I have two. My answers will not be surprising to long time Chaplin fans.
The Gentleman Tramp and Unknown Chaplin. Gentleman Tramp is a biography, and Unknown Chaplin is a “behind the scenes” doc.
I baffled my family growing up with the number of times I have watched these. And I have baffled my kids equally as much.
“Mom, you’re watching that again?“
Like his films, these docs are fun and comforting. And I appreciate the tons work that went into them.
By the way, these are listed in order of release date, not a ranking.
The Gentleman Tramp
First, The Gentleman Tramp, written and directed by Richard Patterson, narrated by Walter Matthau, released in 1975. One of the things that makes this interesting is that it was made while Chaplin was still alive.
I first saw it listed in David Robinson’s book. And then in the early 90s in my baby Chaplin fan days, I saw the VHS while browsing around one of my favorite stores, Media Play, and grabbed it up right away. And continued to watch it numerous times. Then many years later I saw it at Amazon from Patterson himself. The DVD has two versions of the doc: one is the version that was on the VHS, and another longer version with a introduction by Matthau and his son, Charlie as they traveled to Chaplin’s Switzerland home, and a couple alternate takes (for example: during the Joan Barry court case). The DVD also came with a booklet written by Patterson talking about the ups and downs of making the doc (Chaplin had some disagreements with him with how the doc was being put together). I usually watch the version that I first saw.
You can buy it from Amazon here. Or you can watch a couple clips from it that was put up by the official Chaplin YouTube Channel:
There’s no place that I know of where you can buy it streaming, but it is on DailyMotion – watch it here: part 1 and part 2.
All the music is either by Chaplin (most of it falls into this category), or about Chaplin (“When The Moon Shines Bright On Charlie Chaplin” played during discussing why Chaplin did not fight during WWI). It also has more footage from the 1972 Oscars than what exists online.
Narration is provided by Walter Matthau. Which seemed like an odd choice to me at first, but then I realized that his wife, Carol, and Charlie’s wife, Oona, had been best friends since their teens. Also wonderful voice-overs reading excepts from Chaplin’s autobiography (read by Laurence Olivier), his son Charlie Jr (haven’t ID’ed that voice), various news articles and gossip columns (either supporting Charlie or deriding him),
Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin was the first Chaplin documentary I saw, years before I was a fan. It was somewhere during part 2: “The Great Director” when they were showing how The Gold Rush was made. I remember sitting there amazed by everything. They were explaining how the famous shoe eating scene was done (the shoe was made of licorice). When I finally saw the film when I became a fan, I remember not being grossed out because I knew that it wasn’t a real shoe, just licorice in shape of a shoe. And it did not gross me out like it does everyone else. Then after I became a fan, I read how Chaplin said that he never liked to talk about how he made his films, because it ruined the magic of it. And I thought to myself “What is he talking about? I love seeing how it was done and all the behind the scenes stuff. That;s just silly…” And then I remembered the shoe, and then thought “Okay, maybe he does know what he’s talking about”. Haha.
What got me when I was younger was the witty writing, excellent narration (by James Mason), smart editing, fitting music (the wonderful Carl Davis!), and overall energy of the documentary. That’s what kept me watching the first time, and what keeps me coming back to it.
So what is Unknown Chaplin about?
In the 1970s when Kevin Brownlow and David Gill were putting together their behemoth multi-part documentary “Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film”, they discovered so much unseen Chaplin footage (that Chaplin had originally ordered to be destroyed) showing how he made his films that they decided to make a documentary based around that.
There’s 3 parts:
My Happiest Years – From his days at Mutual, this contains lots of footage of his filmed rehearsals as he worked out story ideas.
The Great Director – Footage from How to Make Movies, making of The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights,. Interviews with Dean Reisner, Jackie Coogan, Lita Grey, Robert Parrish, Virginia Cherrill, Georgia Hale..
Hidden Treasures – Main focus is ideas that Charlie would play around with earlier in his career with and how they would show up years later in his films. The other half is deleted scenes from his films. And some other footage from How To Make Movies and visitors to the studio
Below is part 1. I totally love all 3, but part 1 is my favorite, in particular the evolution of “The Immigrant”. And here’s part 3
Favorite lines/scenes from Unknown Chaplin
During the segment on how The Immigrant came about, in the scene with Charlie and Albert Austin, and Charlie purposely throwing Albert off and laughing:
“After all, it’s only slate one”
This is hilarious, because practically from the time Chaplin started directing while at Keystone, he was notorious for doing oodles and oodles of retakes.
