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Charlie Chaplin is in glorious form in this legendary satire of the mechanized world. As a factory worker driven bonkers by the soulless momentum of work, Chaplin executes a series of slapstick routines around machines, including a memorable encounter with an automatic feeding apparatus. The pantomime is triumphant, but Chaplin also draws a lively relationship between the Tramp and a street gamine. She's played by Paulette Goddard, then Chaplin's wife and probably his best leading lady (here and in The Great Dictator). The film's theme gave the increasingly ambitious writer-director a chance to speak out about social issues, as well as indulging in the bittersweet quality of pathos that critics were already calling "Chaplinesque." In 1936, Chaplin was still holding out against spoken dialogue in films, but he did use a synchronized soundtrack of sound effects and his own music, a score that includes one of his most famous melodies, "Smile." And late in the film, Chaplin actually does speak--albeit in a garbled gibberish song, a rebuke to modern times in talking pictures. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Encore to Charlie, the Little Tramp
Chaplin's Modern Times leaves us awed with various noteworthy marks. First of all, Chaplin endeavored to make his second sound film following City Lights (1931), in spite of the wide-conquering trend of talkie. Not only the background music but also occasional sound effects bring out the brilliance of the director. Second, even after two decades since his silver screen debut in 1914, the performance of Charlie the Little Tramp and Chaplin's directing had been matured, not faded, like a good wine. Those laughing spots fairly spread in the entire film proves it. Last but not least, you can never forget this film for the moment when the long-time silent Little Tramp finally open his mouth to sing!--for the first and final time, unless you count The Great Dictator (1940), the following film and another masterpiece of Chaplin. --After all those struggles, Charlie gets a job at a cafe, where his adventure partner the Gamine (Paulette Goddard; Chaplin's wife at that time) works as a dancer. Charlie is to wait and sing. As he can't remember the lyrics when rehearsing, the Gamine helps him writing the lyrics on his cuff for a cheat sheet. A fanfare goes and the Little Tramp marches in the floor stage performing an eccentric dance until he dances so hard that the cuffs are blown away. He frantically and desperately searches for the cuffs and the Gamine says (in the spoken title) "Sing! Never mind the words!"-- It is well known that Chaplin was the last resistant against talkie claiming the universality of silent films. What he performed in this "Titina" sequence, singing in the stateless language (still obvious it is conjured up with a few languages such as French or Italian) and storytelling by his brilliant pantomime. The audience in the film reacts the same way as we do: get a nice-surprise, laugh and applaud. With its theme song "Smile", composed by Chaplin, the performance of Charlie the Little Tramp is definitely one of the highlights of this film. Play it again, Charlie!

My favourite of this first series of Chaplin reissues.
It helps that Modern Times is one of Chaplin's best films, period, running a close second behind City Lights (I hope that's next on the re-release list). And happily, unlike The Gold Rush, which was ruined by awful sound choices, the Modern Times DVD offers a clean transfer of the film with all the beloved original elements intact as far as I could see and hear, plus a host of extras.

The film itself is the most briskly paced of Chaplin's feature-length films. And his writing is sharp, unhindered by the sermonizing which permeates his last works. The dilemma facing our Little Tramp this time is something all of us can relate to: For the first time, we see him thinking ahead, wanting to have a future, to form a family, and working towards that end. Chaplin's physical-comedy skills are at their peak: Witness the extended takes of the rollerskate scene, and the factory assembly line. Even if the 18fps (sometimes 16fps) film speed made everything look faster than it really was, it's still impressive physical co-ordination requiring flawless execution, since Chaplin rarely edits using coverage.

In Modern Times we see one of the first truly well-rounded Chaplin heroines. The radiant Paulette Goddard was Chaplin's best leading lady, her high spirits and lively presence being a much better foil for Chaplin than the starry-eyed icons of perfection that were Georgia Hale, Edna Purviance, or Virginia Cherrill. She just has more star quality and brings a quirkier, more animated personality to Chaplin's films, balancing them nicely.

And the gags -- some of the best in the Chaplin canon. The eating machine always has me rolling on the floor; the nonsense song is terrific (the DVD offers a "karaoke" version which, though a novelty, does tell us finally what the lyrics actually are); and all the machine gags are fast-moving gems.

The bonus materials include a long outtake and several documentaries. "Chaplin Today" features guests Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the French filmmakers behind the film Rosetta, and though their film-historian banter is not entirely to my taste, they do bring up some insights that I hadn't observed about Modern Times.

In all, a great release, and a great DVD to have for movie nights. It's a wonderful presentation of a comedy classic.

'Where's the Boss?'
Caught between the cog wheels???

If you are suffering from work woes, this film is a great one to watch. A co-worker at my last job recommended this film to me. We worked for one of those genome companies, some of us working in a production capacity, doing the same repetitive tasks ad nauseum. The, (in real life), multi-talented Chaplin in this film is a simple-minded factory worker who spends his day going through the same motions over and over again. He does get lunch breaks, but of course his day at work is not without its mishaps. Funny that a 70 year old film about modern times is still not dated.

This film was made in 1936 during the Great Depression, a time when money and bread were scarce, many people feeling the effects. The story line for this movie reveals some of these circumstances, but as Chaplin lives through them, as when he is forced to drink rum bursting out of casks shot by robbers of a department store, one of whom was a previous co-factoryworker, you can't help but laugh, and as the song says, 'just smile'.

One of the golden gems of Charlot
Modern times was a smart comedy in the previous years to WW2.
Charlot made raptures images in several sequences.
Our unlucky or disadapted little man , definitively wasn{t made for working with the industrial process. This kinetic introduction in the middle of the complex mecahnism of machine systems is a issue to develop unforgettable laughable situations. The sense of alienation in front the no ending belt , causes in him an insane loss of the reality. And the machine who feeds you without waste of time for your employers is a classic.
Obviously Charlot inspired himself in Metropolis, the bitter nightmare of Fritz Lang from 1927. (Watch for instance for the employer who works around the machine control) .
So our beloved anti hero goes out from this the factory to the hospital and over and over he tries to get a job but he fails , by one reason or another.
In the middle of the film will appear a deep inspiration. The eternally beauty Paulette Godard represents exactly that weird mix teenager-woman who will work out as link for him later.
He is a guy with good feelings. He acts always as humanity benefactor but the long arm of the fate runs behind him and the results are not succesful.
The sequences in the dinner hall with the chicken that never comes to the impatient client is a masterpiece. Literally it's a funny coreography dance in the purest sense of the word.
Smile ; no matter what's wrong with you. We'll keep ahead , overcoming all the possible obstacles.
A remarkable film and one of the landmark pictures of this timeless genius.
Haven't you seen it? Make yourself a favour and buy it as a gift for you or your wife or fiancee or kids. This film will never dissapoint you , at least in the next three hundred years.

Getting Chaplin
Until I saw "Modern Times" I only knew Chaplin from clips and impressions rather than from his films. I didn't see the talent. I understood that he parlayed his popularity into power and control over his work and that he made a huge contribution to American cinema. But I found Chaplin the performer, cloying and sentimental.

After watching "Modern Times" however, I understand why he is one of the great performing talents of the 20th century. The film is nearly silent and mostly a series of comedic set-pieces, each one a virtuoso display of Chaplin's boundless talent.

What struck me most in watching Chaplin was both his ability to come up with a routine; strapped to an eating machine, skating blindfolded in a department store and amusing hardened diners as a dancing waiter and executing the concept with grace, humanity and humor. It is also a great testament to his acting that we never question Chaplin's "little tramp" an average, slightly ludicrous character who has amazing talent that deeply undercuts his character's supposed mediocrity.

