Back in 2017, I decided to watch A Countess From Hong Kong. It was the 50th anniversary. I did not have it due to it not having been released on video until recently. So I bought the DVD, did a live tweeting of it to record my first thoughts while watching it..
I already shared some of my thoughts on Day 10. It was a weird sensation to watch a film of his that:
was in color
widescreen
I had never watched before (outside a couple clips)
I did a live tweet while watching. Below I copied and pasted my tweets, all are timestamped so you an follow along if you wish. Maybe I might do a commentary for it? Hmmm…
My live tweets (typos included)
(I put a star by my favorites)
Livetweeting #CharlieChaplin ‘s Countess From Hong Kong in 20 minutes. Sort of a 50th anniversary celebration 🙂 #CountHK 19:40:46, 2017-07-07
Since #CharlieChaplin wrote and directed it, but only gave himself cameos, I feel I’ll be seeing his “direction” in everyone #CountHK 19:58:33, 2017-07-07
And play… #CountHK 20:00:25, 2017-07-07
Bit nervous for this, don’t know why #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:01:34, 2017-07-07
Ah, the familiar dance hall girl theme #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:02:52, 2017-07-07
Written and directed by Charles Chaplin. Woop! #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:03:42, 2017-07-07
That looked like that hurt #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:28:58, 2017-07-07
Ah, lovely Tippi Hendrin. She seems to have escaped the birds #CountHK #CharlieChaplin #badHitchcockjoke 21:30:34, 2017-07-07 *
Charlie could have done better job with the beach. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:36:15, 2017-07-07
The lovely Chaplin girls 😊#CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:37:28, 2017-07-07
I like that zoom on Brando #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:42:37, 2017-07-07
Oooh. BUSTED! Never try to outsmart your wife. She always figures it out! #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:44:37, 2017-07-07 *
And the ending credits #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:48:32, 2017-07-07
Pretty good! I’ll have to watch it again, but I thought it was nice. VERY weird to watch Chaplin movie in color. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:50:46, 2017-07-07
Reminded me of King of New York. And a few others where Charlie falls for a dancehall girl. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:52:41, 2017-07-07
But that makes me having seen all of Chaplin’s films. Only took 25 years, lol. Don’t like rushing a good thing 😉 #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:55:06, 2017-07-07
To end this livetweet: This is My Song sung by Petula Clark, music & lyrics by Chaplin #CountHK #CharlieChaplin https://t.co/3UiNFEnSXj 22:19:41, 2017-07-07
Bonus
Curing the filming, Charlie celebrated his 77th birthday with the cast. And shared in on a tall cake with a Little Tramp figure at the top. Film from British Pathé YouTube channel. And, sorry, no sound (which seems fitting).
Bit of trivia: the little girl with the blonde hair in pigtails is Tippi Hedren’s daughter, future actress Melanie Griffith.
If I had done this 30 Day Challenge in 30 consecutive days when I began it two years ago last month, I would not have named this film because it had not come out yet. When Jojo Rabbit was released back in October 2019, I was curious about it. Then I heard comparisons to Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, and I was all in on wanting to see it!
One thing that both films tackle is the absurdity of Nazism. In different ways.
And as Taika Waititi says in his tweet below: “what better way to insult Hitler than having him portrayed by a Polynesian Jew?”
Chaplin had one set of problems with Hitler, Waititi had another. If you were to make a Venn diagram, both with a lot of overlap. And both played satires of Hitler. And both were brilliant at it.
Both deal with facing a prejudice by a character having prejudices, then meeting someone who having real encounters with people who they were taught were no good, though in Jojo it is more prominent. In The Great Dictator, the Jewish Barber saves Schultz, a Tomanian (German) officer, during The Great War. Later, even after Schultz finds out the man who saved him was not Aryan but Jewish, he orders no one to be assaulted in the Jewish ghetto.
Similarly, in Jojo Rabbit, when Jojo meets the girl, he doesn’t like her because she’s Jewish, but after days go by and they talk, he begins to doubt his prejudice and likes her.
Well, it’s an okay comparison. Not exactly the same, but similar.
Another similar thing is that both films were nominated for Oscars, including Best Picture. But Jojo won one, for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Reviews and Discussions
Below is one of my favorite YouTuber movie reviewers, Jeremy Jahns, as he talks about what he thought of it.