And then shortly later
“The film is a simple cafe comedy about a man who’s never been in a cafe. That all it is. So far.”
In the beginning of part 2, “The Great Director”, Dean Reisner’s story of how Charlie and Sydney had to trick him into hitting them in The Pilgrim. Also love the edit of when Dean says “And so finally he and Sydney would play slapping games”. And it cuts to Charlie looking over at Sydney. Lovely edit! Also great story that I forgot to put in my “Favorite story about him told by someone else” post. You can also see this segment in the free preview on Amazon.
The opening of Hidden Treasures, with Doug Fairbanks 1929 home movie where Charlie is running around with a ancient Grecian tunic. And then fools around with a globe and then puts a WWI German helmet on it. Cut to 20 years later in The Great Dictator to the famous globe dance scene. That still jaw drops me! You can see the full home movie here (black and white, no music), and colorized (4k, 60fps,and music. Rather cool!)
(Side note: The above opening segment was cut out of the DVD and the version on Amazon. However, you can watch it in Amazon’s free preview. Why is it not included in the regular episode? I have absolutely no idea. I just noticed it now while writing this.)
From Hidden Treasures, the deleted barber scene from Sunnyside with Charlie and Albert Austin. Music is clever too. The song is from the opera The Barber of Seville. Like in Day 11 when it took me almost 30 years to realize Chaplin used Wagner in The Great Dictator, it took me a few years before I realized (though it was just 5 or so years). I was listening to the local NPR when they were playing Barber, and it got to that part, and I thought “Hey, I know that song!”. And then remembered Unknown Chaplin. Very clever use of the music :). You can watch the opera with that particular tune, “All’iddea di quel metallo”, here.
Also from Hidden Treasures, the cut scene from City Lights where Charlie tries to push a slat of wood down a grate. Most of the scene is slow, and I’m glad he cut it. BUT – the guy who comes out to window dress the mannequin and gets furious at Charlie for not figuring it out…. Love that!
Deleted from the DVD and Amazon release
One thing that got removed was Geraldine Chaplin’s introduction:
Right after the segment about the cut piece from “Behind the Screen” where Charlie just misses the huge axe landing on him, there was a pause before going onto the segment for “The Immigrant”. (Yeah, I watched the VHS that many times I remembered how it was edited, haha).
And, as I mentioned above about the Douglas Fairbanks opening for “Hidden Treasures”
Remember the Easter Egg in Robert Downey Jr’s Chaplin?
That documentary series I mentioned above that Brownlow and Gill made, “Hollywood” is an amazing multi-part series. One of the reasons why it’s amazing are the interviews with people who were there. Directors, actors and actresses that are no longer with us.
A great documentary that is not just about Chaplin, but the other great silent comedians: Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon. With interviews with Hal Roach, Frank Capra, and Jackie Coogan and a few other contemporaries. In “Comedy: A Serious Business”. Made by Brownlow and Gill a couple years prior to Unknown Chaplin.
It’s more of a video essay, but I really love the below video by the YouTube channel Newfangled (and currently has less than 1000 views at the moment): “Charlie Chaplin Doesn’t Give a F*ck”
His whole autobiography is full of great stories. Traumatic childhood, going to America, making a huge success in movies, etc.
One story I really liked is a good example of what it was like to be super famous to an extent that no one had experienced before. With the popularity of movies, going from a fad to a international medium, Charlie was one of the first people to experience it.
He tells the story in his autobiography of how he fist found out how famous he really was. He was finishing up his film “Burlesque on Carmen” in 1915 (parody of the opera Carmen) and sent a telegram from California to his brother Sydney in New York saying that he’ll be leaving by train and to meet him in New York about various offers that were coming through.
