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.”
Chaplin as Billy, age 14 (though he looks 12 to me.
When I became a Charlie Chaplin fan in 1991, one of the *very first things* I learned about him was his role in the 1901 Sherlock Holmes play written by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I had been a Sherlockian for 5 years by then and was thrilled that my new “obsession” had a connection, one of many (and growing!) I would later discover.
William Gillette, in his Holmes garb
Chaplin was born on April 16,1889, in Lambeth, London, England, at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes publishing era. the year before the publishing of the second Holmes story, “The Sign of Four”. After living for some time in poverty, he gradually got work as a child actor (both his parents were stage performers). He wrote in his My Autobiography (1964) how he lied about his age to get a part in a H A Saintsbury play, A Romance of Cocknaye, saying he was 14, when he was actually 12 1/2. The manager of the production and cast liked him so much they offered him the Billy the Pageboy role. So from July 1903 to February 1906 he traveled the country performing the part. (Holmes trivia: The pageboy in the original stories did not have a name until after the play was made. It would have been interesting if Doyle named him Charlie!)
The argument over “Who’s the best Sherlock Holmes?” is nothing new, though the names change over time. Back in his day, Chaplin worked under two of the starring Holmes’: William Gillette and H A Saintsbury. He wrote in his “My Autobiography” that while he liked both, he felt Saintsbury was closer to the “real” Holmes.
List of the cast (including Chaplin as Billy), as they performed at Duke of York’s Theatre, circa 1905
Want to see the play? Here it is, performed in 1981 for HBO. Frank Langella plays Holmes (very well, I must say!) My favorite scene (Act 3, pt 2), which includes some great interactions with Billy, is embedded below:
(side note – the boy playing Billy in the above performance is a young Christian Slater)
The Great Dictator (1940) – Chaplin as Hynkel (center), Reginald Gardiner (left) as Schultz, and Henry Daniell as Garbitsch (right)
While he had other roles in his early childhood showbiz career, none seemed to have stuck with him later in his life than the Billy role. Decades later in 1939 when he was shooting his Hitler satire, “The Great Dictator”, he would re-enact scenes from the Holmes play in-between scenes for the movie to entertain the cast and crew.
One of the actors in Dictator was Henry Daniell, who later who appear in three of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films: Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943), and The Woman in Green (1945, playing Professor Moriarty, the role I best remember him for.)
Which also brings us to Nigel Bruce. Chaplin hired Bruce for his 1952 film, Limelight. Bruce was hired not only because of his talent but mainly because of his strong connection with the Holmes franchise having famously played Dr. Watson.
Basil Rathbone (left) as Holmes, Nigel Bruce (back, center) as Watson and Henry Daniell (right) from Voice of Terror (1943)
In the film Limelight, Bruce plays Mr Postant, an homage to the real life who was William Gillette’s stage manager, and who had played an important role of keeping an eye out for the young Chaplin during the Holmesian days.
I have often felt that if he played Watson like he later played Postant, Watson would have been considered less bumbling. Below is a clip from Limelight which not only includes Bruce, but also Claire Bloom (many years later she would costar with David Tennant in Doctor Who, “The End of Time”), and Buster Keaton who plays Calvero’s partner (Keaton’s Holmes connection is making the brilliant 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr.)
One of the reasons why I picked using the name Calvero on the internet, and have kept it for almost 20 years, is the Holmes connection (along with Keaton, and the later Doctor Who connection,
To Modern Times
In 1992 came Robert Downey Jr playing the title role in Sir Richard Attenborough’s “Chaplin”. Absolutely brilliant! And he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor (he was ROBBED! ROBBED, I tell you!). Downey did such a great job, that most of the time I forgot I was watching someone else playing Charlie.
Fast-forward 17 years and he was picked by Guy Ritchie to play the lead in Sherlock Holmes, which, honestly, sounded a little weird. For Chaplin, he played someone who was about 5’4″. And years later he plays someone who is described by Watson as being at least 6 feet tall. Either way, I did (and still do) enjoy his take on the Great Detective. He did win a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy” for his portrayal of Holmes (a category I still don’t understand how he won, but he won it. So, YAY!)