The German version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” (German version also sung by Bowie) is used in both the trailer and the end of the movie. One of Chaplin’s sons, Eugene Chaplin, was a assistant engineer for the regular English-sung album. Eugene’s son Spencer interviewed him on his Chaplin Talks podcast, and Spencer brought that up:
Just finished re-watching The Rink from 1916 from his Mutual period. Watching him on skates is balletic. How does he lean backwards for that long, on roller skates, and not fall down? And how does he do all the other things on skates?
Two obvious choices, but I’m going with them anyway:
His own “My Autobiography” (what a genius title! haha), and David Robinson’s “Chaplin: His Life and Art”
Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson
Robinson’s book was the first Chaplin book I bought. It was around the beginning of my fanhood days. I had seen it in my favorite used book store, but was hesitant to get it because “what if it was no good?” The internet wasn’t a big thing yet, so I couldn’t Google it or check Amazon to find out other reviews. Then one day I was sitting in one of my college classes and out of nowhere I had an urge to go down to the store and get it after class.
So I drive down there and I stop and think I better skim through it, and right away there were some interesting images. One was of the Chaplin family tree (up to date as of book publishing, circa 1985), a newspaper clipping announcing his birth, and a picture of a child age Charlie for the Sherlock Holmes play. All three of these (especially the last one) sold me. And I have loved the book ever since!
A few years later I bought another edition of it that was published around the time of the “Chaplin” had more updated information about his family.
Below is a recent interview with David (during the coronavirus ordeal) by Dan Kamin for the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum YouTube channel:
My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin
I don’t remember when I first read Chaplin’s autobiography. Maybe before I bought it, like from the library? I don’t know. ut When “Chaplin” came out, they re-released the book in paperback and I bought it. And then visited England about 2 years later and while in a bookstore in the airport, I found another copy, and how could I *not* buy a copy from his birth country? And so I bought that as well. I still have both of those, which the silhouette of Downey as the Tramp on the cover. Wore them out.
I loved reading about his rough childhood, getting on stage, coming to America, being scared to death of getting into movies but taking the plunge anyway.
I do hope that sometime in the near future there will be a new, or re-release, of an audiobook version. There was one I listened to years ago on cassette tape (that gives an idea how long ago! LOL) from the library.
Love these two books. Absolute must-haves for Chaplin fans or fans of movies in general.
My Father, Charlie Chaplin by Charles Chaplin, Jr.
Charlie Sr, Charlie Jr, and Lita Grey Chaplin
Another book that I really love is “My Father, Charlie Chaplin” by Charlie Chaplin Jr (one of two sons when Chaplin was married to Lita Grey). That is a lovely book. One of my favorite stories was when senior Chaplin came home, still in makeup, and came over to toddler-aged junior. Junior was confused who this strange looking man was with his father’s voice, and started to cry. Not knowing why his son was crying, Senior tried to cheer junior up, and then it dawned on him why there was crying. The makeup. So senior washed off the makeup and junior began smiling at the familiar clean face of his dad.
A number of films, whether they be home made movies, newsreels, or unfinished/unreleased films still exist. Some black and white, some are even in color. Some are of him entertaining visitors to his studio, friends, or family, or traveling.
But there’s two films that are on top of my list.
How To Make Movies
The first is one that I have shared before on the blog (and where I matched a song to the beginning of the film), “How to Make Movies”. He made it in 1917-1918, shortly after building and working in his new studio (which still stands). Originally he wanted to have it released, but First National (the film company he was working for at the time) wouldn’t let him. So it sat in his archive of films. He did use small parts of the beginning for the beginning of “The Chaplin Revue” with him giving commentary on it.
While it is staged, it is loads of fun to watch (and no, there’s no music):
Home movies on set of The Great Dictator, shot by brother Sydney
The other one is home movies shot by Charlie’s brother Sydney, on the set of The Great Dictator. These were not discovered until 1999. Sydney was probably the only person Charlie would allow to film home movies during the production of the film. Security was very tight at the studio due to many powerful voices being strongly against him making a satire attacking Hitler. But Syd had no problem getting permission from his little brother.
Unlike the above film, this one was not staged. All the retakes, Chaplin getting upset, and the joking around were real.
Even the color is real, it is not colorized! But again, no music.
One cool shot is at about 11:21 mark where Charlie, shielding his face from the sun, looks up at Syd who is shooting from on-top of scaffolding (?). On the right side you can see Syd’s shadow, holding up the camera.
There’s also shots of a nurse attending one of the actors that Charlie hit with the white paint during the filming. And then there’s the scene itself, at 10:02, which could be the same take that was used in the final film. Going through my head every time I watch it, I have the dialogue, the sound effect of the frying pan bonging the stormtrooper on the head, and intense music.
