The Complete Charlie Chaplin (Features)

This is the film that invented the "Dramatic Comedy" genre. Think about that. Before The Kid, no one put serious dramatic scenes alongside comedy. This is the most impressive part of Chaplin's legacy. A charming father/son tale of survival and love. If someone can watch this an not feel their heart being tugged while they laugh, then they have no heart to tug.

A box office failure, but only because Chaplin put his name on the film and didn't appear (except in a tiny cameo moment). This is a terrific example of how Chaplin understood visual storytelling better than anyone. Surprisingly few title cards are required to explain the criss-crossing relationships and personal conflicts. Edna Purviance also proves how natural silent actors could be. She never plays "over-the-top" in the way most people imagine silent starts acting.

A contender for Chaplin's masterpiece, this is the one he wanted to be remembered for. An adventurous delight, the two versions available in the DVD release (The 1942 narrated re-release and an approximation of the original 1925 presentation) are both excellent. Depending on your view of Chaplin's leading lady for the film, in one film she falls for him and in the other she just goes along, one will be your favorite over the other. Either way it includes several of Chaplin's cleverest moments of comedy.

A pure comedy, Chaplin plays with the concept of "funny." When he tries to be funny he isn't, but when he tries to be serious he is funny. Within this setting the Tramp falls in love with the boss's daughter, the stunt rider. Perhaps not as widely loved as his other classics, there are scenes in this film that defy all time and cultural barriers to be infinitely funny anywhere they are seen.

Here is the usual nominee for Chaplin's greatest work. City Lights is the famous story of the Tramp falling in love with the blind flower girl who thinks he is a millionaire. Touching and complex, this was the crown jewel of Chaplin's silent features. It arrived a few years after sound had started its takeover of the industry, but it showed audiences that the silent era would not go without leaving a lasting impression.

The last silent film in Chaplin's filmography, Modern Times is not the last time he would use silent techniques. Many of his later films would suffer from an awkward over-use of dialogue. Here Chaplin uses moments of dialogue from machines and recordings to slip some subtle social messages into the comedy. Although he was in his late 40s, Chaplin remained the agile comedian he always was. A moment to watch out for is the feeding machine, and keep in mind that there were no mechanics involved; Charlie operated every aspect of the feeding machine manually on the set.

Chaplin's one nomination for Best Picture, it was far too controversial to win. He began filming just days after Britain declared war. There are plenty of great comedy moments, but as Chaplin's first time working with sound there are clear faults. The film really ends before the famous last speech, which was timely in 1940, but serves to drastically alter the mood for modern audiences. A fascinating piece of trivia for history geeks is that Adolph Hitler requested a screening of the picture, and then a second screening a few days later.

The Great Dictator was controversial, but overall accepted (not many people come to Hitler's defense after all). Monsieur Verdoux, however, was the last straw for many and resulted in Chaplin's later exile. For a beloved comedian to make a black comedy where he plays a mass murderer, Chaplin took a leap that the public was not willing to follow. Despite dramatic failings in the pace of certain scenes, it is a brilliant satire and the final speech by Verdoux is better in some ways than the final speech in the Great Dictator.

Chaplin's wonderfully raw performance is sadly run over by the over-acting of Claire Bloom. Chaplin was still an amateur in the connection of dialoge to film, so the high pitch and aristocratic accent that Bloom performs with was largely his failing as a sound director. Despite that Limelight is a touching drama about the tragic contradiction of the sad clown with a moving score and elegant plot.

In Chaplin's sound films there is a battle between the moments of comic brilliance and his failings as a sound director. In this film the latter wins out and the film fails to hold together. The loud communist child (played by one of Chaplin's sons) starts hilarious, but wears out his welcome. There are clever bits of satire pointed at 50s American culture (and a brilliantly prescient scene of reality TV), but the film fails to walk the high-wire.

Chaplin's final film (and his first in colour) could have been a terrific comedy of errors in the Noel Coward style. Instead it is the messy result of too many egoes on stage. Brando and Chaplin were at odds throughout the film and the way Chaplin treated his son (Brando's co-star) often irritated the future Godfather. Again, there are moments of brilliant comedy, but Chaplin's director eye was stuck in the 1930s and the great comedy is interrupted by clumsy comedy. It is not a fitting end to Chaplin's career to finish with A Countess, but the endlessly re-watchable classics he produced before guarantee Chaplin's legacy can never be tarnished.