I wasn't sure Charlie Chaplin was getting talked about enough around here as a director/actor/writer so I decided to make a thread...hope I'm not the only fan of him around here.
Anyway, I've always loved Chaplin ever since watching some of his films when I was like 13 or so and recently I've become an even bigger fan of his. I have been as influenced by him as PTA with this short film I've been trying to make. Now more then ever I really see why he is such a genius.
See, I am horrible at writing or delivering dialogue (I'm acting in this thing) so I've naturally avoided writing too much of it in this screenplay. I've been taking a lot of cues from the master to show things and set up visual gags and use facial expressions and body language...all that stuff and wow, it is just fucking awesome. I respect him more then ever now like I said...I really see his talent. The stuff he does...it's almost harder than writing dialogue...almost. I totally prefer the more visual stuff right now at this point because as I said...the dialogue is just awful and, this visual stuff that I've been stealing from Chaplin is just so realistic and wonderful...it's stuff that real people do. Like the way people react to things and stuff like that. I realize dialogue is necessary, I just can't think about how to write it, I can't.
But anyway, what do you guys think of Chaplin?
modern times :-D
Ive only seen City Lights and was pretty impressed especially at the end. I expected it to just be gags and what not, but I really felt for him at the end when the girl knows.
i love MODERN TIMES, GOLD RUSH and CITY LIGHTS. there is definately a certain charm to silent films. especially chaplin and buster keaton films. you definately couldn't make a silent film now although i still want to someday make one (hopefully). it's a lot harder to convey thought and emotion without words.
i also read somewhere that some people think luiz guzman in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE is very chaplin-esque. i recent just saw PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and i haveto say that i really never appreciated guzman til my last viewing. wow! really funny!
When Guzman falls out of the chair at that one point....PRICELESS!
I've only seen Modern Times and City Lights, but they're soooo good. Modern Times is just amazing on a purely technical level...some of those setups are unbelievable. And it's so hilarious...the scene where he mistakes the cocaine or speed or whatever for salt had me in tears.
the only chaplin film i've seen is the great dictator, which sorta sucks since i still have no real idea of what chaplin's silent stuff is like.
i am, however, a HUGE fucking fan of buster keaton. i love that motherfucker. i've seen most of his films. his precision and stunts and everything...it's really mind-blowing.
i got this for x-mas.
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the general is really something. wonderful, wonderful movie. there's still a couple features i haven't seen yet, but i've seen everything else, including all nineteen short pictures, the best being the boat, cops, the playhouse, the paleface and the goat.
ok. sorry about getting off topic. keaton owns.
Quote from: snaporaz
ok. sorry about getting off topic. keaton owns.
No, don't worry about it man...it's fun to go off topic.
I love Keaton just as much, I just haven't seen as many of his films as I have Chaplin's. I think he's fucking great. It's weird that he's funny because he looks like a sort of tough, dark guy to me....I don't know why. I like that.
I wanted to mention my appreciation for Keaton before in this thread, but out of respect for Chaplin, who I like and all but he is very little when compared to absolute genius of Keaton, I did not. I also got that box set for Christmas, and in the few months before hand, I spent all my free time on my college campus in between classes in the library watching Keaton movies over and over again. I think he is the greatest comedian in all the movies.
~rougerum
Quote from: ebeaman69he looks like a sort of tough, dark guy to me....I don't know why. I like that.
heh.
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Where is Sherlock Jr in that set? That movie is great.
I've seen Chaplin's Modern Times.
I would like to make a silent film as well. Actually I want to make a lot of films, I just don't have any plot ideas. sigh.
Quote from: SHAFTRWhere is Sherlock Jr in that set?
third from the left.
man. that whole thing where buster walks into the movie...
wierd....
Sherlock Jr's is the best one of them, in my egotistically humble opinion. Maybe the best comedy ever. Competition though in Strangelove, Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise, and even MASH, which I think is great and underrated as a comedy.
~rougerum
Quote from: snaporazQuote from: ebeaman69he looks like a sort of tough, dark guy to me....I don't know why. I like that.
heh.
