Critics reviews

Over the last half century, critics have occasionally returned to Chaplin's swan song hoping to discover a maligned masterpiece, only to report back, with various degrees of candor, that Crowther was right: it is indeed awful. But its history can, at least, shed some light on how and why one of the century's greatest artists took such a tumble.

Chaplin turned his last film into a social critique of slapstick, a moral analysis of the roots of comic indignity.

A major part of [Chaplin's] greatness is still tied to a kind of dialogue he (mainly) had or (less often) attempted to have with his public throughout his career, most of which was tied in one fashion or another to his physical presence and/or his personal autobiography. And the autobiographical resonances of Countess, while certainly present, are emotionally superficial compared with those of his other films.

If you ever liked Chaplin, you will probably like “A Countess from Hong Kong.” It is the quintessence of everything Chaplin has ever felt.