Chaplin and Holmes meet once again
On season 2, episode 1 of BBC’s excellent show Sherlock, “A Scandal in Bohemia”, John Watson’s girlfriend Jeanette is played play by Charlie’s granddaughter (Geraldine’s daughter), Oona Chaplin. When I was first watching the episode, I didn’t know who the actress was but there was something about her… I couldn’t put my finger on it. She seemed familiar, and at the same time not familiar. When I immediately re-watched the episode for the second time (because it was so mind blowingly awesome), I paid more attention to the ending credits, and the name “Oona Chaplin” jumped out at me. I threw my arms up in the air and shouted “WOOOOOOOHOOOO!!!” and did a happy dance. And so a new Chaplin comes face to face with the great detective.
Close encounter of a Sherlockian/Chaplinesque kind: Aidan Quinn
Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), and Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) from Elementary
Another recent connection (though not as strong as the above ones, but still there) is CBS’s newest take of the Holmes and Watson interpretations in Elementary starring Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, and Lisa Liu as Joan Watson (that’s right, a female Watson…a very good one), which premiered during Holmes’ 125th anniversary (2012). Co-starring is Aidan Quinn who plays Captain Thomas Gregson of the NYPD.
Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson), Sam (Johnny Depp), and Benny (Aidan Quinn)
Almost 20 years earlier (1993), Quinn played in an adorable movie that also starring Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Matherson, Benny and Joon (released just a few months after Downey’s Chaplin.). Quinn plays the older, and pretty protective brother, Benny to Matherson’s Joon who slowly falls in love with Depp’s Sam who is a eccentric person who is obsessed with Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
What kind of connections will show up later? Who knows. What I do know is that they keep popping up from time to time. And if I notice them, I’ll create a “Part 2”.
In my last (regular) post, I talked about the official video for “Discombobulate”, the main theme for the recent Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. (Hans was robbed of an Oscar! Shame on the Academy!!)
One thing I have become a fan of are fan-made music videos. To keep in line with my last couple posts, I list below some of my favorite Holmes related ones:
Sherlock Holmes Symphony
First up is a great medley of Holmes from various films, TV, and animation (even some anime!) done to The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. Opens with scene from CSI’s “Who Shot Sherlock?” episode (which happened to air on what would have been, if he existed, Sherlock’s 150th birthday), along with scenes (not listed in order) from Jeremy Brett (but of course!), Star Trek: The Next Genereation (loved the “Elementary, My Dear Data” episode!), The Simpsons, Daffy Duck & Porky Pig, Michael Pennington (from the very enjoyable TV movie “Return of Sherlock Holmes” where Holmes wakes up in 1980s England by Watson’s great granddaughter), Peter Cushing, Ronald Howard (an overlooked actor. Played the Great Sleuth back in the 50s on TV. Minus having blond hair, he made a great Holmes!) Basil Rathbone (another “but of course!”), shot of Laurel & Hardy wearing deerstalkers, Buster Keaton (from his masterpiece “Sherlock Jr”), and many others.
Last night I found this great video. From the title I was afraid it was going to be another slash vid, but it turned to be really really good. I watched it numerous times in a row, even getting a little choked up. Stars fast clips from the Granada series with Jeremy Brett, David Burke, and Edward Hardwicke. And with a sweet ending! The song is “Read my Mind” by The Killers. Great video on a greater friendship:
Sherlock Holmes, “Tubthumping”
Next is a very good vid taken from scenes of the Robert Downey Jr. movie. What makes this vid really interesting is that it was made before the DVD/Blu-Ray release. Clips were taken from already released scenes on the ‘net and trailers. Song is the 90s hit “TubThumping” by Chumbawamba:
Sherlock Holmes Featurette (Brett & Downey Jr>
This one combines both Brett’s and Downey’s Holmes with the song “All the Strange Strange Creatures” from the new Doctor Who series (season 3). One of the best songs from the new series (IMHO, of course). Anyway, it’s a very good combination! I’ll later post my favorite Doctor Who fan vids.