My other surprise was how effective and nuanced the satire is in "Modern Times." Chaplin's little tramp is the perfect protagonist in a story about the perils of automation and technology. The little tramp is never defeated and always optimistic. He is like a cartoon character in that each travail is new and he doesn't carry with him the baggage from the previous experience. But he is also terribly human; frail, self absorbed, eccentric and resilient so that we the audience don't feel the oppressive weight that automation and technology has upon the working person. Without a strong, human protagonist, the attack against modern society could seem more global and distancing. Instead we witness the pain from an individual perspective that connects to our own lives. ... Read more

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This blistering little black comedy was well ahead of its time when released in 1947. Originally, Orson Welles had wanted Chaplin to star in his drama about a French mass murderer named Landru, but Chaplin was hesitant to act for another director, and used the idea himself. He plays a dapper gent named Henri Verdoux (who assumes a number of identities), a civilized monster who marries wealthy women, then murders them (as we meet him, he's gathering roses as an incinerator ominously bellows smoke in the background) and collects their money to support his real family. The Little Tramp is now a distant memory, though this was the first film not to feature Chaplin's beloved creation. Verdoux is largely viciously clever until it gets too heavy-handed, as evidenced when a woman he spares returns years later as the mistress of a munitions manufacturer. Ultimately, Chaplin breaks character (much as he did in The Great Dictator) to preach to the masses, declaring that against the machines of war that grip the planet, humble killer Verdoux is "an amateur by comparison." --David Kronke ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Chaplin's Best Talkie
In his 1964 autobiography, Charlie Chaplin called "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) "the cleverest and most brilliant film I have yet made." Though not without its faults, this sardonic black comedy remains one of his finest achievements -- and it's certainly his best foray into sound. Chaplin's detailed performance as the business-minded Bluebeard is a masterpiece of screen acting. However, the supporting cast ranges from excellent (Martha Raye) to amateurish (Marilyn Nash) while the final minutes get bogged down in endless talk. Chaplin later admitted that "Monsieur Verdoux" could have used a bit more pantomime and less dialogue. Still, it's a thought-provoking and hard-hitting film. Henri Verdoux and the Little Tramp have much in common.

A TRIUMPH
Monsieur Verdoux is Chaplin's unsung masterpiece. A very dry film, it lives in the shadow of the much broader 'The Great Dictator'. The humor is subtle (the Martha Raye scenes aside) and one has to think to get it. Example: Verdoux is tending to his rose bushes while the incinerator is finishing up one of his wives in the background. He's just murdered a woman yet he refuses to step on a little catepillar. In picking it up and moving it to safety, he becomes very squemish at touching the little creature! This character is as far away from the Little Tramp as one can get. They are the same though; both long for love however, Verdoux uses love to his 'business' advantage whereas 'Charlie' was ususally scorned by it. This is his best written talky (any viewer of the over preachy 'Limelight' would concur) while it looks technically cheap at times (a not too uncommon area of some of his later productions). Such criticism is small though and the 'speech' at the end fits well into the narrative, not to mention that with the passing of over five decades....it still makes sense. Chaplin should be commended for putting out such a daring film at a time where America didn't want to hear such things. Not for everyones tastes but still a film that should not be ignored.

Plagiarism Alert!
I must take offense to scotsladdie's November 2001 "review" of "Monsieur Verdoux," since its ripped off almost verbatim from David Shipman's excellent book "Story of Cinema," which also is available from Amazon. Perhaps you should give Mr. Shipman the proper credit instead of scotsladdie. Otherwise, delete this particular review from you web site. Many thanks.

One of Chaplin's highest achievements.
If the willingness to take risks is the mark of a great artist -- and I believe it is -- then Monsieur Verdoux is Charles Chaplin's greatest films. And amidst all the controversy stirred by his portrayal of a serial wife killer, it's easy to forget that it's also a hilarious black comedy with plenty of sharp lines that would have succeeded even without its sociological message.

Chaplin's ability as an actor is pushed to a new level on this film through his portrayal of a morally ambiguous, unscrupulous ex-bank clerk who has no qualms about putting a body into an incinerator in his backyard. While much has been said about this film's break with Chaplin's Little Tramp character, careful examination reveals that Henri Verdoux is just a logical, and daring, advancement in the character: The more devilish, sometimes sadistic sides of the Little Tramp taken to their inevitable conclusion, where comic mischief crosses over the line to villainy. And it's highly compelling, the perfect foil to Chaplin's most heartwarming films (eg. City Lights and Modern Times), allowing Chaplin to express an insidiousness hitherto unexplored. Martha Raye nearly steals the show as the airheaded, supernaturally unkillable Mme. Bonheur (the name itself means "happiness"), and Marilyn Nash is winning as the Belgian derelict who inspires a spark of compassion in Verdoux. The conclusion of this character relationship is one of Chaplin's most complex writing feats: Imagine the ending of City Lights twisted into a dark, steely, uncompromising version of itself.

There are certain moments when the film does threaten to fall into self-involvement -- in his later years, Chaplin did let his ego take ahold of his work -- but in the case of Monsieur Verdoux, he uses this larger-than-life persona so well, and it fits the character so snugly, that the ego becomes an advantage and adds to the depth of the character. And the script has none of the self-conscious mix of silent film and talkies that plagued The Great Dictator; Chaplin had grown quite well into dialogue writing, allowing him to formulate moments of murderous irony that are cuttingly funny. ("Don't pull the cat's tail...") I have no problems with the ending speeches in this film as I did with the final speech of The Great Dictator: In the context of this story, they fit in quite well. Verdoux at the end is a man who has given up all hope, and he seems to mock his own fate and character while unmercifully unveiling his anger at the world. The speeches are not meant to be taken for face value, and I find them thought-provoking and fascinating rather than moralistic or self-important.

I first saw this film at Symphony Space in New York City and the audience was laughing so hard it was in tears. With modern audiences generally less inclined to judge a film by its "moral standing" (Kill Bill, anyone?), Monsieur Verdoux can be seen for what it is: A hilarious, complex sociological examination which identifies social ills while at the same time taking part in it. In that, it is unique in the Chaplin canon and deserves to rank among his most important films.

A quick note about this DVD edition: For some reason, the bonus materials for this film are far less numerous than on the other DVDs in this series -- hence the single-disc package and lower price. By the standards of this series of reissues, the DVD materials are really quite scant -- a useful yet brief half-hour documentary featuring good insight from director Claude Chabrol, a trailer, some storyboards. The picture and sound are of good quality, however, and the film is one to own. Highly recommended.

A charming, yet disturbing cinematic experience by Chaplin
Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin) is a sad story about Monsieur Verdoux who is a swindling murderer that charms women whom he marries for their assets which he sells after he has murdered a newly acquired wife. Monsieur Verdoux is driven to commit murder as he feels determined to provide the best possible life style for his family. However, Monsieur Verdoux is lost in his determination as it clouds his moral decision making, which he recognizes. Monsieur Verdoux is the darkest of Charles Chaplin's films, and as in his other films it offers a social message. This ominous message becomes apparent from the beginning of the film as Monsieur Verdoux's gravestone is depicted in the initial shot with Chaplin's voiceover that embarks on how he ended up here. Chaplin's direction offers both tragedy and comedy which in the end leaves the audience with a charming, yet disturbing cinematic experience. ... Read more

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Since Adolf Hitler had the audacity to borrow his mustache from the most famous celebrity in the world--Charlie Chaplin--it meant Hitler was fair game for Chaplin's comedy. (Strangely, the two men were born within four days of each other.) The Great Dictator, conceived in the late thirties but not released until 1940, when Hitler's war was raging across Europe, is the film that skewered the tyrant. Chaplin plays both Adenoid Hynkel, the power-mad ruler of Tomania, and a humble Jewish barber suffering under the dictator's rule. Paulette Goddard, Chaplin's wife at the time, plays the barber's beloved; and the rotund comedian Jack Oakie turns in a weirdly accurate burlesque of Mussolini, as a bellowing fellow dictator named Benzino Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria. Chaplin himself hits one of his highest moments in the amazing sequence where he performs a dance of love with a large inflated globe of the world. Never has the hunger for world domination been more rhapsodically expressed. The slapstick is swift and sharp, but it was not enough for Chaplin. He ends the film with the barber's six-minute speech calling for peace and prophesying a hopeful future for troubled mankind. Some critics have always felt the monologue was out of place, but the lyricism and sheer humanity of it are still stirring. This was the last appearance of Chaplin's Little Tramp character, and not coincidentally it was his first all-talking picture. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (41)