Sometimes, depending on my mood, it is City Lights, or Shoulder Arms, or The Great Dictator, or if I was in a noir frame of mind, Monsieur Verdoux. Or really any one of them. Over the years some people have assumed my favorite was Limelight since I picked Calvero as my username. Nope. Though I do truly love and adore it.
In my MT post, I mentioned the feeding machine scene where I laughed so much I was crying and my sides hurt. A few months after my post, the Chaplin YouTube channel posted the scene:
And a interesting picture of Chaplin rehearsing the scene:
Another scene that I love, and that is the fascinating foreshadowing scene where he gets falsely arrested for being a communist leader:
And lastly, a neat behind the scenes of how the roller skating scene used some special effects:
Next in the 30 Day Charlie Chaplin Challenge – Least Favorite Film
This post on the Chaplin movie is very involved. So let’s get movin’!
BTW – this is not just a review. This is a variety of thoughts I have on the film. And I know I’m not going to get all my thoughts here in one post. Maybe something else down the road? There’s bound to be something I’ll forget to say.
First, to get it out of the way: Robert Downey, Jr is just magical as Chaplin. Absolutely wonderful! He’s the best thing about it, and there are several great things in the movie. I love him! When playing young Chaplin, I forget that someone else is playing him. And I know that my opinion of him in this is cliché. But it’s oh so true!
Also another thing to get out of the way: Events that happened in the movie, like 90% of it, did not happen exactly as shown. There would have been different people involved, or different setting, but it would still have the same essence. For storytelling/budget/whatever purposes (I suppose), it was told the way it was shown. And I do not blame Attenborough for several of the faults with the film. It was an uphill battle to get it made.
The Trailer
My experience watching it
A picture I took a couple years ago: My very worn out CD of the Chaplin soundtrack, and in the middle, my ticket stub from the United Artists theater where I watched it on it’s nation-wide opening day.
The first three times I saw it, it was in the movie theater. A United Artists theater (not intentionally, I swear!) the first time. I don’t know how many were hard core fans like me who had watched all the movies, read books and articles, watched documentaries. I soon discovered that there certainly a number of them who had never seen Chaplin without his famous mustache. The big clue was when I heard audible gasps when Chaplin peeled it off as he is taking his makeup off in the opening.
I went in with a rather high expectation, having seen and loved Attenborough’s Gandhi. While I did not enjoy it as much as Gandhi (then again, I don’t know near as much), I really liked it, and still do.
Movie vs. What really happened
There are a few things that spring to mind such as the creation and first film appearance of the Little Tramp. The examples I give below are, by far, not all of them
The Flickers
Movie – Chaplin watching the “flickers” for the first time in Butte, Montana, and while watching them, he gets a telegram handed to him by Stan Laurel. The telegram was from California to go into the movie business.
What really happened – According to “My Autobiography”, Chaplin was in Philadelphia. Although he was with the Karno troupe’s manager, Alf Reeves, had the telegram and Chaplin read it.
Rollie Totheroh
Rollie (David Duchovny, right before X Files), Mack Sennett (Dan Ackroyd), and Chaplin (Downey)
Movie – Chaplin first meets Rollie with Mack Sennett where they are shooting a movie. And under Mack’s directions, cuts Charlie out of his first film appearance. He then goes with Chaplin from the Keystone company onwards.
What Really Happened – I have read conflicting reports. Some say Rollie starting working with Chaplin in 1915 with Essanay. Others say Rollie didn’t work with Chaplin until Chaplin hired him in 1916 during Chaplin’s Mutual period. But it wasn’t with Sennett, that’s for sure. But, he did play a big part in how Chaplin’s films were shot, up to 1952 with Limelight.
Creating the Tramp
Movie – Chaplin, in a rush to put together a costume for Mack Sennett, grabs different pieces of clothing in the wardrobe department and puts together something. Then goes out on a wedding party set and the first appearance of The Little Tramp character is born.
From Mabel’s Strange Predicament. The Tramp character is only a few minutes old. Little did he know, he would have it for over 20 years and this character would change the world
What Really Happened – This is a good example of “It didn’t happen this way, but it got the spirit of it.” No one today knows 100% what film he first performed as the tramp. It is possible that the first movie that was filmed with Chaplin wearing his outfit was Mabel’s Strange Predicament. However, the first time the movie-going public sees the tramp is Kid Auto Races at Venice. It was common for Sennett to not show films in the same order that they were shot.