Sherlock Holmes video – Rocky Road to Dublin
And in honor of today being St. Patrick’s Day, below is also from the recent Sherlock Holmes movie. “Rocky Road to Dublin” by the Dubliners. While the song was in the movie, it’s not on the soundtrack 🙁 (whose brilliant idea was that?)
As I mentioned in my review for Sherlock Holmes, I loved the soundtrack. LOVED IT! Hans Zimmer is a genius! And a week ago an official music was released:
Starring the composer, Hans Zimmer, along with Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr (doing crazy antics. DANCE!…. but no Jude Law! Bummer!), Davey Johnstone (banjo), Anne-Marie Calhoun (violin), Tina Guo (cello), Lorne Balfe (co-wrote music), Aleksey Igudesman (another violin… the dude on the elephant), Satnam Singh Ramgotra (guy with full beard and the stand up big wide drum) Diego Stacco (crazy but awesome looking & sounding violin/viola/cello instrument), Atli Örvarsson, Bob Badami (don’t know exactly which one they are…maybe on the boat? or drumsticks?).
“Hans asked the musicians who participated on the soundtrack to video themselves, wherever they are in order to make this little video. Aleksey happened to be on an elephant in Thailand…”
What the video also pointed out to me was the different nationalities: British, German, Russian, American, Italian, Canadian…
Another thing I noticed: this is one of the few videos for a soundtrack where there are absolutely no clips of the film, just the cover for the CD.
And this weekend are the Oscars, and I sure hope that the soundtrack wins for best score. It should!
DVD/BluRay to be released….
According to Amazon, the movie is to be released later this month, March 30. The BluRay is where a lot of the extra features are at… bummer. I am hoping to get a digital copy so I can put it on my Creative Zen 🙂
I wasn’t sure on what to expect from the movie. I’ve been a Sherlockian for over 20 years. I was excited. It was the first Holmes movie in more than 20 years. I had my doubts about Downey. Not in his acting however or that he was not British. One of the big complaints from some Holmes fans about Downey was the fact that he was not British. Having seen him numerous times in Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin was British) where he had to learn 2-3 different accents to cover different eras of Chaplin’s life, I knew he could handle that.
Jude Law looked excellent as Watson, and from the trailers he seemed good, but I was going to hold off final opinion until I saw them in action.
I also had never seen a Guy Ritchie movie before. Other than having violence in his work, I really didn’t know what form he would take Holmes.
I went to the theater the day after Christmas. It was a busy Saturday afternoon and a lot of people were outside. I stood in one of the two lines. And as I stood there, I listened to what people were getting tickets to see. Most were for Holmes shich made me smile and also made me nervous. What it gets sold out before it was my turn?
“Sorry, it was just sold out. The last ticket was to the person right in front of you”
But I held my breath and waited.
“Three for Sherlock Holmes. Five for Sherlock Holmes. Two for Sherlock Holmes…”
After serveral people on both sides getting Holmes tickets, it was my turn.
“One for Sherlock Holmes”
After the poor guy had to type in my number because the card was worn, which also added a little tension thinking that it would sell out, he gave me the little ticket to sign, then handed me the movie ticket and receipt ticket. I smiled and headed in.
I gave it to the guy inside who was talking to a couple of the other patrons about how he was having trouble saying awake while working.
I walked in the room where it was playing. Packed! I looked around for a place to sit. Down…Down…Down the aisle I went. Finally I settled in the middle of the third row. They were playing one of those commercials for Coca-Cola and Walmart with the young guy going through a party, singing. I looked around. There were young teens, older couples, and people my age or thereabouts.
Good size crowd. Very good size.