Chaplin Talks!
"The Great Dictator" is an effective, if uneven, satire that displays Charlie Chaplin's mastery of pantomime and social commentary. This was his first talking picture and features his inspired dual role as Hynkel and the Jewish Barber. However, with the exception of Hynkel's globe dance and the barber's musical shaving technique, "The Great Dictator" doesn't utilize sound and silence nearly as well as Chaplin's masterpiece, "Modern Times." The barber's final speech remains stirring (if obviously out of character), but some dramatic elements seem awkward and don't blend well with the film's satiric fabric. In terms of story structure, Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux" works better -- and is more assured in terms of pacing and the utilization of sound. Regardless of its occasional flaws, "The Great Dictator" remains a memorable film with Chaplin in superb form.

Stongly Agree With Favorable Reviews
After just watching this picture I feel that this would have to be 5 STARS+. This movie was ahead of it's time in humor. I can't say that I am a huge fan of Charlie (only seen 3 films and some keystone shorts at this time) but he is a great comedian and a fine actor. Chaplin plays a duel role as The Great Dictator Adenoild Hynkel aka. Adolf Hitler and, a poor Jewish tramp that is in love with a girl called Hannah. The film has to keep from saying Hitler, Nazi, Mussolini, Italy, Germany, and other words that have to do with Axis because it was made a year and a half before the U.S.A. got involved in World War II. This is a WORLD of fun. BUY THIS DVD!!!! NOW

Serio-comic masterpiece---Hitler saw this one twice!
This film is an excellent piece of anti-axis propaganda in the guise of a hilarious satire of totalitarianism. Chaplin portays two characters who's resemblance to one another is merely coincidental. One is a Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania with a jewish name, the other a Jewish barber with impeccable instincts for sussing out trouble. Overall, "The Great Dictator" attempts to demonstrate the idiocy of war. By turning the key players into buffoons, it portays the war machine as a circus. This film is much more than a lampoon of the Nazis, however. The silliest characature of all is of Benito Mussolini. Jack Oakie's portrayal of the Dictator of Bacteria, Benzino Napaloni, is the highlight of the film. He's like a stereotype of one of those "larger-than-life" tourists who bluster with absolute authority wherever he goes. It is really hard not to picture him in the loudest hawaiian shirt know to man. It is really obscenely funny. The interaction between the two dictators provides the most sustained lunacy in the film. Their attempts to one-up one another are just brilliant.

"The Great Dictator" does have an extremely serious side. There is an attempt to portray the plight of the displaced Jews with care and much pathos. It works, more or less. The Jewish Ghetto is given enough attention that the viewer develops a connection with them as they attempt to get on with their lives. Maurice Moscovitch as Mr. Jaeckel is particularly effective. Paulette Goddard plays Hannah as a rather dim, dreamy stumblebum. She's cute, but occasionally annoying. Sometimes, it feels like Chaplin has transported Hannah back to the Wizard of Oz--she speaks in that same half-whimpering, dreamy manner as Judy Garland's Dorothy.

Finally, this film certainly transcends any single political agenda. The only agenda one can associate with it is the aim to bring laughter to a world torn asunder by the vagaries of milatary posturings. It seems telling (to me, at least), that Adolf Hitler viewed this film twice. I have always been curious as to what his thoughts were on this total classic send-up of the great men of the Blood-Axis in their own time. Perhaps by the end of the first viewing, he perceived that Mussolini got the worst of it. Then he watched it again--this time with pleasure. If you can't laugh at yourself...

Relevant for Any Age
DVD is the perfect medium for many of Chaplin's films. He demanded a lot from his audience. Each film carries it's own message. Each section of a film addresses a part of that film's message. Every facet of a work has a purpose. He lightened the load through the use of humour. The viewer has to be thinking every minute though. It's possible to watch these films time and again, or to watch different segments repeatedly and keep finding something more. They really are that complex. Fortunately, the DVD medium makes doing that easy.

The Great Dictator is as relevant today as it was when it skewered Hitler and his gang of Fascist bigots back in 1940. It took aim at Hitler but its target could easily be any warmongering regime from any period of history. The parallels are all there. Chaplin addresses each of them and does it well. His character Hynkel is a bumbling and ineffective "leader". He's driven by greed. As the film unfolds it's obvious his greed is rooted in feelings of inferiority. The more his mouth moves the less he says. His economic policies are a disaster-to wage war he has to borrow money from the "enemy". He is petty beyond belief. Ultimately, without an "enemy" to point toward, he's nothing. His entire mantra-loss of liberty, racial persecution, lust for control and so on-is all for one thing: he has to cover the fact that he can't rise to the level of the most humble of those he torments. This is a fundamental truth about people who lust for conquest. Chaplin illustrates it brilliantly.

The film isn't perfect. Chaplin and his crew weren't entirely comfortable when working with sound. Many scenes have dialogue but lack background noise. It was a common fault of the time though. The players have an assortment of accents. The Tomanians (with the exception of Herring) sound British. As the Jewish barber Chaplin sounds British. Many of the Jews in the Ghetto sound Jewish but Palette Goddard as Hannah, sounds as if she came from Queens. There are at least a couple of interludes that interfere with the continuity of the film. These are small complaints though. There are many scenes that have never been bettered. One is the episode with the coins and the cakes. On its own it's pure comedic brilliance. Combined with the statement it makes about the utter ridiculousness of martyrdom for its own sake (not to mention the unwillingness of leaders to become martyrs) it's timeless. The scene with the cannon is a gem. The "ultimate" weapon is shown as the ultimate (and expensive) waste; this could easily be the Crusader Artillery System. The tenderness between Chaplin and Goddard is a thing of beauty. Jack Oakie is fabulous as a Mussolini clone. The scenes between him and Chaplin are hilarious. (Watch the scene with the hot mustard and do some thinking.) The innuendo in the film is brilliant. Who but Chaplin would conceive of Tomainia (after "Ptomaine, poisonous and putrefying organic matter), the "Sons of the Double Cross" or Hynkel's first name, "Adenoid"? The entire backdrop with its "Thinkers of Tomorrow" and other absurdities modeled on the vanity of the Dictator is amazing; it captures the madness completely. The ballet with the globe is beautiful and astonishing. The music representing the ideals for the greedy and the humble is identical. The message: people are alike. As is the norm for Chaplin he did it in a way that was subtle; it's the theme of the Grail Knight descending from Wagner's Lohengrin. Hitler loved Wagner's music. Chaplin would have known that. It's his way of saying Wagner's music wasn't to blame for Hitler's madness. There's more but this should give an idea.

What nobody seeing the film for the first time can be prepared for however, is the way it ends. I wasn't. I saw a few of Chaplin's films as a student but had missed this one. I was floored. His statement about the nature of the people who make war is valid in any age. It always will be.

Watch it and then look closely at the events of the present.