However, the set that was used for “Chaplin” is very close to the set Chaplin used for The Adventurer for the Mutual company in 1917. Not only the set but also Charlie doing the lampshade gag to hide from his pursuers is also from The Adventurer.
Easter Eggs!
There are several in this film. Some are more “in your face” than others.
Harry Lauder.
When Charlie was growing up, and as a young performer, a popular entertainer/singer/comedian was a Scot name Harry Lauder. Sure, in the movie there could have been just a random guy dressed up in a traditional Scottish outfit with bagpipes who was performing there, but I doubt it.
In the video below, Harry comes to visit Chaplin in 1918 at Chaplin’s studio
Stan Laurel
This “in your face” one is more obvious. That is, if you know that Stan Laurel was Chaplin’s understudy during their Karno music hall days prior to making it big in the movies. Since he only calls him Stanley without a last name, it’s not totally obvious.
I am glad they put Stanley in the film (Chaplin didn’t mention him in his autobiography, except in a photo caption for the Karno hockey team). A bit more would have been nice.
46 Takes.
During the scene where Charlie is directing Edna Purviance for The Immigrant, Chaplin asks her to do another take, and reminds her she is supposed to be starving. She protests “It’s hard to be hungry after 46 takes!” And then a moment later when he invites her out for chili con carne (which has beans in it), she responds “I’ll kill you, Charlie.” Then Charlie shouts out to the crew “MORE BEANS!”, Edna replies by throwing something (bread?) at him.
I remember watching this in the theater and I’m thinking “Is that a reference to Unknown Chaplin?”. Unknown Chaplin is a 3 part documentary about how Chaplin made several of his films using filmed rehearsals (I will talk much more about this later on in the 30 day challenge). In the first part when talking about The Immigrant, there is a shot showing the slateboard showing what take they are on before each shooting. And right before Edna’s character is introduced, is the slateboard with a chalked written 46.
Also in this scene…
Another Easter Egg! The song that is played right before Edna protest about the beans is an instrumental version of a anti-Chaplin song called “When the Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin” which protested Chaplin’s seemingly unwillingness to fight The Great War. In reality, he failed the physical requirements. And people in the military told him that he shouldn’t join anyway because he was important for morale.
David Robinson cameo.
The movie is based on two books: Chaplin’s My Autobiography, and Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson. And it took many years before I knew Mr. Robinson had a very brief appearance. Thanks to the cool feature that Amazon Prime Video and Google Play has where they will identify who is on the screen. During the party at Doug Fairbanks’ place, you can see him as Doug’s manservant. Mr. Robinson is the gentleman on the left, arranging Doug Fairbanks’ (played wonderfully by Kevin Kline) outfit.
Blink and you’ll miss him.
Toraichi Kono
While I was happy to see him appear, he should have been in it more.
Kono was a Japanese immigrant who found himself hired by Chaplin. He became Chaplin’s chauffeur, valet, bodyguard. Pretty much if you wanted to get to Chaplin, you went through Kono.
He was mostly behind the scenes though. He did briefly appear in Chaplin’s 1917’s The Adventurer as Edna’s character’s chauffeur who comes to the rescue. However Kono’s wife opposed to him being in movies believing he was dishonoring his family. So he never appeared in another one. I have often wondered how minorities in film, especially Asians, would have be seen if he was in more films. (I also talk a little about Kono here in my Doctor Who meets Charlie Chaplin comic book review)
Back to Chaplin, they should have replaced that Frank guy (who I am 99.9% sure is another fictional character) with Kono, and that would have been much better.
The Totherohs
A couple cool “blink and you’ll miss it” fellows were David and Jack Totheroh, grandson and son of Rollie Totheroh, Chaplin’s main cameraman from 1917 until 1952. David is (I think) at the photography camera on the left, and Jack is on the movie camera on the right.
The drawbacks
There are a few faults with the film, and a good number of them I do not blame Attenborough for. He had an uphill battle to get this film greenlit, fight to keep Downey (the studio wanted someone with a bigger name), and then somehow shoot it.
Sydney. The biggest one that bothered me is the depiction of Charlie’s older brother, Sydney. Syd played a massive role in Charlie’s life and (from the way Charlie talks about him in Charlie’s autobiography) wouldn’t have protested near as often as what is depicted in the movie. Those two had a close bond and Syd did a great job being his little brother’s manager. He was a very talented comedian in his own right, playing a vital role in getting Fred Karno to hire Charlie.
Also costar a few times, such as in A Dog’s Life (see below). I adore this scene!