Trailers started. First one showed Robert Downey Jr sitting in a crowded courtroom. It was a trailer for Iron Man 2. After a few other trailers, the cobble streets of London filled the screen…
The Review
I was afraid I wouldn’t like Downey as Holmes, mainly due the physical differences. It doesn’t seem right that Holmes is shorter than Watson. And the hair didn’t seem right either. While I watched the trailers and see Downey, I mainly saw Downey play Holmes… I didn’t see Holmes. And I was afraid that would be too distracting. So I decided I would go in based on the other factors, his acting (wasn’t too worried about that) and how he sounded.While it was a little distracting in looks, I quickly was able to put that aside and enjoy the film. His accent was very good. He sounded like I expected Holmes to sound. I liked how he talked his way on how to attack an opponent and the result of hitting/ kicking would do to the poor soul he was fighting. His meeting with Watson’s fiance Mary (one of the actual characters from the original stories, first in Sign of Four). She insists that Holmes give deductions about her, all the while Watson is trying to talk her out of it. Holmes goes through a rapid fire list of things about her, resulting in her throwing her drink in his face (I don’t think Holmes saw that coming 😉 ).
Other deductions were also great such as when Holmes has a bag placed over his head so he couldn’t see where some men were taking him. When the bag is removed after arriving in a chair in a secret location, the host doesn’t expect Holmes to know where they are at or who the host is. Holmes then goes through a list of smells, sounds, turns of the carriage that he observed while riding in the carriage and gives the location of where they are and who the gentleman is.
Also I liked how the film showed Holmes’ lack of socializing and “absurd” (to society anyway) way of living. which Watson hits Holmes with while being held in a pen.
Also interesting brief look into why Holmes does not socialize much during the scene with him in the resturant and the sounds and appearances of people get to him for a brief moment as he tries to block it out.
Big arguments about the fighting scene with people saying that Holmes didn’t fight. While he did not fight a lot, he certainly knew how to and was familiar with martial arts and how to wield a cane. The picture on the left is from “Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, published in 1904.
Ultimate was at the end where Holmes explains how everything happened (though I’ll let you find out what Holmes discovered.)
Things like that gave me a thumbs up for Downey (though Jeremy Brett is still my favorite Holmes).
And now Jude Law as John Watson. The guy was good. So, so good! The look, the way he talked. One hundred percent believable. Unlike Downey, when I looked at Watson, I saw Watson, I didn’t see Law playing Watson. I put him right up there with David Burke and Edward Hardwicke as great. Just like the Watson in the stories, he is faithful to his unusual friend but also brutally honest when there’s something that he does not agree with him about.
Rachael McAdams was good as Irene Adler, though I must say I am sick and tired of people putting a romantic spin between her and Holmes. Though credit goes to the film for showing Holmes not totally interested in her romantically. And yes, Adler is American (I’ve read some grumblings about that). She is another character from the original canon, A Scandal in Bohemia (one of my favorite Holmes stories) which was the first Holmes short story. And yes, she outsmarts Holmes in that. But there was no hanky-panky with them in there.
Mark Strong was good, though a bit of the stereotypical bad guy. In parts he kind of reminded me of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.
And hooray for them putting Inspector Lestrade in it, played by Eddie Marsan. I was wondering if he was going to be in it, and also how his name would be pronounced. Marsan didn’t look rat faced enough so I still will mark down Colin Jeavons as best Lestrade (from the Brett/Burke/Hardwicke series). And the name is pronounced the same in this film as it was in the Rathbone films, with a short “a”. When I originally read the stories, I read it with a long “a”, like in” trade”.
The soundtrack
The minute I found out that Hans Zimmer wrote the soundtrack, I knew I would like it. Turns out that not only the main theme is great, but the whole thing is good! Love the sound of a broken piano, it added a new fresh sound to Holmes. While listening to it at home, I looked through a bunch of pictures of Rathbone/Bruce and Brett/Burke/Hardwicke, the music still fit. Thumbs up for Zimmer (again)! I am listening to it repeatedly as I am writing this review. Click hear to have a listen from the movie official site. Just let it play and you can listen to the whole thing. If press the triangles, it’ll just play samples. Here’s a great article from the London Times about how Zimmer created the unique sounds: “Hans Zimmer: ‘The sound of Sherlock Holmes? It’s a broken piano'”
Overall
I had the theme song stuck in my head a couple hours after the movie, my mind a whirl wind of positive things things to say about the film. I was smiling throughout the whole thing, totally taking up in what was going on, and trying to figure out the little mysteries as they came up. And with all the positive things I’ve see in tweets and reviews, looks like there will be more interest in the great detective, which, for a long time fan, is always a good thing 🙂
Favorite Scenes/Lines
(Holmes pointing his violin bow at Watson) Watson: Get that thing out of my face Holmes: It’s not in your face, it’s in my hand. Watson: Get that thing that’s in your hand out of my face.
