Into history? – Shoulder Arms. Or (the sort of a sequel) The Great Dictator
Into political/social issues? – Easy Street, The Kid, Modern Times, Monsieur Verdoux, A King in New York
Want a good cry that tears your heart out and rips it to shreds and stomps it on the ground? – The Kid, Limelight
Romantic? – The Immigrant, The Gold Rush, City Lights, The Circus, Limelight
Film Noir? Monsieur Verdoux
Artsy (and that does not star Chaplin but everything else behind the scenes is Chaplin): A Woman of Paris
Afraid of a strictly silent film and want something in-between all-silent and all-talkie? Modern Times
Want a silent film that is narrated? The 1942 version of The Gold Rush. Chaplin narrates it himself. As well as composed the music.
Great music? 1942 version of The Gold Rush, City Lights, Limelight
A general good place to start (and the first one I saw) – Modern Times
But the best environment to watch his films is with a group of people (which, I know, can be tricky with the current pandemic). There is something about watching with an audience that make films more enjoyable, and in this case, funnier. Especially when it comes to silent films. A great YouTuber I enjoy is Austin McConnell. A couple years ago he did a video about his experiences in how he learned to enjoy silent movies.
And ever since the Covid pandemic started, Ben Model has been running weekly live-streams of comedy shorts of not only Chaplin, but other comedians as well, both famous and not so famous. Every Sunday he provides live piano improvised accompaniment. A fun way to watch with a virtual audience and get some trivia about the movies.
Jackie Coogan was amazing, I really loved Michael Chaplin in A King in New York. Mack Swain in The Gold Rush was adorable (he was in some Chaplin shorts as well, but best in Gold Rush). Sydney Chaplin in Limelight was lovely.
King Shadov (Chaplin) o the left, and Ambassador Jaume (Oliver Johnston)
Coming out of left field, I’m going with Oliver Johnston from A King in New York. He played Ambassador Jaume, and was a great straight man to Chaplin’s King Shadov. Both of their reactions to American culture (wide screen movies, rock and roll, TV commercials, plastic surgery) as well as the growing paranoia that was McCarthyism was very funny. I have watched the film several times, and it never disappoints. Partly due to their onscreen camaraderie. Also Michael :).
It would have been interesting if Chaplin had been able to use him in any of his earlier films.
Johnston’s last film appearance was in Chaplin’s A Countess From Hong Kong, which was released shortly after he passed away.
The early evening of the Friday attacks on Paris, France, I was waiting for Hank Green to upload his video, and a few minutes to 9pm EST I saw “Feeling about Paris”
And I thought “What’s going on in Paris?” And I watched his video and then googleged the news.
How tragically sad :(.
By coincidence, I had been playing a good amount of Assassin’s Creed Unity (a video game that takes place during the French Revolution, as well as bits in other historical parts of France) for the last couple weeks (finally finished it the other day!). And about a week before the attacks, I began listening to a number of songs by the beautiful French singer Edith Piaf. I had been wondering around with Spotify lists, and was scrolling down the songs for “Topsify Greatest Hits”. Most of the songs, like 99%, are rock songs, a smattering of country songs, but one song stuck out: “Le Vie En Rose” (Life in Pink) by an Edith Piaf, #126 in the list.
Sort of weird to see a song, not sung in English, from 1947, in with a bunch of rock songs.
That title sounded familiar, so I listened to it. I don’t know exactly where or when I had heard it before (a movie? A documentary?) but it certainly sounded familiar. And then I began listening to more of her songs and several of them also sounded familiar. So for the last several days, I’ve been listening to a lot of her stuff.
Here’s a YouTube video if you are not into using Spotify:
http://youtu.be/kFzViYkZAz4
After listening to a number of her songs, I love this one the most. I have heard the translated version, but it still sounds better in French, even though I don’t know any French.
Another song she is known for is “Non, je ne regrette rien” (No regrets)
If you are interested in hearing more of her music, go ahead and listen to her on Spotify or YouTube