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See, look at his eyes...those dark rims under them, that is so fucking cool. I wish I had that. He's a cool lookin guy, he looks like a character out of a Tim Burton movie or something. Seriously, I'd be afraid to laugh out loud at him in person. Keaton is very cool.
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetI wanted to mention my appreciation for Keaton before in this thread, but out of respect for Chaplin, who I like and all but he is very little when compared to absolute genius of Keaton, I did not. I also got that box set for Christmas, and in the few months before hand, I spent all my free time on my college campus in between classes in the library watching Keaton movies over and over again. I think he is the greatest comedian in all the movies.
~rougerum
Oh, never be afraid to go a little off topic in a thread that I make man. God knows I have a tendancy to absolutely butcher the topics of other people's threads...not intentionally of course.
Besides...to me, Keaton is very closely related to this topic. I feel bad for not including him at all in this thread...I think he's just as fucking great as Chaplin.
I've never seen a Buster Keaton film, but claiming Buster as "better than Chaplin" is quite something. What're his best films I should definitely check out first? The General?..Sherlock Jr.?..
Quote from: Bill MaplewoodI've never seen a Buster Keaton film, but claiming Buster as "better than Chaplin" is quite something. What're his best films I should definitely check out first? The General?..Sherlock Jr.?..
the general is his best. however, for the best laugh-to-running time ratio, his shorts would be funnier. look out for
the boat,
the paleface,
cops....
oh wait, i already listed his must-see's [scroll up]. but as for his features, besides
the general, i'd say to check out
go west [which is less slapstick and more chaplin, actually],
three ages,
seven chances, and
college.
sherlock jr. [almost mind-blowing visual effects] and
steamboat bill, jr. [great cyclone sequence] both have their charm, but they don't seem to stand up to the others i mentioned.
and save
our hospitality for last. i hate saying it, but that movie just fucking sucked.
but the rest really rock. you'd be surprised at how much you'll laugh your ass off.
That's awesome....i'll definitely be checkin that stuff out soon enough.
Quote from: snaporaz
and save our hospitality for last. i hate saying it, but that movie just fucking sucked.
Oh, I know, this movie is unbearably bad and unfunny. This is the only Keaton movie I have seen, but I dont think he can come near to fucking with Chaplin.
Quote from: ebeaman69
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Quote from: ebeaman69See, look at his eyes...those dark rims under them, that is so fucking cool. I wish I had that.
I'll give you a lend of my eyeliner if you like. :kiss:
Quote from: Duck SauceOh, I know, this movie is unbearably bad and unfunny. This is the only Keaton movie I have seen, but I dont think he can come near to fucking with Chaplin.
you shouldn't be so sure, especially if that's the only fucking keaton movie you've seen.
KEATON FOREVER OMGWEEEE!!!!!11111111
This is very late for a reply but why did everyone dislike "Our Hospitality"??? It's one of my favourites too, and for the record, I have the Art of Buster Keaton on DVD and have seen all of his stuff... I thought it was really funny but as a movie all around aside from the comedy, I think its great. What do people think of the Navigator? That's a really good one too.
I never saw a keaton film, now I really want to. But as far as chaplin goes, I really like modern times and city lights, but I still think limelight is his masterpiece, it's so good, and so different from all his other work. Mybe I'm talking crap, but I think that is a very important film for the progression of cinema and gets overlooked sometimes, I had no idea it existed till I caught it on TV, and it blew my mind cause it's so fucking good.
I would've loved to have seen the Keaton scenes Chaplin edited out of Limelight. I think it's too long but its still really good.
I never knew about that, what were the scenes?
Hmmm... Chaplin has always been third, right behind
1. Harold Lloyd
2. Buster Keaton.
3. Chaplin.
Quote from: rustinglassI never knew about that, what were the scenes?
No clue. Wish I knew.
Metro, thats an interesting list. Don't know anyone who's actually preferred Lloyd over Keaton and Chaplin. Not bad though... Nothing wrong with Lloyd, but my list would certainly go: Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd.