The genius of Chaplin.
One look at Charlie Chaplin's filmography leaves little doubt as to his genius. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy all his films, even the more obscure ones that weren't necessarily box office hits. But of all his films I believe "The Great Dictator" to be his masterpiece. "The Gold Rush" may have been the film in which he wanted to be remembered, and it is certainly a great film, but this film is working on so many levels as to seem superior to me. Sufficed to say, I love satire. This film is loaded with satirical referrences and subtle and not-so-subtle wit and clever word-play as well as all the brilliant physical humor that initially made Chaplin famous. There is so much intelligence in this film that it is easy for me to praise and recommend. I could relate scenes that I absolutely loved, but there are too many to name; and I certainly don't want to ruin all the comedic surprises for those who have yet to see this film. Even after ten viewings I find myself laughing at Chaplin's antics: verbal and physical humor of the highest level. In fact, I guarrantee laughter. There is so much humor here, of so many varieties, that there is no doubt in my mind that anyone viewing this film for the first time with giggle, chuckle, then laugh heartily. Oh, how I envy those first-time viewers. What a magnificent film! Hail Chaplin! ... Read more

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Charlie Chaplin entered a period of tremendous artistic freedom and creative growth when he embarked on his 12 films for Mutual Studios in 1916. As he neared the conclusion of his contract, he became increasingly more ambitious and mixed his tried and true comic formula with social commentary for two of his most enduring works. The Immigrant finds the promised land less than rosy for peasants herded like cattle on the ship and wandering the streets of New York looking for work and food, but the Tramp's ingenuity and resilience make him into a symbol of hope for the future as well as a comic riposte. Easy Street is Chaplin's most successful mix of social issues and slapstick comedy. As a rookie cop in the city's toughest neighborhood, a slum overrun with bullies, drug addicts, and gangsters, the goodhearted Chaplin isn't above a little unconventional policing--when his billy club proves ineffective on gargantuan Eric Campbell's thick skull, he resorts to gassing him with a compliant street lamp. The balance of the tape emphasizes lighter fare: The Adventurer finds Charlie as an escaped convict who hides out in a high society party crawling with cops. When the Tramp decides to take The Cure, he comes prepared with a trunk full of alcohol, which quickly inebriates the guests and staff of the sanitarium. The revolving door becomes a comic centerpiece (like the escalator in The Floorwalker), which befuddles the inebriated Chaplin and infuriates gout-stricken nemesis Eric Campbell. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Horribly crude stuff
The Chaplin cult continues to amaze me as it is inexplicable to me that anyone could find anything hinting of greatness in any of these very crude comedy shorts. I agree that Chaplin's feature films were generally very goodbut this stuff is unfunny and uninspired. If I see Chaplin zip around that revolving door one more time, I will go mad! In another short, Chaplin gets everyone at an alcohol rehab center drunk - isn't that hilarious? He plays a cop in another and hits everyone in his path - talk about crude slapstick. I saw some of these played to a contemporary audience in a theatre recently and there wasn't a single laugh. The audience grew impatient and when the film finally ended, people said "was that it?" Until the late 20's, any Keaton, Lloyd, or Langdon film was infinitely better than the stuff that Chaplin turned out at the time. Keaton hasn't aged - Chaplin has.

Great DVD
Chaplin is one of its kind. It is great to be able to watch his creations in the original speed and without all the scratches. They have done a tremendous restauration job on these films: you can hardly believe they are almost a century old! Now you will be able to see Chaplin's mutuals they way he intended them. Real masterspieces of art! You won't be disappointed.

Curleycue_82 has it down!
I agree with you Curleycue_82. I couldn't wait to write a review to these people!

Also in defense of the Little Fellow...
In response to this review: "I don't believe that Chaplin achieved comedic excellence until his features. These shorts are crude physical humor and totally unfunny. Dated stuff."

Dated stuff? Of course it's dated. It's almost 90 years old! Anyone with any common sense, however, can discern the genious of the comedy for the period. What he was doing was breaking away from the mill of Keystone and developing stories with this comedy character. That wasn't done until then. You have to be able to relate the content with the time period and recognize these things. I guess that is hard for some if they don't understand history and fact. That is why you are the only person to write an uneducated, negative review. Did you notice that? Please know your content before you criticize.

In Defense of the Little Fellow . . .
I too found that the reviewer's comment on these Mutual shorts being "uninspired" and "unfunny" were extremely ill thought out. I've seen the Mutual films before, and just recently purchased the DVDs and enjoyed them all over again. (the quality of the prints are very good!) The Immigrant is a great example of his mastery of the pantomime (the restaurant scene is just plain charming) and in Easy Street, well, I can't find how someone could call it "crude". And what's funny about a Chaplin's getting people drunk in a rehab center? If you knew anything about history, this was a direct smack at the upper classes since alcoholism was a huge problem with the working class during this time. Charlie was poking fun at the upper crust: and to the working people that is ALWAYS funny.

There is nothing at all "uninspired" about Charlie's work in these four shorts. Especially since, in 1917, Charlie was creating the template for comedy that comedians would imitate for decades--Nearly one-hundred years on, people are still using many of the techniques debuted here for the first time by Chaplin (along with the National shorts). It is interesting that the "basher" (as I've called this reviewer) mentioned the revolving door sequence in The Cure to be maddening: to a modern audience, that gag can appear recycled-but that is only because countless comedians have copied what Chaplin created for the FIRST TIME here.

Now, I'm a huge fan of Lloyd and **especially** the inimitable Buster Keaton, but the earlier comment that "Until the late 20's, any Keaton, Lloyd, or Langdon film was infinitely better than the stuff that Chaplin turned out at the time" is really, quite frankly, silly. Keaton didn't even begin to appear in shorts until the very year of these Mutual films and here was Chaplin writing, directing and acting on his own!! Not to mention that, within two years, he would help to form (along with Mary Pickford and Doug Fairbanks) a little something called United Artists which was a huge step forward for filmmakers and is still a force in the Industry. And by the way, in 1921 Chaplin released his feature length, The Kid, which is widely acclaimed as one of the best films of the silent era and it also proved for the first time that a comedy could be funny as well as touching to the heart. (I don't know anyone who can watch the final scene of the Kid without getting a tug at the heart). That same year of 1921, Keaton released his first feature film, The Saphead.

Enough said.

I'm not bashing Keaton because he is an unbelievable genius (Sherlock Jr. is one of my favorite films of all time! =o) but I just think that one should give credit where credit is due. And every single comedian coming after Chaplin **including Keaton, Lloyd and Langdon**--right down to this day--is reminded to tip their derby to Charlie.

He isn't called a genius just for the hell of it, you know.

(Anyway, four stars to this charming collection of Chaplin full-speed ahead on his way to becoming a legend.) ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

City Lights is a film to pick for the time capsule, a film that best represents the many aspects of director-writer-star Charlie Chaplin at the peak of his powers: Chaplin the actor, the sentimentalist, the knockabout clown, the ballet dancer, the athlete, the lover, the tragedian, the fool. It's all contained in Chaplin's simple story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill). Chaplin elevates the Victorian contrivances of the plot to something glorious with his inventive use of pantomime and his sure grasp of how the Tramp relates to the audience. In 1931, it was a gamble for Chaplin to stick with silence after talking pictures had killed off the art form that had made him famous, but audiences flocked to City Lights anyway. (Chaplin would not make his first full talking picture until 1940's The Great Dictator.) After all the superb comic sequences, the film culminates with one of the most moving scenes in the history of cinema, a luminous and heartbreaking fade-out that lifts the picture onto another plane. (Woody Allen paid homage to the scene at the end of Manhattan.) This is why the term "Chaplinesque" became a part of the language. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (70)

Remarkable. My favorite Chaplin film
Though some here and in other circles have remarked that they believe "City Lights" is overrated and over-sentimental, I still believe that one cannot deny how moving and beautiful the film becomes as it draws toward its conclusion. "City Lights" remains my favorite Chaplin movie with "Modern Times" coming in at a close second. Chaplin plays his classic Tramp character who falls for a blind flower girl and wants to help her earn money for an operation to cure blindness. The boxing scene in which the scrawny Chaplin takes on a seasoned prize fighter is the major comic highlight of the film featuring gags that have been imitated and recycled by countless other comedies. The finale is nothing short of touching, beautiful, and brilliant and shows perfectly the full emotion that can be conveyed in a silent picture. This is one of the few films that still, time and time again, can bring tears to my eyes. "City Lights" is a masterpiece.