With telegrams, a message is sent from city to city until it gets to its destination (this video from the Arizona Ghostriders helps explain it more). So each city got word that Chaplin was coming through, and so crowds began to gather in each train station. And each city there were bigger and bigger crowds. When the train got to Amarillo, Texas, this is what he saw:
Peeking out of the wash-room window, I saw the station packed with a large milling crowd. Bunting and flags were wrapped and hung from pillar to post, and on the platform were several long tables set with refreshments. A celebration to welcome the arrival or departure of some local potentate, I thought. So I began to lather my face. But the excitement grew, then quite audibly I heard voices saying: ‘Where is he?’ Then a stampede entered the car, people running up and down the aisle shouting: ‘Where is he? Where’s Charlie Chaplin?’
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (p. 234). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
And a day or so later when reaching Kansas City:
The large railroad station in Kansas City was packed solidly with people. The police were having difficulty controlling further crowds accumulating outside. A ladder was placed against the train to enable me to mount it and show myself on the roof. I found myself repeating the same banal words as in Amarillo. More telegrams awaited me: would I visit schools and institutions? I stuffed them in my suitcase, to be answered in New York. From Kansas City to Chicago people were again standing at railroad junctions and in fields, waving as the train swept by. I wanted to enjoy it all without reservation, but I kept thinking the world had gone crazy! If a few slapstick comedies could arouse such excitement, was there not something bogus about all celebrity? I had always thought I would like the public’s attention, and here it was – paradoxically isolating me with a depressing sense of loneliness.
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (pp. 236-237). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
It seemed that everyone knew me, but I knew no one…
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (p. 238). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
Below is a shortened version on a 1921 newsreel when he returned for a visit to London. It’s not the same event as what he writes about above, but it gives you a brief idea of what it was like where you can get an idea of the crowds:
Okay, I have a whole bunch that I love (does every scene in his movies count?), but narrowing it down to just two.
The first one I have mentioned before (Day 6 – Favorite First National): From “The Kid” (100 years old this year! Huzzah! Soundtrack that Chaplin wrote is 50 years old this year! Huzzah again!). Below is from the official Chaplin YouTube channel (I was so happy when they uploaded the whole scene! YAY!)
A favorite vlogger of mine, Jordan from the YouTube channel “Daze with Jordan the Lion“, does Hollywood and musician locations, usually in the Los Angeles area. About 4 years ago he visited a couple location from The Kid: one (at was the alley where we first see Charlie walking towards the camera) is at about 7:56. The other alley (starting at 14:28) from the ending of the above scene.
I was wondering whether or not to include this day’s challenge because I don’t want to give publicity to poorly written books. But, on the other hand, I wanted to share my thoughts on books to be wary of.
This one is at the top of my list: Joyce Milton’s “Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin”.
I first heard about the book when I was on the road in a circus (ah, a story for another time!) in the summer of 1996 when I saw a newspaper article about it. I was excited to see another book about him and looked forward to getting it when I went back home.
Charlie, wearing his tree costume from Shoulder Arms
Oh boy. I’m going to be jumping all around his timeline!
Well, maybe 1918. Right when he starting rolling with his studio and around the time when he was working on creating United Artists. Watching the making of Shoulder Arms. That would be cool 🙂
Second would be the filming of Limelight.
Charlie as Billy the Pageboy in “Sherlock Holmes” play
And in 1894, to sit in the audience when he took the stage at the first time at 5 years old to save his mom when she had a breakdown on stage and people were booing her. To divert their wrath, he started to sing and everyone loved him.
And, as a Sherlockian, an absolute must would be to watch one of his performances as Billy the pageboy in the Sherlock Holmes play, with either William Gillette or H. A. Saintsbury as Holmes.
Just now I released how I started this article, and is somewhat fitting. “Oh boy” was the signature line said in one of my favorite TV shows, “Quantum Leap“, about a guy who time travels by leaping into people’s bodies.
One person towers ahead of other bad guys. Standing at 6’5, and just under 300 pounds, it’s Eric Campbell.
He worked with Chaplin back in the Fred Karno days in England, and later found his way to America. Chaplin brought him into his cast at Mutual, and they worked on 11 of Chaplin’s 12 Mutual films from The Floorwalker in 1916 to The Adventurer in 1917. His last appearance was as a golfer in the unreleased How to Make Movies.
He was great as the big bully, his Goliath to Charlie’s David. And those make-uped eyebrows! He was a bit of a cartoonish bad guy, but he was fantastic at it. Sadly he died young in 1917 in a car accident.
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.
https://youtu.be/2FIt4g9fgcg
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