His portrayal was good, up until he protests “The Immigrant” where Charlie kicking an immigration officer in the butt. From then on, I feel he symbolically represents the growing critical pressure Charlie really was beginning to get around that time, and that would continue to grow and lead to his exile. They could have created another character/s who did the protesting.
The overall accuracy
Again, it goes back to most of it not happening the way it was shown. And not putting enough emphasis on certain key moments, like the forming of United Artists. That was mentioned, but that’s it. I don’t blame Attenborough at all, he was constantly told to cut things out due to time, money, and who knows what else was thrown at him. As he says in one interview years later, he wishes he could redo it. Unfortunately, that never happened.
The Music
John Barry
I bought the soundtrack before seeing the film. When I first picked it up in the store, and looked over the track listing. I saw not only a couple version of Smile, but then I saw track 7, “Salt Lake City Episode” and it stated it was a re-recording of a song from City Lights (original 1931 and another re-recording conducted by the wonderful Carl Davis and played by the City Lights Orchestra). My reflex response was “Gimme!” and I went right up to the register and bought it. Because this was before the internet boom. No MP3s or YouTube to download it. And being able to listen to Chaplin’s music in my boombox and my car was just not able to be done before.
What I love from the soundtrack
John Barry composed the score, a couple years after doing the soundtrack for Dances with Wolves. And I still love it to bits! Track 4, “To California/The Cutting Room” is my favorite, When I visited California back in April of 1993, I listened to this song while riding along the road along the pacific coast that overlooked the ocean. Gah! Both were beautiful! Recommended if you get the chance. Also the following track, “Creating the Tramp/Wedding Chase” is fun. Track 7 “Salt Lake City Episode” I already mentioned above.
You got to have “Smile” in there, that’s track 13 (what I like to call the ballroom dancing version because that’s what I picture when listening to it). And there’s also a version of Downey himself singing it at track 16. At first I did not like this version at all. It sounded way to modern and just… ick. But it didn’t take long for me to warm up to it, and soon love it. And the Main Theme is something I hope to play on keyboard one day. It’s slow paced, so somewhat manageable
A few years later, 2004, Downey made his own album. And on there, he sang Smile again. A slow jazz version.
The rest of the cast
As I said, Downey is just drop-jaw good. There are a few others that I wanted to talk about.
Hannah Chaplin
Played by Geraldine Chaplin. This was a big one. To have Charlie’s oldest daughter play her own grandmother, Hannah Chaplin, was wonderful casting. Geraldine’s first film appearance was in her father’s movie Limelight. And it was lovely to see her here, playing her grandmother. Interestingly, she never knew Hannah. Hannah had passed away in 1928. Geraldine was born in 1944. She just knew her from her father’s stories about her.
Hetty Kelly & Oona Chaplin
An interesting casting choice was having Moira Kelly play both of Charlie major love interests: his first love Hetty Kelly and his fourth (and last) wife Oona. I liked it, though it seems to divide some fans.
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford
Wonderfully played by Kevin Kline. I absolutely loved him in this! Stole every scene he was in. In real life as in the movie, Doug was Charlie’s best friend. Since both of them were huge silent film stars, neither of them felt like the other was trying to steal the other’s fame. They could have made a whole film of the adventures of these two and I would have been happy :). As for Mary Pickford, I don’t know why it showed Charlie and Mary not getting along. According to his autobiography, they were great friends, and he admired her business sense when it came to running United Artists.
Mack Sennett
Canadian born Mack Sennett, the person who gave Chaplin his start in movies and almost fired him right away. Played wonderfully by Canadian born Dan Ackroyd. On the picky side, they should have greyed Ackroyd’s hair some, but other than that. I really liked him.
And the Mack Sennett Studios was good to see! And hearing the rooster crow follows Chaplin’s own description of the studios in his autobiography that the studio seemed like it was part farmhouse barn.
Mack Sennett’s real cyclorama...and the reproduction in Chaplin
Where are the freakin’ Oscars?!?
Ok, I might be over dramatic. But serious, Downey deserved the Oscar. John Barry also deserved it for his magnificent score.
The film also got nominated for a few Golden Globes, Downey for Best Actor, Geraldine for Best Supporting Actress
But speaking of Motion Picture Academy, I’ll share a clip from the 1972 Oscar that parts were used towards the end of the movie:
Behind the scenes and film locations
And last year on the Film Stories podcast episode “Thor The Dark World (2013) and Chaplin (1992)” (Chaplin talk starts 20:14 into the episode. First half of the show is about the second Thor movie) where Simon Brew talks about th whys and hows “Chaplin” came about. Great show, and a I learned a few things. Like how badly Steven Spielberg wanted Attenborough to be in Jurassic Park, but Attenborough was making Chaplin, so Spielberg delayed JP. Among other facts. Worth a listen!