Chaplin's masterpiece
City Lights is ,of course, one of the greatest movies ever made. If you have never seen it, or are adverse to silent films, this is a great place to start. The plot follows the tramp[chaplin,who directed, and also wrote the music],who we find asleep on a monument about to be dedicated. Charlie soon meets a blind flower girl,and ,in a brilliant moment, realizes she is blind. The look on chaplin's face, the compassion he exhibits, is a wonder. He later meets up with a drunken millionare trying to drown himself in alcoholic depression. charlie saves hi, and the man becomes his new best friend, until, the next morning, he awakens from his blackout, and, of course,remembers nothing. Back and forth they go,with carlie trying to get enough money to save the girl from eviction{he always snuck in social commentary with such grace that most folks didnt feel they were being beaten over the head with it},then later to send her to Vienna for an operation to regain her sight. The final five minutes are pure gold, the magic of cinema.I do not know whether or not chaplin was a genius. What hea was was an extraordinary film maker, with a deft touch and enormous talent. The DVD tranfer is superb, without much of the flashes one gets from old silent Black and white films. A must own,on DVD or Tape{the VHS copy is excellent,also}Magnificent!

Best Chaplin, and maybe best film ever Made.
"City Light's" is by far Chaplin's greatest film. Some may say "The Gold Rush", but myself, and I know a lot of others, will say this one. I think its maybe THE greatest movie ever made, just maybe. Chaplin was by far the greatest film maker of all time, and this is his most finest work. You have to see the movie for the end scene alone.

Chaplin plays the part of his world famous Tramp character. He meets this flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) who happens to be blind. She mistakes him for a rich "gentleman". The little Tramp immediately falls in love with her, and he throughout the film, tries to help her see again, by getting money to pay for this operation. The little Tramp saves this rich guy from committing suicide, and the man becomes his friend.....when hes drunk. When the man is sober, he does not want to see the tramp. When hes not, he is kind, giving him money, letting him borrow the car, etc. The Tramp goes through a number of jobs, to get the money for the blind girl, including amongst a few, a prizefighting boxer. He gets into a lot of different bits of trouble, but he gets th money to pay for the operation. He ends up late rin prison. When he is free, he sees the girl, and she can now see, and his true identity is revealed. The end part, is the greatest scene in movie history. There is nothing possibly better than it, except it would be teamed with the "Cheek to Cheek" scene in the Fred and Ginger movie "Top Hat", of course. Those are the two most wonderful scenes ever filmed.

The film was released in 1931. the "talkies" had been around a few years now, but Chaplin managed to stay silent. He composed the muisic for this film, and added a few sound effects. The film is though, really a silent, or as it says at the beginning of the movie: "A Comedy Romance in Pantomime". This is the perfect movie, and the cinematography is the best. But yes, this film even beats Chaplin's other masterpieces in my opinion, such as "The Kid" and "The Gold Rush", and the much underrated among Chaplin fans, although one of my personal favourites, "A Woman of Paris". "City Light's" is an essential movie to see. Although I enjoy Chaplin's talking pictures, they do not come close to his silents. As for people who prefer Keaton, well, he was brilliant too, but Chaplin was so much more.

This DVD Edition, is presented on 2-Discs. This DVD, along with the others in the Chaplin Collection box set, is by far one of the best ever produced. This comes with an endless amount of extras, including featurettes, a brief 10 minute look at a scene from "The Champion". The fight scene, that is. The DVD has a screen test with Georgia Hale, its full of great little things. Extras are what make a DVD great. Other than that, the restored print looks absolutely amazing. This is a must, must have for a DVD collection.

Knockout Funny
The boxing scene in City Lights must be one of the funniest scenes of all time. When I watched a tape of this movie, I had to keep rewinding that part because I was crying so much with laughter that I found it impossible to see it all the way through. The movie is also of interest as being a late silent production. Sound was already established and Chaplin was considered to be taking a great risk by producing another silent.

Much of City Lights will seem maudlin and melodramatic to a modern audience but its important place in movie history and yes, that boxing scene, make it a must for any movie fan.

Imperfect Print Tarnishes Tramp's Masterpiece
City Lights is one of the shining achievements in the history of the movies, and it's been among my personal favorites for many years. So I was disappointed, after purchasing the new Warner Home Video DVD, to discover that the print they used is slightly dark and fuzzy, markedly inferior to its stunning laserdisc predecessor of some ten years ago.

In the early '90's I bought the CBS/Fox laserdisc of CL, which was transferred from a nearly flawless print (from "Chaplin's personal archives", as stated in the notes, and probably from the same negative as the one that was re-released to theaters for Chaplin's centennial in 1989). This LD version is so clean, sharp and vivid it looks as though it could have been filmed last week. In the boxing scene, for example, you can actually pick out a number of mannequins that were used among the live actors in the audience, and you can clearly see the wire that carries Charlie across the ring when he leaps at his opponent. On the DVD, however, not only can you not see the wire, the audience seems little more than a dark, murky mass rather than individual figures. Granted, maybe our disbelief is more happily suspended if we don't see what's suspending Charlie, but we certainly don't deserve murky masses where they aren't supposed to be.

Beyond using a superior print, CBS/Fox also went to the trouble of window boxing the transfer for their laserdisc release. That is, in order to preserve the nearly square aspect ratio of the original film, black bars were placed on the left and right sides of the screen to compensate for showing the top and bottom of the picture - the vertical counterpart of letterboxing. The DVD isn't window boxed, and while it may not seem like that big of a deal, it does affect the film - not only aesthetically, but effectually, as in the scene where Charlie is admiring the nude sculpture in the shop window. Key to the scene is the sidewalk elevator, which provides the gag - but it barely clears the bottom of the TV screen in the DVD version (in fact, it may bleed out of frame on some monitors). It's well within the frame on the window boxed version, as it should be. Also, with the top and bottom of the picture chopped off, the compositions as they appear on the DVD look cramped and less atmospheric than in the full image of the laser release.

The liner notes on the DVD boast of an "All new digital transfer from Chaplin family vault picture and sound elements" - which sounds great, but why wasn't the best print extant used, as it was on the now long out-of-print laserdisc? This film is a bona fide masterpiece, and it should be shown in its absolute best possible form. Instead we've been given what amounts to a professionally printed copy of a poorly lit Polaroid of the Mona Lisa. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

One of Chaplin's Best Dramas
This film isn't bad at all to me . You just need to watch it through carefully and in my opinion , it's his best drama ever , even better then Limelight . Although it does'nt have any comedy in it the plot is pretty good and some sequences are almost heartbreaking . The quality of the film is very good and the way Rolie Totheroh the cameraman took the shots was excellent . The people Charlie chose to play the cast was good too . Too bad the film was a failure in 1923 and chaplin failed in making Edna have a future career in drama . The only reason why I give this video a 4 is because the short comedy Sunnyside is very weak and hardly made me laugh at all .

Known as a film landmark
I haven't seen this film yet, but I wanted to balance the one dismissively negative review on here. "A Woman of Paris" is much admired for its pioneering use of subtlety and suggestion, and sounds like a fine drama. I haven't seen "Sunnyside" yet, either, but it is generally known as one of the weakest of Chaplin's independent shorts.

