Friday, October 28, 2005
CHAPLIN
It is a pretty tough job to balance slapstick comedy and a tract against Hitler and the holocaust; but somehow it is carried off in
The idea is one of dual identity; look alikes. A Jewish tramp and the dictator get exchanged. It is clunky as a plot but the satirical underpinnings of the film make it OK.
There are a lot of funny bits. There is a lot of tragedy too; even more given our knowledge of what happened after the film was made.
The final speech where the tramp/dictator recants and speaks for world peace is still relevant; perhaps more so.
Chaplin is not to my taste comedy-wise. I laughed more when Jack Oakie came on as the Mussolini character. We also get to see Billy Gilbert as one of the top henchmen. Paulette Godard, Chaplin's wife at the time, also looks good and changes prol accents on a dime; cpckney, Brooklyn. I hope it is intentional. Kinda clever if it is.
It was easy to watch and not an old-timey drag.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