Locations.
Some locations and information about several locations and their history can be found here
Favorite Quotes/Scenes
Suit of armor
Sennett (looking impatiently at his watch): Jesus! Rollie: You told him to get changed, remember? Sennett: What’s he putting on, a suit of armor?
Why I like it: This is great because the tramp outfit/character really protected Charlie from being fired, which he really thought was going to happen. But he became a huge success. But in the last few years this line has taken on a new meaning… Iron Man.
And the scene with Charlie first creating the Tramp and first scene. As I mentioned in an above segment, not accurate but a lot of fun to watch.
Family Feud
Sydney: Who the hell is gonna pay to see you when everybody else has gone to sound? Charlie: Who? I’ll tell you who. The Japanese for one thing, and the Russkies for another. And anyone else who doesn’t happen to speak English. Or have you forgotten about the other 9/10 of the globe?
Why I like it: Outside of my feelings about Syd being portrayed this way, this is a good example of Charlie’s uhhh….stubbornness about not wanting to switch to sound, even after everyone else had done so. He wanted to tell his story his way and nobody was going to talk him out of it (haha, sorry about the pun.) People did think he was crazy for making silent picture several years after the industry started sound. And he knew that it would be easiest for people around the world to enjoy it
The Nazi
At a party, Chaplin and Doug Fairbanks encounters a Nazi diplomat. After refusing to shake the Nazi’s hand, the Nazi asks: “What have you against us, Mr. Chaplin?”
Charlie: “What have got against everybody else?”
A few moments later as Chaplin, Paulette, and Doug leave the party:
Doug (sarcastically): “Lovely little international incident you caused in there”
(Moment later)
Doug: “It’s funny, you know. You look a lot like him. Adolf, I mean. You know, with your mustache on. I think he stole your act!”
Why I like it. Yeah, Chaplin really did NOT like the Nazis. At all. And although I really doubt this event actually happened, I can totally see Charlie reacting this way if put in that situation. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend The Great Dictator.
Exile
Oona: (holding the telegram) They’ve thrown you out.
Charlie: Thrown me out? Thrown me out of what?
Oona: Of America
He looks down, then back to the New York City skyline slowly disappearing, then back at her.
Charlie: I… I can’t go back?
Why I like this
It’s one of the crucial moments of his life, and what makes him understandably bitter with the United States, hence A King in New York
Cheered People Up
Charlie (talking to George): “End of the day, you’re not judged by what you didn’t do, but by what you did. Didn’t change things… I just just…. he just… cheered people up. Not bad, that.”
Ten Years Later
Oona: That was California calling. You really have to give them an answer.
Charlie (frustrated): No, They took 20 years to make up their minds. They can take another afternoon.
Oona: Enough. Enough! (gives him a chocolate)
Charlie (calms down, and then looking concerned at her): What if they still hate me?
Why I like This
In real life, Chaplin went back and forth about whether or not he should return to the States, and if Hollywood liked him again. But Oona talked him into going back. And I’m so glad she did!
Also I really liked the transition from 1963 with George leaving Charlie asleep on the porch. Then blurry screen. Then it’s 1972. And that sweet music that gets me choked up every freaking time.
Hmmm….
And you know what I just discovered while writing this? Blooper about it being “Ten Years Later”. Because Charlie made his triumphant return to Los Angeles in 1972. So it’s actually 9 years later. Haha! Always noticing something with this film!
A couple lessons in slang
Cockney rhyming
Another thing that the movie taught me was the use of cockney slang.
During the scene where Charlie and Hetty had been “politely” thrown out of a posh restaurant due to being in the theater (actors were looked down upon in society for years until the advent of… wait for it…. the movies), Charlie starts to imagine the future when he would be wealthy and they could go into whatever place they wanted.
Charlie: You wait. Someday they’ll beg. Yeah. We’ll walk in there, you and me, you in a fur, dripping jewels. Me in me own whistle.
Hetty: Whistle?
Charlie: Yeah, whistle and flute. Suit.
It took me a few months to get this. Around this time, my brother had a French tutor who was British. When I took him over for his lessons, she and I somehow got in a conversation about the rhyming and she taught me about the basics of Cockney rhyming. And then this scene made much more sense!