Chaplin's worst
A woman of Paris is a miserable excuse for a movie, however the film short, "Sunnyside" is pretty good though. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin's last film is the cinematic equivalent of Willie Mays staying too long in baseball--a sad farewell from someone who has clearly lost his touch. Marlon Brando (who famously did not get along with Chaplin and initiated, with this film, his curious habit of undermining his directors' best intentions) plays an American millionaire leaving Hong Kong to assume an ambassadorship. He discovers Sophia Loren--playing a daughter of Russian aristocrats and a former gangster moll--concealed in his closet onboard the outbound ship, hoping to gain passage to the States. Brando, looking none too pleased, agrees to help her, with not terribly comic or romantic results. Chaplin's one modestly clever touch is to have the camera rock gently and slowly back and forth, ostensibly emulating the movement of the luxury liner. The humor falls flat, Brando and Loren have no chemistry, and the story isn't terribly engaging. The former Little Tramp appears, mercifully briefly, as a seasick steward who opens and closes a door, swooning in between. Appropriately enough, in silence. --David Kronke ... Read more

Reviews (9)

time for a reevaluation
after the recent passing of brando i picked up a magazine celebrating his career. it listed this as one of his 10 best films and said this film was beautiful and vastly underrated.
couldnt agree more.
the misfire was in misrepresentation of it as an out and out comedy. of course chaplins films were rarely 'just comedies'.
countess of course relates to the earlier 'woman of paris' and this is indeed a throwback to 1920s sensabilities.
critics have for years pounced on this film (and brando was one of those critics, but then brando pounced on a lot of his own films and his method acting didnt simply gel with chaplins direction)but brando is indeed good as is the film itself.
its a nice small charmer. you'll enjoy it.

a little old-fashioned for 1960s standards
A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG was director/comedian Charlie Chaplin's final film. In this film he is the director, writer and composer.

The story concerns a beguiling Russian countess named Natascha (Sophia Loren - HOUSEBOAT), a young woman forced into prostitution in Hong Kong, when she happens to meet an American politician named Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, SUPERMAN). She stows away in his stateroom aboard a ship headed back to the States, where she belives she can escape her miserable life.

The usual battle-of-the-sexes ensues, when Natascha and Ogden are forced to spend the entire voyage together, bickering and fighting over their different opinions and tastes. But its soon evident that they are in love. Things become complicated when Ogden's icy wife (Tippi Hedren - THE BIRDS, MARNIE) joins the ship at Hawaii, while Natascha finds herself marrying Ogden's valet in order to gain an American passport!

This is a film that feels a little old-fashioned for the 1960s, but it is a rather charming and engaging romantic comedy. Perhaps the film is best-known for launching the hit single "(Love) This is My Song", made famous by Petula Clark. The movie also stars Sydney Chaplin, Patrick Cargill and Margaret Rutherford in a rather-clever cameo.

The DVD includes the trailer. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

This DVD is part of a new series of classic releases from Universal that also include "Pillow Talk", "Send Me No Flowers", "The Thrill of It All!" and a twofer of "Man's Favorite Sport?/Strange Bedfellows".

Another review
I see there's several reviews already for this film, but here goes my two cents worth. Even though this is Chaplin's last film, it's his first and only film in color and widescreen. The movie is old fashion to say the least, it might of been better in b/w. Brando and Loren are completely wasted, the supporting players fair much better. Chaplin is quite good in his cameo role (makes you wish he'd given himself a bigger part). At the time, Chaplin took the negative reviews as almost a personal threat. He really defended the film, even going so far as to say he thought it was the best film he ever made! However several years later he admitted it wasn't very good, he said the actors where great but the story was really thin.

Goodbye Charlie
This is the final motion picture written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. He was 78 years old when it was released and had been in political exile from the United States for the past 15 years.

Although the movie features two of the biggest stars of its time, Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, and was written as an old-fashioned comedy, it is rather slow and "talky." It has plenty of curiosity value, but I'm sorry to report, not a great deal of entertainment value. The once mighty Chaplin, had simply run out of gas. Working with Brando (who openly made fun of Chaplin during filming) and a script he had first drafted in the 30s for Paulette Goddard, Chaplin was out of his element.

Under-rated
"Countess" was Chaplin's final film and sadly I think it has been labelled as being awful. This is not the case. I feel that the main reason for people believing this to be a bad film is that they don't understand it. Chaplin always created fantastic stories out of simple ideas and this is not an exception. It is written and directed with such subtle elegance that some of the simpliest visual gags turn into the most hilarious situations. There are fantastic actors all round: Brando himself, Sophia Loren looking gorgeous, Sydney Chaplin showing that talent does run in the family and Patrick Cargill as the butler. Chaplin himself pulls a cameo and does a great job at not hogging his screen time, a mistake made by directors like Tarantino. The result is an amazingly gentle film that shows people from a fresh human perspective, a breath of fresh air by todays standards. You will be missed Charlie. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

It's all-right...
It's a watchable movie, and it never really does anything wrong, but in my opinion it is simply not as brilliant as many of Chaplin's later movies (ie. The Gold Rush, City Lights). It has its funny moments, but they do not approach anywhere near the pinnacles seen in some of his later works; they provide more of a chuckle than the uncontrollable laughter that results from watching some his later ones.

There were some very touching sceens in the movie, and the acting was pretty good, from both Chaplin and the kid. Still, when I finished watching it, I didn't feel like I had just watched a great movie; I felt like I had watched an acceptable one (there was also a little too much Christian imagery in the film for my taste, but I'll take it as a sign of the times).

Anyway, if you're new to Chaplin I suggest that you see something like City Lights first; this film is fairly good, but it's not among his best.

As for "The Idle Class", it's a pretty good Chaplin short that has its definite highlight in the scene where the tramp goes golfing and finds that he forgot to bring a ball. Needless to say, hilarity ensues!

The Kid was delivered greatly
The Kid is not only one of the Chaplin's best films but also almost his "kid". The film came out after Chaplin's having "a hard labor" of conflicts with his wife at the time and the film company which he was working with. Perhaps what few know is that Chaplin completed the film taking a refuge in an inn in Salt Lake City, Utah. His effort and enthusiasm were really paid off, which is obvious when you watch the film. The Kid is a true gem of all the movies with Chaplin's fantastic inspiration in story and directing, plus the great performance of Jackie Coogan.

My Favorite!
This is the most charming, touching, story from that genius little fellow Chaplin! There's one scene in the film that you can never forget. Hauntingly beautiful score written by him to boot, how could one man have so many gifts?

The Kid is Chaplin's best
The story line and the appearance of little Jackie Coogan make this movie the best of Charlie Chaplin's silent movies. Charlie comes across an orphaned baby and affectionately and innovatively raises him in the midst of poverty of the 1920's.
I enjoyed the 1920's clothing and cars and I continue to be amazed at the creative ability of Charlie Chaplin to tell a story so well with so few words.

Actually deserves a 3.7.
Not too bad, but Chaplin's first full length film was more serious than funny. I watch Chaplin only because of funny. But it's still a great film otherwise about a mother who gives up her son and is picked up by the tramp Chaplin. He takes care of him until a doctor warns him about proper care. When the law tries to take the kid away from Chaplin, he does everything he can to retreat him. Finally, the mother and child meet at the end of the film. It also includes an OK Chaplin short where Chaplin plays two roles. One is a rich sort of bachelor to remarry his ex-wife, and one is a tramp who plays golf and comes to a costume party to have some fun, when the two of them mix up. I'm sure people love this film, so buy if you want. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

After the box-office failure of his first dramatic film, A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin brooded over his ensuing comedy. "The next film must be an epic!" he recalled in his autobiography. "The greatest!" He found inspiration, paradoxically, in stories of the backbreaking Alaskan gold rush and the cannibalistic Donner Party. These tales of tragedy and endurance provided Chaplin with a rich vein of comic possibilities. The Little Tramp finds himself in the Yukon, along with a swarm of prospectors heading over Chilkoot Pass (an amazing sight restaged by Chaplin in his opening scenes, filmed in the snowy Sierra Nevadas). When the Tramp is trapped in a mountain cabin with two other fortune hunters, Chaplin stages a veritable ballet of starvation, culminating in the cooking of a leathery boot. Back in town, the Tramp is smitten by a dance-hall girl (Georgia Hale), but it seems impossible that she could ever notice him. The Gold Rush is one of Chaplin's simplest, loveliest features; and despite its high comedy, it never strays far from Chaplin's keen grasp of loneliness. In 1942, Chaplin reedited the film and added music and his own narration for a successful rerelease. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (13)

So funny that its few faults can be forgiven.
This film HAS to be one of the funniest films ever made. It is Charlie Chaplin at his best, and every scene is perfectly choreographed to maximize the humour. The film is almost like a series of comedy vignettes, one after the other, and all of them are absolutely hilarious. Unlike Chaplin's later "talkie", The Great Dictator, the jokes in this semi-silent movie (commentary by Charlie Chaplin) never go on too long and the it's always fresh.
The only slight hitch in the movie is the last 30mins or so, where Chaplin finds the need to squeeze in a (slightly unrealistic) love story. It's still quite watchable, although the comedy dies down a little.

