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.

Dinner at Eight - 1933

Dinner at Eight, 1933 Masterprint
11 in. x 17 in.

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A masterfully-directed, poignant melodramatic comedy by director George Cukor and producer David O. Selznick. This MGM film was based on the popular, dialogue-rich Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. It was studded with a tremendous ensemble cast of stars (inspired by MGM's previous year's Best Picture winner, Grand Hotel (1932)) - who are all invited to a Manhattan formal dinner party during the height of the Depression, by social climbing, flighty hostess Millicent (Burke) and floundering businessman husband Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore). [Three of the stars, John and Lionel Barrymore, and Wallace Beery appeared in both films.] Other guests include crass, crooked rich tycoon Dan Packard (Beery) and his candy-chewing, trampish trophy wife Kitty (Harlow), the family doctor Dr. Talbot (Lowe), washed-up, alcoholic silent-era actor Larry Renault (John Barrymore), and elderly ex-Broadway star Carlotta Vance (Dressler). The witty romantic comedy is filled with choice lines of dialogue, and revolves around various relationships between the characters. Suicide, financial ruin, love, infidelity and adultery, economic pressures, class conflict, the dawn of the talkies, divorce, aging and fading careers, and alcoholism affect their interactions.

Bus Stop - 1956

Bus Stop Poster
26 in. x 38 in.

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Aka The Wrong Kind of Girl, this comedy/drama, adapted by George Axelrod (who also co-wrote The Seven Year Itch (1955) also starring Monroe) and based on the hit Broadway play by William Inge, was Marilyn Monroe's first "serious" lead role. She plays Cherie, a fifth-rate, hillbilly saloon-bar singer in Phoenix, originally from the Ozarks, whose dream is to go to Hollywood. Her path crosses that of a naive, callow and rude cowboy from Montana in town for a rodeo, Beauregard 'Bo' Decker (Murray in his film debut), who immediately is smitten by his sweet 'angel.' The most memorable moment of Bus Stop is Monroe's famous torch-song performance of "That Old Black Magic" for an unappreciative audience, mixing sensuousness with a wistfully sad, soulful quality. The country bumpkin persistently tries to woo Cherie (whom he crudely calls Cherry) - and forcefully kidnaps her to take her home with him. They become stranded during a blizzard at a roadside bus stop - the Blue Dragon Inn in Idaho, where she eventually falls for her abductor. Widely considered the best role of Monroe's career, it mixed comedy with dark pathos. The film proved Monroe was a more-than-capable actress reflecting her skillful acting talent and some of her own personal insecurities. It earned her better roles opposite such stars as Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Clark Gable, and Laurence Olivier. The film later inspired a 1961-62 TV series of the same name.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 1969

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Framed Art Print
16 in. x 22 in.

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One of the most-popular, appealing, beguilingly star-driven, tragi-comedy Westerns ever made. About two charming, turn-of-the-century, train-robbing outlaws - with comedy, drama, action, a witty script, and two handsome leads. The romanticized buddy film is loosely based on real-life, legendary outlaws Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longbaugh (The Sundance Kid) and the Hole in the Wall gang. The film's early 1900's anti-heroes are free-wheeling, non-chalant Butch (Newman) and sharpshooting Sundance (Redford), both with human fallible traits - their specialty is robbing trains, until they bungle their second attempt on the Union Pacific Express and are relentlessly pursued by authorities in a posse. With Sundance's beautiful, school-teacher lover Etta Place (Ross), they flee to Bolivia to seek further wealth. In the end, they are outnumbered and die in a blazing, hail of bullets, freeze-frame shootout, reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde. Features the song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" while Etta and Butch share a bicycle ride.

The Awful Truth - 1937

Awful Truth Framed Art Print
16 in. x 22 in.

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A fast-paced, classic screwball romantic comedy of the 30's, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in their first on-screen pairing. Jerry and Lucy Warriner (Grant and Dunne), a married, high-society couple who are convinced of infidelities (based on misunderstandings and other ridiculous reasons), file for divorce and separate for six months after a custody battle for their dog (Asta of The Thin Man films). During the interim, they verbally spar, sabotage and ruin each others' new relationships and romances - with handsome voice teacher Armand Duvalle (D'Arcy) and mother-dominated, millionaire Oklahoma rancher-hick Daniel Leeson (Bellamy), and singer Dixie Belle Lee (Compton). Before their divorce is finalized, they ultimately cannot resist each other and discover their mutual love. Academy Award Nominations: 6, including Best Picture, Best Actress--Irene Dunne, Best Supporting Actor--Ralph Bellamy, Best Screenplay, Best Film Editing. Academy Awards: 1, Best Director.

The Apartment - 1960

Apartment Framed Art Print
16 in. x 22 in.

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A classic, caustically-witty, satirically cynical, melodramatic comedy about corporate politics - and a bitter-sweet romance. In a bid to get ahead, an ambitious, lowly, misguided and young insurance clerk C. C. Baxter (Lemmon) generously lends out the keys to his NYC apartment to his company's higher-up, philandering executives for romantic, adulterous, extra-marital trysts, including to his callous married boss J. D. Sheldrake (MacMurray). Baxter's own budding crush toward his building's elevator operator - melancholy, and vulnerable Fran Kubelik (MacLaine) turns ugly when he discovers he has been outsmarted - she is the latest conquest of his boss - and has attempted suicide in his apartment.

Baxter's next-door, philosophizing doctor/neighbor Dr. Dreyfuss (Kruschen) convinces Baxter to confront the craven ethics of his superiors - and he wins the affections of Fran. Academy Award Nominations: 10, including Best Actor--Jack Lemmon, Best Actress--Shirley MacLaine, Best Supporting Actor--Jack Kruschen, Best B/W Cinematography, Best Sound. Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Story and Screenplay, Best B/W Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Film Editing.