Any Old Iron
Also in the song that Syd and Charlie sing a couple different times has a lot of slang and I still don’t totally understand it. The song was a popular Music Hall song called Any Old Iron. It’s full of cockney slang
Below is a fun little video put out by the Anglophenia YouTube channel a few years ago that helps explain some of the words:
Nice little flivver, Chas
One word I never was able to figure out until closed captioning was during the scene where Charlie meets up with Syd and his wife at the train station. Leaving the station, Syd says “Nice little flivver, Chas. When do I get to meet Mr. Sennett?”
Charlie, Minnie, and Syd riding in Charlie’s new flivver
According to Wikipedia: flivver – “early twentieth-century American slang for an automobile”. And according to Google, it’s also slang for “a cheap car or aircraft, especially one in bad condition”. So Syd could have easily been poking fun at Charlie’s fancy new car by calling it a piece of junk, LOL
If you want to learn more: A cool website to lookup slang of the past is Alpha Dictionary.
A few more thoughts
This was a very ambitious movie. And I never gave much grief about Attenborough because he really tried. And I think it mostly paid off. It is fun to watch and, as I said just a few lines above, there is always something I catch that I hadn’t before. And I have heard from a number of Chaplin fans who became a fan from watching this movie.
Chaplin’s life, because so much happened in almost his 90 years on this planet, it needed more screen time. Like a mini series. Nine parts, with each part covering about a decade of his life. Maybe 10 parts. Something like that. Because there were things I wish were covered. Like a bit more about his music (and him winning an Oscar in 1973 for Best Original Music Score for Limelight, which he made in 1952!), more than just a passing mention of the formation of United Artists, and that mystery around the death of Thomas Ince (though that was interestingly covered in The Cat’s Meow), his first Oscar at the first Academy Awards in 1928, his second divorce (only briefly mentioned, but wow that was a burden), his travels around the world that led to him making Modern Times, and somehow something was missing with the making of The Great Dictator. And other things. And having more accuracy with what was shown.
A Few More Pictures
Rollie (David Duchovny) and Charlie (Robert Downey Jr) from a deleted scene. From the looks of RDJ’s costume, it’s something around the 1916 The Cure.Hugh Downer (as 5 year old Charlie) and Downey (as adult aged Charlie)Sir Richard Attenborough and Downey outside the reconstructed Chaplin Studios (which looks amazing!)Sir Richard directing, with Downey behind him.
Something New
During the time I wrote this, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum share several videos from their Chaplin Days event from 2017. It contains a very interesting panel before and after a screening of the movie. The panel consisted of Sam Gill, Dan Kamin (mime expert who taught Downey), Marc Wanamaker (worked on the research for the film), and David Totheroh (Rollie’s grandson)
And that’s pretty much it. I know that as soon as I publish this, I’ll slap myself on the forehead and say “I forgot to say X! How could I possibly have forgotten X?”
As for the ending, both the Oscars using the actual clips from his films (come on Academy! Release the *whole* presentation!) and the title cards about what happened to the major players were nice. And that some of the very last words spoken were by Daniel “sounds like a spice” Taradash’s very poetic speech during the Oscar presentation:
“A few years ago, Mr. Chaplin said ‘My only enemy is Time’. We respectfully disagree. For wherever and whenever there is communication, a screen and an audience, whether here on Earth and now, or in some unfathomable future on some far away star, Time is Charlie Chaplin’s dear and eternal friend.”
And now we come to his last great era: The United Artists movies. This is the most difficult of all eras because these are (to me, anyway) his best of the best. So now it’s the best of the best of the best.
There’s the underrated and often forgotten “A Woman of Paris”, classic The Gold Rush (I prefer the ’42 version, so help me), heartbreaking funny The Circus (so many layers to why I love this), historic The Great Dictator (Hey Hitler, take that! <punch>. And that ending speech!), Monsieur Verdoux (not your typical Chaplin film, but I love it anyway), and the wonderful Limelight (Chaplin looks so different, it’s like a different actor named Charlie Chaplin is starring it).
I do love and adore all of the above movies. But there is one film that I did not name above and that is Modern Times. The silent movie that isn’t quite a silent movie. The first Chaplin film I saw. And where I began to understand why he was/is a really big deal. (Basically he did just about everything, and he did it well.)
Favorite Scenes
In short: the whole freakin’ movie. But I’ll try and break it down.
The feeding machine. I saw that and just laughed silly. My sides hurt. My mouth hurt. I can’t look at an ear of corn without letting out a little smile.
And then I found out years later that Chaplin was actually controlling the machine underneath the rotating table. He was literally beating himself up. Anything for the art!
