The Kid - 1921

The Kid, 1921 Giclee Print
9 in. x 12 in.

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Charlie Chaplin's first full-length film (six reels) as a director. A sentimental, charming semi-autobiographical tale with both humor and pathos about Chaplin's famous Little Tramp character adopting an abandoned infant from a woman "whose sin was motherhood." An inter-title stated that it's "a picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear." After the Little Tramp unsuccessfully tries to find a home for the child, he assumes responsibility, raises him for five years, and teaches the kid (Coogan) to survive on the streets as a con artist. [Coogan, discovered in vaudeville in Los Angeles and one of the biggest child stars of the era, would later become Uncle Fester on the television show The Addams Family.]

Later, the desperate unwed mother (Purviance) seeks to regain custody through social welfare workers in a heartwrenching, melodramatic moment. Along with hysterical slapstick humor in various bits, the most engaging part is the fantasy dream sequence in which the Tramp sits on a doorway stoop and dreams of a blissful, happier life in Heaven, with the poor transformed into white winged angels. [One of the flirtatious "temptress angels" is 12 year-old Lita Grey, Chaplin's second wife four years later due to pregnancy.]

Chaplin would continue making silent films well beyond the advent of "talkies" until his first full-length sound picture The Great Dictator (1940). Fifty years after the film's original release, Chaplin composed an original orchestral musical score for the film, and re-edited the film by deleting about 6 minutes of scenes (involving the character of the kid's mother).

The Great Dictator - 1940

The Great Dictator Art Print
11 in. x 17 in.

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In his first full "talkie" (in a film similar to the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933)) and his most financially-successful film, Chaplin plays a dual role as: (1) Adenoid Hynkel, the great dictator of the film's title - the power-mad, despotic ruler and Fooey (Fuhrer) of the fictional European nation of Tomania, and (2) an un-named, humble, amnesiac Jewish barber (with some resemblance to Chaplin's Little Tramp character who was retired at the end of Modern Times (1936)) who returns years after being a soldier in World War I to discover that his long-abandoned shop is now part of the Jewish ghetto, occupied by thuggish Aryan stormtroopers of the Double Cross (rather than a swastika).

The Jewish barber is mistaken for the country's tyrannical dictator Hynkel, who is obviously a mocking satire of Adolf Hitler, complete with his squared-off mustache and Nazi-ish uniform. An additional burlesque portrait of Italy's tyrannical Benito Mussolini is in the character of Benzino Napaloni (Oakie), Dictator of the rival country of Bacteria. The film's message was made even more powerful by the satire, making fun of their demagoguery, fascism and anti-Semitism. Chaplin's bold and controversial parody, with its social and political commentary, was banned in occupied Europe, South America and Ireland. Some believed that Chaplin was trivializing the Nazi's violent rise to power; however, the film had entered production in 1938, when most Americans viewed Adolf Hitler as an ally (not an enemy), and were opposed to entering WWII.

It was released before the United States' entry into World War II (in 1941) and before knowledge of the Holocaust. One of the film's most famous scenes is Hynkel playing with an inflated balloon-globe of Planet Earth in a graceful, ballet-like sequence; also the pudding scene, and the one of the barber shaving a customer in time to a radio broadcast of Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5. The most powerful moment is when the barber (disguised as Hynkel) delivers a six-minute impassioned monologue (often interpreted as Chaplin's own plea) at the end of the film for peace, hope, human rights, understanding and world tolerance.

Modern Times - 1936

Modern Times Framed Art Print
16 in. x 22 in.
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In Modern Times (1936), the still-silent Tramp, with his familiar small Derby hat, mustache, large boots, baggy pants, tight jacket and cane makes his last screen appearance. Filmed between 1932 and 1936, it was directed, written, scored, and produced by Chaplin himself - and he also starred in his own 'one-man show' with his current wife and kindred spirit Paulette Goddard. This was Chaplin's first film after his successful City Lights (1931), released nine years after the advent of 'talkies.'