———————–
Scenes with the Big Guy that Holmes fights twice, and they talk French to each other. Ha! Very good! A Indiana Jones moment at the shipyard when Holmes throws a small hammer at him and it just bounces off. Reminds me of when Indy fought that big Nazi by the fighter plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
———————– Holmes: Save your bullets Watson.
(a few seconds later they both fire their guns, Holmes doing most of the shooting) Watson: What was that about saving bullets?
———————–
Holmes trying to unlock a door. Watson comes up and kicks the door in.
———————–
Not a deerstalker/curved shape pipe/”Elementary my dear Watson” in sight! Yay!
————————
There were a few of classic Holmes sayings. Two that I remember:
“Data, data, data. I can not make bricks without clay”
“”It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
And finally, a cool trailer….
I had posted trailer #2 in my last regular post, but a much better one was released later:
This movie will definately be on my “DVDs to get” list!
I have to thank my 8th grade English teacher for introducing me to the great detective and and his trusty companion.
Basil Rathbone (left) and Nigel Bruce play the crime fighting duo
We were reading Hound of the Baskervilles (considered by many fans to be the best of the Holmes stories) and watched the 1939 film version starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce it in class. We had an assignment of pretending to be a news reporter covering the murder. I’ve never cared too much for mysteries. It was usually someone gets killed (kind of a downer). Detective investigates and usually solves case. Killer is usually hateful/jealous/mean streaked. Then justice is done. But the characters of Holmes and Watson really got my curiosity. Holmes was stand-offish and not social. He could tell you where you came from and what you do for a living within the first second of meeting you. But he was not a romantic, but rather preferred facts when dealing with people… or rather, people’s cases. Along with his cocaine addictions, violin playing, and pipe smoking. Watson was loyal. Ready to help his friend when needed. And wrote about the cases that he and Holmes took on. Handy with a revolver. If Holmes asked him to go off and do something, Watson went without question. I happened to mention about the story to my mom, telling her that I thought it was really interesting and not hard to follow the decades old story. So when I graduated the grade, my parents gave me a book that had several stories in it (most of the Holmes stories were short stories), including Hound. The book had the original illustrations by Sidney Paget, which were originally with the stories when they were originally published. Considered to have cemented the “look” of Holmes to the public. I read those stories. Inhaled them is a better way of putting it. The stories were also out of the ordinary. Some were murders, though the cause of death no always easy: an animal in self defense or the victim died out of terror or a guilty conscious. Or perhaps faked their own death. Or something was stolen. In addition to that, I watched more of the Rathbone/Bruce movies on the local tv channel. I believe it was every Sunday afternoon. Rathbone was my Holmes. Until…
Jeremy Brett as Holmes (left) , Rosalie Williams as Mrs. Hudson (center) and David Burke as Watson standing in front of the infamous 221B residence
I saw Jeremy Brett and David Burke. Oh. My. Gosh!!! (that’s right, I said gosh. Deal with it! 😉 ) The performances of those two men really shot the characters out of a canon and onto the small screen. Brett’s portrayal was spot on. He set a very high standard of how someone should play Holmes. And Burke’s Watson as well as Edward Hardwicke’s Watson was much more faithful to the Watson that Conan Doyle wrote about. And the rest of the cast: Rosalie Williams who played their landlady Mrs. Hudson, Colin Jeavons as Inspector Lestrade, and a bunch of others who appeared looking like what I had pictured in my head when I first read the stories. And shooting it out of a canon can be taken another way… it was almost 100% Canon (canon – meaning the original stories). The stories were as close to word-for-word as one could fit into less than a 60 minute program. Costumes were beautiful. Sets were marvelous. The Baker Street residence was not too ornate. Everything was so… well…. perfect! (Except for the last few episodes. Production got lazy, and Brett’s health got worse and passed away in September 1995 :'( ). Even when I watch them now, they do not look like they are 25 years old. I