Bottom line is, if you're looking for something that is drop-dead funny, buy/rent/borrow this movie! It doesn't drag in the least, unlike some other early movies, and I guarantee that you'll have a good time watching it.

As for Pay Day, it is a far more tame film than the Gold Rush, and shorter too (it is 30 minutes at most). The basic story is about a construction worker (played by Chaplin) who comes to work on pay day, gets yelled at by his boss, goes around town and parties away his wages, gets lost, and then comes home just before nightmarish wife wakes up. I can't say that it's a particularly bad film, but it's not really all that exciting either. I guess it's always nice to get two films in one VHS, but really, The Gold Rush is clearly by far the superior film here.

The First of Chaplin's Hat Trick
This film, along with City Lights and Modern Times, certainly constitute Chaplin's "hat trick". This is the quintessential Chaplin! Charlie the "chicken" being chased by a starving Mack Swain, the epicurian delights of a parboiled shoe, the miner's cabin hanging on the edge of a precipice, the dream sequence featuring "the dance of the rolls" - this movie has it all. It also has Chaplin's own narration (HUGE mistake on his part). Chaplin's films don't require narration - that was his whole reasoning for keeping them silent for as long as he did. They speak for themselves! Long live the Little Tramp!

Eureka! Chaplin Strikes Gold!
I have now seen "The Gold Rush" twice. I have only seen the 1942 re-edited version with Chaplin's voice-over. The first time I saw it, I didn't find the film to be the masterpiece so many others have called it. And I didn't think it was a strong enough movie to be Chaplin's best (Supposedly this is the movie Chaplin wanted to be remembered for). My main fault with the movie was I wanted to see the original silent version. I found the voice-over distracting. I watched the movie again recently and now I find it to be a masterpiece of early slapstick comedy.

"The Gold Rush" tells the story of the tramp's (Chaplin) search for gold and love. It basically takes all the elements that would later come in films like "City Lights" and "Modern Times" but here it was done for the first time. Chaplin meets Big Jim (Mack Swain) and a known criminal Black Larsen (Tom Murray) as they all try to survive the cold weather and find gold.

As I watched the movie again I was surprised by the amount of memorable moments the film has. Take the scene where Larsen demands Chaplin leave his cabin but Chaplin can not. The wind is blowing too hard and instead of Chaplin leaving he finds he keeps getting blown back in. Or what about the famous shoe eating scene. And the dance of the rolls. This is the film people should first be expossed to when discovering Chaplin.

After the beginning moments, which I think focus more on the slapstick humor, Chaplin then decides to turn the movie into a love story and combine comedy and drama in a way only Chaplin could have. The movie is still funny but now another level seems to have been added to the story. The movie could have worked just being about these three guys trying to find gold. And I'm sure Chaplin could of come up with hilarious scene after scene. But, no, Chaplin wanted to bring something else into his story.

People have been and will continue to debate over who was a better comedian. Chaplin or Keaton. The public opinion has shifted back and forth. Currently it seems Keaton is the favorite. But, I think either way you look it both men were talented and both were extremely funny. I find that I enjoy watching Chaplin the most from all the silent clowns. He seems to have been the first one to want to add something more to his movies. He seemed more concerned with storytelling than Keaton or Lloyd. They strickly went after laughs, but Chaplin managed to perfectly blend comedy and drama.

"The Gold Rush" as I said is a masterpiece of early slapstick comedy. It is here you will see what kind of comedy genuis he was. And will forever remain in my mind the greatest comedy director of all-time.

Bottom-line: One of Chaplin's best. A comedy masterpiece filled with many of Chaplin's most famous bits. Fans of silent comedy and Chaplin NEED to see this movie.

Chaplin's Absolute Best
This is Chaplin's best film as well as his funniest and most touching. "City Lights" is funny at times, but the sentiment is almost unbearable. "Modern Times" has moments of greatness but is very uneven. "The Kid" is funny, but doesn't hold up as well on repeated viewings. But "Gold Rush" has all of Chaplin's greatest elements by the dozen. Unfortunately, it is only available in this narrated version. There is nothing really wrong with the narration (most of the time) and Chaplin's musical score is great. It's the ending I'm concerned about. What happened to it? It has been said that "City Lights" has one of the greatest endings in film history, but "The Gold Rush"'s is, in my opinion, even better. It is funny, happy, and everything else. It is what it is like to be in love, and it makes the movie even more bright and sunny (if that description can be applied to a film set in the gold rush) than it already is.

An exciting hit.
When gold strikes in Alaska I believe, storms lead Chaplin and Big Jim away from their claim. Their sneaky partner in a lost cabin also finds the gold and steals the claim before he falls of a snow mountain. Funny parts of this film include the loving of Georgia from Chaplin and teh boiling of the shoe for Thanksgiving Dinner. On New Year's Eve, when Georgia doesn't come to his dinner, he goes to a celebrating tavern where he meets up with Big Jim. And Chaplin goes from rags to riches when he leads Big Jim back to the cabin and to the mountain of gold. Pay Day is also very funny. So this is a GREAT film that's one of Chaplin's bests. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

You have to watch it silently
If you start wondering in the middle why this isn't remotely funny (as I did), it's because of the time gap in the Barney-like music juxtaposed with a film of some 80 years ago - because it was really meant to be viewed in a nickelodeon.

But you have not lost your sense of humor. In "The Rink" you will see that these comedies are the result of Chaplin's tireless choregraphy and perfectionism. And it's not just for film,English, or theatre students, but any curious person watching these films to judge if he was truly a genius or not -in lieu of his personal life. It would be hard not to find something enduring and unexplainable about them. END.

Good quality!
Unlike Madacy, Image Entertainment obviously cares about quality. The prints are good, though I'm sure some film archive somewhere has better. The DVD doesn't have any extras to speak of except a short essay on the box, but all in all it's a good DVD because of the video quality. I only wish they'd put the films in chonological order across the three volumes. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Made in 1928 while he was in the middle of a painful divorce case, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus was so associated with bad memories for its maker that he refused even to mention it in his 1964 autobiography. Consequently, it has enjoyed less of a reputation than such films as The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). However, while it's not quite in their league, The Circus undoubtedly deserves to be rescued from relative obscurity.

Here, Chaplin's Tramp is taken on as a clown at the circus, having been chased into the big tent by a policeman wrongly suspected of theft and wowing the audience with his pratfalls. He falls in love with the ill-treated ringmaster's daughter (Merna Kennedy) but is swiftly rivaled by a new addition to the circus, a handsome tightrope walker. To try to win back her affections, the Tramp himself attempts the same act, culminating in the best sequence of the film, when he is assailed by monkeys as he totters amateurishly and precariously along a rope suspended high in the tent. Although The Circus is marred by the rather hackneyed and (even in 1928) stale melodramatic device of the cruel father and imploring daughter, it scores high on its slapstick content, with routines involving a hall of mirrors and a mishap with a magician's equipment demonstrating Chaplin's dazzling ability to choreograph apparently improvised mayhem. --David Stubbs ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Problematic Chaplin
"The Circus" is a decidedly strange effort from Charlie Chaplin. His last silent film focuses on the aspect of a clown's success and failure -- a theme that worked to better advantage in Chaplin's "Limelight." There are a few highlights, particularly the classic funhouse chase, yet the overall movie seems forced and a bit too melodramatic. No wonder Chaplin kept "The Circus" out of circulation for more than 40 years -- he knew it was lacking. The same goes for the accompanying two-reeler, "A Day's Pleasure," which is one of the Chaplin's weakest shorts and a significant comedown from his groundbreaking work at Mutual. In retrospect, neither film shows Chaplin at his absolute best.

