Charlie Chaplin the screens greatest genius

Discussion of the actors, directors and film-makers who 'made it all happen'
stuart.uk
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Charlie Chaplin the screens greatest genius

Post by stuart.uk »

Charlie Chaplin was a great comic, a great actor, a great director, a great producer, a great musical composer and a great movie mogul!

Chaplin began his career at Keystone studios in 1914 and though greatly successful, his films there don't appear to have stood the test of time. however, this changed at Essanny with The Tramp, his first classic film. it was there he started working with leading lady Edna Purviance. they made 34 films together and as a romantic screen partnership were as good as Bogart/Bacall or Wayne/O'Hara.

it was at the Mutual studios he became a true legend with classics like The Cure, The Adventurer, The Immigrant and Easy Street.

my own favourite Chaplin film was made at First National. it was called The Kid and was his first feature film. my favourite all time scene is also in it, where the powers that be come to take Jackie Coogan away from the tramp, (something that happened to Charlie as a child with his own mother) only to be rescued by Charlie, who performed heroicly. that scene was also complemented by one of the best pieces of film music i've ever heard, though i believe Charlie wrote many decades after the film was made.

In 1921 Charlie along with Doug fairbanks, D.W Griffith and Mary Pickford formed United Artists, making him a powerful movie mogul as well as actor. IMO Charlie was the most successful of the four as he outlasted them making his last film in the late 60s, though to be fair Mary retired young to concentrate on producing after she made the 1933 Secrets

The Gold Rush too was another Chaplin classic with Georgia Hale. i feel Chaplin's narrated version of the 1940s wasn't as good as he originally made it. for example i thought the end should not have been edited from the second version as it was a magical romantic scene between him and Georgia. City Lights had a great ending when the tramp is recognized by the once blind girl, whom he paid to have her sight restored.

Modern Times, a silent made when talkies were well established, was also great. the theme tune had lyrics added to it yrs late and was a hit for Nat King Cole. SMILE!

In MT Charlie is paired with 3rd wife Paulette Goddard, who joins him for The Great Dictator, his first full talkie. here he plays Hitler to great comic effect. the speech at the end is a warning against the dangers of Nazism and othe dictatorships

Limelight in 1952 is Charlie's last great film, about an aging music hall comic, who finds love with a much younger ballett dancer Claire Bloom. sadly the film ends with the death of the old man, leaving Bloom to marry the other younger man she loves, played by Charlie's son Sydney Jnr.

in the 1980s i marveled that most of Charlie's leading ladies were either very old or dead, but the exception was Claire Bloom, who was as beautiful as ever doing the likes of Shadowlands for UK tv. even now in her mid 70s she could pass for someone 20-yrs younger
Last edited by stuart.uk on January 23rd, 2008, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mr. Arkadin
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Post by Mr. Arkadin »

Hi Stuart. I love Chaplin as well. My personal favorite of his work is Monsieur Verdoux (1947). Here's a post I did on Modern Times:

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis/viewtopic.php?t=748
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I completely agree with you about Chaplin. A genius. I can never pick a favorite film, there are too many for me. Here are the cream in my estimation

THE IMMIGRANT
EASY STREET
THE ADVENTURER
BEHIND THE SCREEN
THE PAWN SHOP
A DOGS LIFE
PAYDAY
THE IDLE CLASS
THE PILGRIM
THE KID
THE GOLD RUSH-SILENT VERSION
THE CIRCUS
CITY LIGHTS
MODERN TIMES
THE GREAT DICTATOR
MONSIEUR VERDOUX

when it comes down to it I can't knock any of the Chaplin features off the list. They are all perfect or near perfect.

As for the ladies who were paired with Chaplin, Edna and Paulette are my favorites.
stuart.uk
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Post by stuart.uk »

for me the best leading ladies are Edna and Claire. i think Claire somewhat resembled Oona O'Neil. if fact Charlie's 4th wife doubled for the young English actress in Limelight for a longshot. I think it's great that Claire could play leading lady to Chaplin in 1952 and yet could play oppisite Billy Zane in a recent stage musical

my favourite Chaplin musical scores are from The Kid and Limelight.
Last edited by stuart.uk on January 23rd, 2008, 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I think Claire Bloom was chosen because of her resemblance to Oona. How Charlie talks about Oona in his autobiography is so touching. A man very much in love with his wife.