The roller skating scene in the department store. If you have seen The Joker (and even the trailer used Jim Durante’s cover of Smile), you have seen this scene. Where Charlie blindfolds himself and roller skates around the floor…. without noticing that the upper floor they are on is under construction.
The shack. The quaint little shack. Where there is a dangerous looming board that swings down and hits Charlie on the noggin. Not once, but twice. I love how Charlie looks up at it, daring it to come down, and… bonk him on the head. Which it does. Always makes me laugh.
The Nonsense Song. Of course, I have to mention the restaurant where Charlie uses his voice for the first time in his movies. And, one may argue, the only time that we hear the Little Tramp’s voice. If you don’t understand the song… well, what’s wrong with you? Kidding. It’s all gibberish on purpose. It’s what happens when you mix French, Italian, Spanish (and who knows what other languages) in a pot, let simmer for a few hours, and have it sung by a guy who is known for being a silent clown. And he pantomimes the story.
Hidden in Plain Sight
I watched this film so many times that I felt there wasn’t much to see that was “new”. But then one day I gave myself a challenge and tried to watch other things other than Charlie happening in-frame. And this is what I have noticed (so far, anyway):
In the lunch scene, there’s a presumably gay prisoner amongst the other prisoners. When they file out to exit, he’s the guy in front of the big guy who is in front of Charlie.
In the department store, and Charlie and the Gamin leave the elevator, the Gamin runs over excitedly to a Mickey Mouse doll and plays with it.
The Music
It’s amazing. While writing this post, I’ve had certain bits running in my head. When I was younger, I could tell what was happening on screen without looking (I’m a bit fuzzy with my memory now. Busyness of life, and getting older).
For streaming, Amazon is a good place to either rent or buy. Also for Blu Ray and DVD.
Bonus
Back in 2004, a singer by the name of J Five released a hip-hop song also called Modern Times that heavily sampled the Nonsense Song. The video costars one of Charlie’s grand-daughters, Dolores.
In my last post for Favorite First National, I named The Kid. Little Jackie Coogan was 4. During the making of Modern Times, he visited Chaplin and they had fun taking some pictures. Little Jackie was now grown up! Here’s a couple photos from then on the street set of MT:
There are lots of other things I can say about this movie (well, all his movies), but I better stop now. Maybe I’ll write more about it down the road :).
Next up – Thoughts on “Chaplin” the movie starring Robert Downey Jr
One of the best things that I like about the films from here on out is that Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for them. Either right as he was making the film or years later. And not just a few years, but a few decades.
The film I picked for this is one that he wrote the music 50 (yes, 50!) years after the movie was originally released. But I’m not here to just write about the music. This post is for my favorite First National film.
And that is The Kid. Where Chaplin just rips my heart out, stomps on it, and leaves me an emotional wreck. Because, really, it is hard not to cry at this film. Some sad crying but also some happy crying.
Basic premise is this: Charlie finds a baby abandoned on the street He decides to bring the baby up as his own at his home in the city slums. And the adventures begin. The kid is played by Jackie Coogan.
I love how Edna Purviance’s character of the mother is portrayed. She is visibly torn over whether to keep the baby or not, and then is continuously haunted by his memory. Not knowing that the little boy she befriends is her son. (UGH! Ugly crying!) When she gives him the toy dog, and then a sad long walk towards the camera, and he waves to her without her seeing it… is beautifully shot.
One of Chaplin’s best scenes in any of his films, where the authorities had found out that Charlie is not the legal father and they come for the “Proper care and attention” (take the kid away to an orphanage).
I had mention in my last post how I loved his films that were autobiographical. This is another one of those. When he was a boy, he was separated from his mother and brother due to the family living in extreme poverty. And just before starting on this film, he lost his first child, Norman, nicknamed Little Mouse, due to some sort of severe deformation (what that was, I have never been able to find out).
Here is a short interview with a much older Jackie Coogan from the early 1980s where he talks about how Chaplin directed him (clip via Criterion YouTube channel):
In 2003, a number of Chaplin’s films (First National and later) were re-released on DVD. There were a wonderful set of introductions done by the amazing Chaplin biographer, David Robinson. Below is for this film. (following clips from the Official Charlie Chaplin YouTube channel)
A wonderful documentary (part of a series of docs done for the above mentioned DVD release) tells the making of the film. It also includes an interview with a more modern filmmaker from Iran and how Chaplin has influenced him.
Finally, the soundtrack:
And a bonus bit: Chaplin, age 81 or 82, (in color and talking a little), conducting a little of his score:
