I Think Charlie Chaplin Might Be My Hero

City Lights + Modern Times + Monsieur Verdoux = basically every philosophy I’ve ever had in life.

I love Chaplin. His movies are very dreamlike and his music enhances them in a way that I haven’t found with other silent films. I enjoy City Lights but always wonder why it’s often considered his masterpiece. Personally I’d place The Gold Rush, The Kid, The Circus, The Great Dictator and Modern Times ahead of it but that’s probably just a matter of taste. Those are all wonderful films. He’s one of the most complete artists… what am I saying…, he’s THE most complete artist the cinema has ever seen: directing, acting, writing, composing, producing, etc. Orson Welles is one of the few men I can think of who even belongs in the same conversation with him when it comes to cinema renaissance men. I just wish we had more of a cinema culture down here in Tulsa so I could occasionally see one of his films on the big screen.

Charlie Chaplin IS my hero!!!!!!

“I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat, everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.”

“To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!”

Got a fantastic Chaplin box set yesterday: 10 features, all digitally remastered, with copious extras (David Robinson is involved, so they are bound to be comprehensive). Just watched The Kid, and I got to say, one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.

Monsieur Verdoux is a pretty challenging and ever relevant philosophy i think, little wonder he became persona non grata in US. Was he really the first globally recognised celebrity? Anyway, he was very much of the people across the world. We take such things for granted now, but he must have been an incredible discovery, the face of the silent era.

Instead of having fun with friends, this is what I did the night before Halloween:

Ian, That’s so cool! I dressed up like him.

^ where’s a moderator when you need one?

Anyway, I’ve been revisiting Chaplin lately and any supposed film knowledge I’ve gained from the last time I saw him only strengthens my respect and admiration for the man I consider most responsible for cinema being taken as a serious art form. I won’t say much more, but for anyone that has not seem Limelight, I think it is Chaplin’s most complex, heartbreakingly rich film. It is self-reflexive before that was cool, highly autobiographical (as his later films grew more and more blatantly to be), and even features a cameo from Buster Keaton.

See it and enjoy.

why does this idiot keep posting pictures of naked black men that he must dream of having sex with every night??????

Maybe they are pictures of the men he’s having sex with …

Ahhhhh Chaplin. God I’m infatuated with him. And Buster Keaton. I hate that Slapstick comedy is so overlooked and even considered primitive by many film critics. I don’t think any contemporary actors have such highly skilled cinematic bodies. The way they move is really astounding, the way they relate to their surroundings like children

Chaplin is so remarkable. His comedy is genius, his films are complex and moving, and the political and social messages he conveys in all his films are powerful and courageous. I think he is the most influential figure in cinema, what a brilliant, brilliant man. Such a shame he was kicked out of the country for standing up for what he believed in.

I don’t think I could decide between Modern Times or City Lights for which is his best film. The Gold Rush, The Kid, The Great Dictator – they’re all just amazing……….

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”

Love this quote
Love the women he casts in his pictures
Love the way he moves
Love The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Circus, Mutual Comedies

Favorite scenes = In The Gold Rush when he makes a mess of the cabin spreading feathers everywhere
= In Modern Times in the department store when he is blindfolded and roller skating