This social protest film is Charlie Chaplin's final stand against the synchronized sound film - and it is also his last full-length "silent film" - although it must be noted that it is a quasi-silent film. There is no traditional, synchronized voice dialogue in the film - but voices and sounds do emanate from machines (e.g., the feeding machine), television screens (i.e., the Big Brother screen - pre-dating George Orwell's book 1984, written/published in 1949), and Chaplin's actual voice is heard singing an imaginary, nonsense song of gibberish. Special sound effects and an original musical score (by composer Chaplin, including various musical themes from "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," "Prisoner's Song," "How Dry I Am," and "In the Evening By the Moonlight") enhance the pantomime.

Set in the 1930s during the Great Depression era, the film's main concerns (and those of the oppressed Tramp) echo those of millions of people at the time - unemployment, poverty, and hunger. It has a number of wonderfully inventive and memorable routines and scenes that proclaim the frustrating struggle by proletarian man against the dehumanizing effects of the machine in the Industrial Age (at the time of Henry Ford's assembly line), and various social institutions.

The Gold Rush - 1925

Gold Rush Framed Art Print
32 in. x 44 in.
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The Gold Rush (1925) is the quintessential Chaplin / Little Tramp film, with a balance of slapstick comedy and pantomime, social satire and emotional and dramatic moments of tenderness. It was Chaplin's own personal favorite films, showcasing the classic character of Tramp (called the "small" in the version re-release) as a romantic idealist and one gold prospector at the turn of the century, with his cane derby, distinctive walk, tight clothes shabby, and mustache.

Classic scenes include the stage of famine two prospectors cabin blocked boil and eat a meticulously stewed shoe, vagabond's cabin-mate delirium, imagining his companion as a large chicken, the cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff, and Chaplin's lonely New Year Party fantasized the day (with dinner rolls dance routine), when he expects a girl who never comes.

Early working titles for the film included Lucky Strike and The History of the North. The film, partly inspired by the macabre story Donner Party, was shot (on a 15-month period from spring 1924-summer 1925) both on land of Hollywood and back in the studio in Truckee, California / Nevada, and premiered in New York, the Strand Theatre in mid-August 1925. Chaplin film was reissued in 1942 with narration added sound and music, both spoken and composed / arranged by Chaplin.

City Lights - 1921

City Lights Framed Art Print
12.5625 in. x 16.9375 in.
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City Lights (1931), subtitled "A Comedy Romance in Pantomime," is generally viewed as Charlie Chaplin's greatest film - a "silent film" released three years after the start of the talkies era of sound. The melodramatic film, a combination of pathos, slapstick and comedy, was a tribute to the art of body language and pantomime - a lone hold-out against the assault of the talking film.

It was well known that Chaplin preferred the silent art form to the advent of sound films. Chaplin was responsible for the film's production, direction, editing, music, and screenplay (although assisted by Harry Crocker, Henry Bergman, and Albert Austin). The episodic film includes a complete musical soundtrack and various sound effects - but no speech or dialogue. Incredibly, Chaplin's film was not nominated for a single Academy Award - to the pro-talking film Academy members, it must have appeared to be reversing the trend toward talkies and advanced sound films.

The tale of blind love again presents the famous Little Tramp character - an outcast, homeless man with his baggy pants, tight coat, cane, large shoes and small hat who first appeared in 1914 (and gave his final appearance in Modern Times (1936)). This 'silent' film is the quintessential Chaplin film - with superb examples of Chaplin's (the Tramp's) acting and artistic genius.

The film's theme concerns the consequences (and suffering) resulting from the Tramp's attachment and efforts to aid a blind girl (and restore her sight with money for an operation) and a millionaire, as he persuades both of them that life is worth living. Both characters cannot "see" him or recognize him for what he is. However, the Tramp functions as a savior and wish-fulfiller for the blind flower girl while masquerading as a wealthy duke. For the drunk millionaire, the Tramp repeatedly saves the man's life and provides a congenial friend. [Note: Baby-faced comic Harry Langdon's best feature film in a short four-year film career, that was also director Frank Capra's feature-film debut, was The Strong Man (1926) - it predated Chaplin's City Lights (1931) by several years with its plot of a meek man in love with a blind woman.]