"I'm going away, and when I return I shall come back!" - Charlie Chaplin, Gold Rush
I hadn't watched any Chaplin since I was a child, and a couple years back I rented a DVD with his *very* early material, and I was sorely disappointed. But Gold Rush is really good, surprisingly funny. I was in stitches at his physical comedy, like when two big men fight over a loaded shotgun, and the gun keeps pointing at Charlie ("the Little Fellow") no matter where he tries to flee to in the room.
City Lights is on my list of the greatest movies of all time.
ReplyDeleteThe final scene is so moving it's difficult to talk about. James Agee wrote "it is the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies."
I showed the movie to a friend, who was so moved by the closing scene he demanded to see it again.
I know people who won't watch black and white movies. Even more people would never watch a silent film. I feel sorry for those people -- they miss out on some of the greatest works of art ever made.
I second the opinions on Gold Rush and City Lights.
ReplyDeleteChaplin was a genius. He is also an excellent role model on 'doing things well'. Reportedly those physical comedy segments took endless amounts of practise and retakes. Often driving people around him nuts.
Chaplin was Benny Hill's idol. Knowing this, Chaplin's family invited Hill to visit the late master's home in Switzerland, only a few years before Hill himself died. With great satisfaction Hill reported having spotted a sizable collection of VHS cassettes with the label 'Benny Hill' written on them in Chaplin's library. :-)
Chaplin's classic movies were often both very funny and very deep. He soon became a very strict perfectionnist regarding the shots he deemed worthy to keep. Ordered the rest burned. The few doomed bits that escaped that fate looked very good to me!
ReplyDeleteI have in my living room an artist's original drawing representing Charlie and the Kid (from the movie of the same name), and it's amazing. Their gaze is so intense, it feels alive.
I *loved* The Kid. First movie ever to feature a child in a full role.
"He soon became a very strict perfectionnist regarding the shots he deemed worthy to keep."
ReplyDeleteRisky strategy! He wouldn't have any backups if something happened to the chosen footage.
"Risky strategy! He wouldn't have any backups if something happened to the chosen footage."
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but thanks to it there are no 'Chaplin outakes' in YouTube, or elsewhere, today. And thanks to it we now regard Chaplin as an artist who Did Things (extremely) Well.
I should've been more specific : Chaplin burned the *scenes* that he did not deem worthy of keeping for his movies. Probably not all "spare" shots of scenes he liked.
ReplyDeleteWell, not right away, anyway. Perhaps only after the final cut.
I saw one of the rare salvaged ones, a sequence from City Lights. Couldn't find a single thing wrong with this pantomime!
Ah, well, artists will be artists.