo won Viet Nam, Charlie Chaplin won WWI! Writer-director-star Chaplin, the king of physical comedy, addresses the greatest comedy of all – war. Braving public disapproval, he releases SHOULDER ARMS, a breezy lark that follows a … Read More
A DOG’S LIFE
Lady and the Tramp. Kids and animals. Now Chaplin has worked with both. In A DOG’S LIFE, writer-director Charlie Chaplin makes a tenuous link between a female mutt fending for herself on the streets and his Little Tramp character fending for himself on the streets. As the little dog lazes in a hideaway and tries to score sustenance, so too … Read More
MODERN TIMES
The Future Back Then. Little Tramp meets Little Trampette, and all Industrial Revolution breaks loose! It’s MODERN TIMES in 1936! The machines are taking over; industrialization is cutting jobs, and those jobs that remain are repetitive, drudgerous tasks that drive men batty. Such is the case with the Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin), whom we meet working a “modern” assembly line. … Read More
CITY LIGHTS
To be a Saint in the City. Is CITY LIGHTS Charlie Chaplin’s best movie? Film historian Robert Osborne thinks so. Osborne makes this clear while co-hosting Turner Classic Movies with Alec Baldwin, while pooh-poohing Baldwin’s assertion that Chaplin is a direct linear ancestor to Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey. Poor Alec was taken aback when Osborne crawled all over him … Read More
THE KID
Kid Rock. Think of the cutest thing you ever saw: the kitten from that last YouTube video, Kate Beckinsale’s nose, the minions from DESPICABLE ME… now multiply that cuteness by 1000. You get – Jackie Coogan as THE KID. Charlie Chaplin writes, directs and stars in this brilliant black and white silent movie about a Tramp (his most famous character) … Read More
CHAPLIN
The Man, The Myth, the Trousers. Robert Downey Jr. runs around like a madman, knocks things over and falls down a lot. (Cocaine’s a helluva drug.) And in CHAPLIN, he gets to do all that without being arrested… Baron Dickie Attenborough‘s CHAPLIN is a towering tribute to one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry – Charlie Chaplin, not … Read More