My favorite scores are from The Kid and Limelight too.
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MissGoddess
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Post by MissGoddess »

Hi Stuart,

Boy you've taken on here like a house afire! Good for you!

Guess what? The Film Forum here in NYC will be screening both City Lights and Modern Times on May 1st. It will be my first big-screen experience of Le Charlot. I'm really looking forward to it since I haven't seen either in ages.
stuart.uk
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Post by stuart.uk »

i don't know Miss G

i kind of laid an egg with articles on British performers. yet surprisingly it was my Tommy Steele one that did well. mind you it's early days, maybe it'll pick up
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

Stuart:

Not to worry. I'm glad you've jumped in like you have. It might be just my issue but I wasn't real familiar with the work of some of those people.

Keep it up.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

i'm a fellow Brit, I'll go and look for some of your posts, I should at least know some of the names :)
stuart.uk
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Post by stuart.uk »

look under this section and musicals

i sometimes worry that i will talk about stars people in America won't have heard of. sometimes i find it impossible to avoid. for example i know Julie Walters is big in America, but a comic actress called Victoria Wood isn't. the thing there is the two women are more or less a double act in the UK and if anyone looks at Julie's CV they'll find 90% of the time Victoria's there too and with equal billing

as your a Brit who's a Chaplin fan, i'd recomend Paul Merton's book Silent Comedy. it's based on his recent tv show
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I've just finished reading his book, it's brilliant. I saw his show in Manchester he showed Safety Last and the opening sequence of The Circus amongst other clips. He was fair to all comedians.

Is there any ending to a film better than the ending of City Lights?
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

Since you guys are talking about Chaplin I see that TCM will be showing some of his later work in April (I believe) What is the general consensus regarding his talkie films?

BTW my favourite Chaplin movie is THE GREAT DICTATOR.
stuart.uk
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Post by stuart.uk »

I wanted to contact Paul Merton to ask him a question regarding his book and series. in Safety Last he seems to be suggesting that Harold Llyod did all his own stunts. however, i think it was the Brit doc series Hollywood, shown in the 80s, a stuntman said he actually did the high rise stuff, while Harold did close ups about 20ft up. he said he let the world believe Harold did it, but after his death he said it was him.

in Our Hospitality Buster Keaton did a great stunt in wild rapids. this supposedly included him swinging across a high waterfal to rescue a dummy of his leading lady. however, there is still footage of Buster swinging across a mild waterfall, not as high up as what we saw on the screen. it was still a great stunt though

my favourite Chaplin talkie is Limelight and IMO he is greatly underrated in this medium
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

There is a documentary available about Buster Keaton called A Hard Act To Follow by Kevin Brownlow. It is great and can be rented in the UK off any of the postal services or bought on Amazon. This featues pictures/footage of the waterfall reconstructed at the Keaton Studios so that the stunt could be performed there. It was still a stunt performed at quite a height and Buster took on so much water he needed medical attention. Buster only ever used a double at one time during his own productions, that was in College when he pole vaults into the girls bedroom, he tried and couldn't master the pole. He hated to have to use someone else though.

I love Limelight too. I think it was a highly personal film to Chaplin, it had his children in the beginning. His leading lady looked like his wife and a lot of his material must have been picked up on his time in the English Music Hall.

As for Harold's stunts, I really don't know. He was brave to attempt it in the first place having lost his thumb and forefinger on his right hand.
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Gagman 66
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Post by Gagman 66 »

charliechaplinfan,

:o The 1989 Thames documentary HAROLD LLOYD: THE THIRD GENIUS clears all this up. Actually, it was cleared up by 1980, when Tom Dardis started writing his excellent Biography on Lloyd THE MAN ON THE CLOCK, published in 1983. As noted in THE THIRD GENIUS, which I have on DVD-R, Lloyd was only doubled in the extreme long shots, on the real building's during the making of SAFETY LAST. Harvey Perry, doubled Lloyd on the Climb in FEET FIRST (1930), on the real building's, but not on SAFETY LAST. In the extreme long shots it is Bill Strothers.

:) Harold still did virtually the entire climb in both films almost entirely on his own, despite the two missing fingers on his right hand! Even dislocating his shoulder during the filming of the famous Clock sequence, during one of the many re-takes, that He routinely did! HL, just popped the shoulder back in it's socket, took about a 10 minute recess than went right back to filming once again!
Last edited by Gagman 66 on January 25th, 2008, 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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