It’s the 100th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length feature, The Kid, and that’s as good an excuse as any to celebrate all of his films. But who was Chaplin off-screen? A new Showtime documentary, The Real Chaplin directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney purports to get to the bottom of the real Charlie Chaplin…does it?
Click the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my review, as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC, and Pacifica stations across the country.
Chaplin and an old jail mate are about to rob a house in this clip from an amusing 1916 short.
Thanks to YouTuber Happy Monks
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Charlie Chaplin’s birthday occurs on April 16th, but really we can celebrate him anytime we like. Simply the greatest comedian on the big screen ever. Here’s a piece I produced that was broadcast today on WBAI’s Arts Express, WBAI.org, and on Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to listen.
(Click to enlarge)
West 50th Street
New York, New York
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After Charlie Chaplin’s American passport was revoked during the McCarthy era, he made a movie in his exile called A King in New York, about a monarch who visits the US and is subjected to a HUAC-like Congressional panel. In one particularly pointed scene, the King visits a progressive school and gets an earful from an anarchist-minded young lad, serendipitously played by Chaplin’s own 10-year old son, Michael. Both a spoof and delineation of anarchist ideas and those who promulgate them, it’s some of the most radical talk you’ll hear in a studio motion picture.
Thanks to YouTuber Onder Koffer V
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One more brilliant scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, where he plays the Fascist dictator, Adenoid Hynkel.
Thanks to YouTuber nebelppa
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From The Gold Rush
