Over ninety years after Charlie Chaplin introduced moviegoers to The Little Tramp in 1914, the character still remains one of the most recognizable figures in films today. Chaplin himself is sighted by many comedians as an inspiration for their work. Comedian Buster Keaton, who had a healthy professional rivalry with Chaplin, wrote in his autobiography that Chaplin was the greatest comedian that ever lived, and the greatest comedy director.
Capturing the life of someone widely considered to be a genius is a tough task. If someone is/or was a genius, how can an actor hope to portray that even somewhat convincingly? Sir Richard Attenborough was faced with the task of finding a way to show where Chaplin’s genius came and how he managed to accomplish what he did, despite a myriad of personal and professional flaws. Originally released in 1992, Chaplin stands as a flawed but interesting look at one of the world’s true comic greats.
The main reason that Chaplin remains eminently watchable is due in large part to the performance of Robert Downey, Jr. The actor does a superior job as the title character, perfectly recreating Chaplin’s range of accents and mimicking, with astonishing accuracy the movements of The Little Tramp. Further, what makes Downey’s portrayal remarkable is that he never loses sight of Charlie Chaplin the man, even as he disappears behind the mask of The Tramp or one of Chaplin’s other characters. We are always aware that Chaplin had a flawed personality despite his successes.
As with most biopics, Chaplin attempts to cover a lot of ground; in this case, nearly sixty years. We begin in turn-of-the-century England, with Charlie’s early days on the vaudeville stage and the beginning stages of his mother’s mental illness. (Charlie’s mother Hannah was played by Geraldine Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin’s daughter.) Chaplin then goes on a tour to America where he discovers “flickers” and is hired by Mack Sennett (Dan Ackroyd) to work on comedies. It was there that Chaplin developed The Little Tramp. From there, Chaplin made a name for himself amid great success and failure, both personal and public, from failed marriages to run-ins with J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn) which would all eventually lead to Chaplin being banished from America.
Despite being haunted by his mother’s illness, enduring three failed marriages and an ugly paternity suit, Chaplin managed to complete over eighty films. Obviously, this is a lot to cover in a 135 minute film; as a result, the viewer is bound to feel like they learned a little bit about a lot of aspects of Chaplin’s life, but didn’t get the full picture. Therein lies the major flaw of Chaplin: Attenborough and his crew of screenwriters (working from Chaplin’s autobiography, Chaplin: His Life and Art) for all their ambition, have simply tried to cover too much ground here. Many of Chaplin’s most famous movies get just a passing mention, as do many of his leading ladies, both on set and off. For instance, Edna Purviance (Penelope Ann Miller), gets all of two scenes in Chaplin despite being one of his most frequent co-stars.
The filmmakers seemed to realize the problem and tried to solve it by creating a framing device. Anthony Hopkins plays George Hayden, the editor of Chaplin’s autobiography and an invented character. The film begins with Hayden going to see Chaplin in Switzerland in the 1960s, and then cuts back and forth between their conversation and different events, as Hayden grills Chaplin on holes in his manuscript and encourages him not to be so guarded. In these conversations, missing pieces of the puzzle are waved away by Chaplin as things he’s not interested in explaining. Allegedly, the original cut of the film was four hours long and the director’s preferred version was twelve minutes longer than the theatrical version. Attenborough has said that those lost scenes would have made for a better film, and it would have been nice had this new DVD edition maybe restored them so we could judge for ourselves; unfortunately, that was not to be.
Regardless of the flaws, Chaplin is definitely worth viewing. Robert Downey, Jr. shows why so many people felt he was one of the greatest actors of his generation, even during his well publicized bout with drug addiction. Any student of film or serious fan of the medium should check this film out and then watch one of the many Charlie Chaplin DVD sets currently available. The man was truly a legend and Chaplin gives viewers a glimpse of the man behind that legend.
The anamorphic picture is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and it’s solid but inconsistent. There are frequent instances of grain, and though the color is nice and there isn’t much by way of specks or scratches, darker scenes suffer from a lack of consistent shading. Shot by the talented Sven Nykvist, perhaps best known for his work with Ingmar Bergman, Chaplin deserves better. I’d love to see this one brought out on Blu-ray.
This edition has a 2.0 Dolby audio mix that is pretty good, with nice levels and a clean sound, but nothing special. There are also English and Spanish subtitles to choose from.
Chaplin -15th Anniversary Edition comes with some pretty nice special features:
• Strolling Into the Sunset (7:25) – Sir Richard Attenborough gives his feedback and says “It was very difficult to get the film set up. As you may want to imagine, making a biographical film is not the most easy subject of which to finance.” He moves on to say “who can play him? You’ll never find anyone to play him. Well, I must say I tried all sorts of people.” He continues “But into the CAA offices came a man, he had spikey black hair and rushed into the room and said ‘My name’s Robert Downey, you may not know me but I shall be more famous than you’ve ever been ultimately because I shall play Chaplin.'”
• Chaplin the Hero (6:05) – Film Critic Richard Schickel says “If you show a Chaplin film to a little kid, they’re simply delighted by it. They don’t care that it’s not color, they don’t care that it’s not talking, they see what that figure is because he has a certain child-like quality.” Richard Attenborough offers his thoughts as well.
• The Most Famous Man in the World (5:27) – A look at Chaplin’s massive fame. Attenborough and Richard Schickel once again give their thoughts.
• All at Sea – Chaplin Home Movie (2:26) – Shot by Alistair Cooke in 1933, the black-and-white footage shows a boat trip with Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, with Chaplin mugging for the camera and doing impersonations of famous people.
• Theatrical Trailer