Brett again as Holmes, and Edward Hardwicke picking up the role of Watson
am picky when it comes to period films and if there is too much 1980s in something that is supposed to be 1880s, then I’m not happy. But this was, as I already said, perfect. A few years later I became a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin. And to my delight, one of Chaplin’s early acting childhood gigs was that of Billy the Pageboy in the Sherlock Holmes play written by William Gillette. There were two men who played Holmes for the play, Gillette and H A Saintsbury, and Chaplin worked with both of them, commenting in “My Autobiography” that he thought Saintsbury was the better Holmes. Many years later when he was making Limelight, he brought on Nigel Bruce to play Mr Postant, largely due to his Watson role. Which is another reason why I have kept the name Calvero for so many years… it connects some of my favorites together :). And speaking of the Holmes/Chaplin crossover, there is the “Sherlock Holmes” movie to be released later this year starring Robert Downey, Jr. who playrf Charlie in the 1992 film “Chaplin”. Loved him in that! And now he’s playing Holmes. While I can’t think of anyone better to play Chaplin than him, it will be real tough to even equal Brett’s Holmes. But he can do a very good British accent (he did a couple different ones in Chaplin). Jude Law has a very very good look for Watson (He also had a small part in the Granada series, “The Disappearance of Lady Carfax”). The trailer looks good: I’ll just have to put Brett’s image to the side when I go to see the new movie.
Fast-forward 17 years and he was picked by Guy Ritchie to play the lead in Sherlock Holmes, which, honestly, sounded a little weird. For Chaplin, he played someone who was about 5’4″. And years later he plays someone who is described by Watson as being at least 6 feet tall. Either way, I did (and still do) enjoy his take on the Great Detective. He did win a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy” for his portrayal of Holmes (a category I still don’t understand how he won, but he won it. So, YAY!)
On season 2, episode 1 of BBC’s excellent show Sherlock, “A Scandal in Bohemia”, John Watson’s girlfriend Jeanette is played play by Charlie’s granddaughter (Geraldine’s daughter), Oona Chaplin. When I was first watching the episode, I didn’t know who the actress was but there was something about her… I couldn’t put my finger on it. She seemed familiar, and at the same time not familiar. When I immediately re-watched the episode for the second time (because it was so mind blowingly awesome), I paid more attention to the ending credits, and the name “Oona Chaplin” jumped out at me. I threw my arms up in the air and shouted “WOOOOOOOHOOOO!!!” and did a happy dance. And so a new Chaplin comes face to face with the great detective.
I was afraid I wouldn’t like Downey as Holmes, mainly due the physical differences. It doesn’t seem right that Holmes is shorter than Watson. And the hair didn’t seem right either. While I watched the trailers and see Downey, I mainly saw Downey play Holmes… I didn’t see Holmes. And I was afraid that would be too distracting. So I decided I would go in based on the other factors, his acting (wasn’t too worried about that) and how he sounded.While it was a little distracting in looks, I quickly was able to put that aside and enjoy the film. His accent was very good. He sounded like I expected Holmes to sound. I liked how he talked his way on how to attack an opponent and the result of hitting/ kicking would do to the poor soul he was fighting. His meeting with Watson’s fiance Mary (one of the actual characters from the original stories, first in Sign of Four). She insists that Holmes give deductions about her, all the while Watson is trying to talk her out of it. Holmes goes through a rapid fire list of things about her, resulting in her throwing her drink in his face (I don’t think Holmes saw that coming 😉 ).
Big arguments about the fighting scene with people saying that Holmes didn’t fight. While he did not fight a lot, he certainly knew how to and was familiar with martial arts and how to wield a cane. The picture on the left is from 