Chaplin's finest "pure" comedy
It doesn't have the raw sentiment of CITY LIGHTS or the social relevance of either MODERN TIMES or THE GREAT DICTATOR, but for pure laugh-out-loud moments, THE CIRCUS is probably Chaplin's finest straight-ahead comedy.

The plot is fairly straightforward -- Tramp joins circus, falls in love, tries to vanquish a rival suitor, then (in an ending of typical Chaplinian pathos) arranges for the rival suitor to get the girl. However, Chaplin packs the story with enough gags, extended jokes, and visual tricks to keep the film moving at a frenetic pace, even in its moments of sweetness.

The setting of the circus naturally lends itself to plenty of comic elements, and Chaplin makes the most of them in some unexpected ways. For example, there's the expected Locked In The Cage with The Sleeping Lion joke (which has subsequently and successfully been played to the hilt in Bugs Bunny cartoons), but Chaplin gives it a graceful twist with the addition of a pan of water that'll have you on the edge of your seat as he tries frantically not to drop it.

But Chaplin doesn't just use the circus to showcase gags -- he also uses the trappings to advance some extended and complicated jokes. The opening moments of the film, for example, feature the Tramp being mistaken for a pickpocket. After a full-out chase, the Tramp, the real pickpocket, and a policeman finally end up in a funhouse, complete with animated figures and a hall of mirrors. At this point, there are two wonderful visual jokes -- the first involves the Tramp's inability to pick up a dropped hat in a hall of mirrors(in what must have been an excrutiatingly technical shot to avoid reflecting the camera.) Chaplin, ever the perfectionist, executes the scene brilliantly. The second joke -- and the one which gets the biggest belly laughs -- involves the Tramp and the hapless pickpocket pretending to be animated figures to avoid being nabbed by the policeman. When Chaplin conks the crook over the head with his own cosh, then rotates mechanically to laugh giddily . . . well, there's hardly a funnier moment in film. Suffice it to say, the crook is caught, but only after ten minutes of gags to neatly bring the extended Mistaken Identity Joke to a neat end.

Chaplin also plays out a jaw-dropping tightrope walking scene (and remember while watching that Chaplin actually taught himself to walk a tightrope for the film -- there are no stuntmen involved) which becomes all the more entertaining through the addition of some uncooperative monkeys. The impromptu results are funnier than anyone could have scripted.

While the film stays free of social commentary, there is one telling bit of artistic elbow-nudging at one point in the film, when the Tramp, who has been hired as a clown, is lectured by the crabby Ringmaster on How To Be Funny. When the Tramp participates in the hackneyed skits himself, things go wrong from the start, making the skits funnier than imagined, but remarkably UNfunny to the know-it-all Ringmaster. The message is a subtle, but clear one on Chaplin's part -- don't tell ME what's funny; let me show YOU what's funny.

While MODERN TIMES and CITY LIGHTS are the more effective films in terms of storytelling and blending humor and pathos, THE CIRCUS stands as Chaplin's funniest film in terms of successfully executed gags, jaw dropping visuals (including a remarkably advanced dream sequence), and some fall-over-laughing moments. This is the film I show to my friends who have never seen a Chaplin film (apart from some highlighted moments from MODERN TIMES or CITY LIGHTS) to give them an idea of Chaplin's talent. While it has sometimes (though rarely) failed to elicit a "Wow!", it has never failed to generate a room full of laughter -- the true testimony to Chaplin's art.

My Favorite of all Chaplin films
Of all the films I've watched of Charlie Chaplin this has got to be my most favorite comedy of his and definitly needs to be saved from obscurity . It's both a drama and comedy and has lots of pantomime and slapstick . The story goes like this , Charlie goes to the circus and is mistaken for a pickpocket . He tries to escape from the police by entering a mirror maze ( I wonder how Charlie pulled off this camera trick ) and pretends to be one of those mechanical dummies . He then gets chased into the big top where he causes a roar of laughter to the audience that has been bored out by the ringmasters so called entertainment . The ringmaster soon realizes that this tramp character is what he needs for his circus so he gives him a trial and lets Charlie show off his funny`material which to the ringmaster is not funny. The only time the tramp is funny is when he tries not to be so the ring master hires Charlie to be a property with pretty good results . The tramp falls in love with the ringmaster's abused step daughter . Merna( the ringmaster's stepdaughter ) soon finds love with the circus's new attraction Rex the " King of Air " a.k.a. tightrope walker . The movie is very funny and is filled with gags such as Charlie on the tightrope being harrassed by monkeys pulling his pants down , biting his nose , and sticking their tails in his mouth . What's really interesting about this scene is that when you look at the expression on his face it's pretty sad , its charlie struggling through his perosonal life . He can't escape from all this trouble just like he could'nt escape from his divorce with his second wife Lita grey , his money problems , his mother's death and problems with stage fires all during the making of this film . The last scene in the film just wants to make you burst into tears because the tramp finds out that the girl is in love with the tightrope walker so he gets them married because he knows that he could never have a chance with Merna and the circus leaves leaving Charlie behind. Truly one of Chaplin's most hard to make films that should be more mentioned about . The short comedy included in this video sucks though .

A great film
often overlooked between The Gold Rush and City Lights, which bracketed it in Charlie's catalog. I'd neber seen this one until now, but I think it's probably the strongest of Charlie's straightforward slapstick films. He really didn't try this sort of thing in the later part of his career, so it's cool to get a chance to see him do it with the technical progress that had been made since his early days at keystone.

And Merna Kennedy may very well be the most beautiful woman to ever live. It's a shame she died so young.

GET READY FOR HIGH-WIRE EXCITEMENT AT CHAPLIN'S CIRCUS
The Circus is one of those slapstick comedy classics that is so charming in its reverence to "the Big Top" that it transcends time with each and every viewing. Chaplin is, of course, fleeing the police yet again and this time his escape leads him to a circus where he easily becomes one of the funniest acts.
TRANSFER: Warner/MK2 give us a beautifully rendered B&W picture that, although showing signs of age related wear and tear, nevertheless enthralls in each and every frame. Film grain is kept to a minimum. Blacks - for the most part, are deep and solid. The gray scale is nicely balanced. Occasionally there is some aliasing but it is minute and unobtrusive. The audio, as with all Chaplin movies, has been remastered to 5.1 with a nice spread across all 5 channels.
Extras:a documentary, deleted sequence, outtakes, three home movies, excerpts from "Circus Day" with Jackie Coogan, a photo gallery, film posters and trailers.
BOTTOM LINE: Another Chaplin classic to add to your growing film library! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A real nugget of a film
I have seen many Chaplin films and believe that this is one of the very best, if not the best. It's set in the klondike as Cahpalin sets out to find his fortune in the Gold Rush. There are absoliteley hilarious scenes in a wooden cabin in the mountains where the starving Chaplin enjoys a fine dinner of roasted boot. The funny part is not that in itself, but the gentlemanly and elegant way he sets out to eat it, table manners and all. As a result of this and other scenes there are many valuable lessons about life and its full enjoyment in this film. I also think that the score is Chaplin's best. It can be enjoyed at almost any age and its lessons are universal. ... Read more