My choosing LLoyd over the other two is indeed quite odd. However I believe we live in too cynical a times to really buy into the innocence of the "tramp". And maybe Keaton is suffering from being overdone.
I just think that if you were to play all three today (maybe to someone who doesn't know any) then Lloyd still plays the best. His holds up.
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wow. i just watched my first Chaplin film City Lights and LOVED IT. it was so great and funny and sad and just amazing. modern times and great dictator should be here in a day or two. so let me just extend to anyone else who has not seen any chaplin to please watch this movie.
also, last year i saw two harold lloyd films (the freshman and for heavens sake) which i also loved when TCM was showing his films all month. why the fuck wont his family let them go to dvd/video? how the hell am i supposed to watch Saftey Last which i'm now dying to see?
Quote from: themodernage02wow. i just watched my first Chaplin film City Lights and LOVED IT. it was so great and funny and sad and just amazing. modern times and great dictator should be here in a day or two. so let me just extend to anyone else who has not seen any chaplin to please watch this movie.
so you didn't get the box sets, I'm guessing? You would've saved a ton of money, and it would've been worth every penny.
no i netflixed it, but me and my girlfriend just discussed it and we've decided as soon as i get a paycheck we're going to split the cost of just buying both! we did the math, we're excited. and i am normally NOT a blind-buying guy. (i think the only blind buy's i've ever made were Citizen Kane, and 2 of the movies in the Kubrick Collection i hadnt seen yet) and yet, i cant WAIT to get these.
wow, just my luck. didnt even know it but its Charlie Chaplin Month on TCM and tonite they just showed The Gold Rush. i again, loved it. it was funny and sad and just great. one question though, i watched the 30 minute chaplin today: gold rush special beforehand and they mentioned how it was originally released silent and with a slightly altered/extended ending with kissing. so is this version which he released 17 years later with narration and music the 'definitive' version of the film? does the dvd include this AND the silent? or just this. because at times when the narration was heavy it seemed to distract from the action, and was curious as to whether this is the accepted cut.
Quote from: themodernage02does the dvd include this AND the silent?
Yes. Now go buy it.
okay i just watched my last two chaplins for a while, Modern Times and The Great Dictator. i loved Modern Times (during which i recognized about every good scene from Cinephiles banners) and liked Great Dictator (but thought it went on a little too long and wasnt as consistently funny as the previous 3 i had seen). whereas the first two i watched were funny/sad, these last two were funny/social commentaries, which was interesting.
Quote from: themodernage02okay i just watched my last two chaplins for a while, Modern Times and The Great Dictator.
What can I say? I pick the good ones. :wink:
Now try watching Griffith's films and finding the scenes from
those banners..
I love those Griffith banners...
So I might start buying a few Chaplin films, any recommendations? I just saw recommendations for Gold Rush, Great Dictator and Modern Times. Any others?
Quote from: Chest RockwellSo I might start buying a few Chaplin films, any recommendations? I just saw recommendations for Gold Rush, Great Dictator and Modern Times. Any others?
Don't trouble yourself. Just buy the full collections:
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:cry:
Quote from: Chest RockwellSo I might start buying a few Chaplin films, any recommendations? I just saw recommendations for Gold Rush, Great Dictator and Modern Times. Any others?
City Lights was my favorite, with Gold Rush, then Modern Times close behind. if you have netflix i would recommend checking out those first. but, if the only way for you to see any are blind buying, i would agree with cinephile, its much cheaper to get the sets 10 films (20 discs) for about $150. instead of $20 or so per film. as soon as i have $150 with my name on it, i'm going to have to do this. but i really cant recommend those 3 enough. like, i dont know how many people on here havent seen them but i thought they were fantastic.
I'd still buy the Keaton set before the Chaplin set(s), but that's just moi. I just watched Gold Rush for the first time the other night, and I just have to say...that climactic house scene could have lasted for the full ninety minutes and I wouldn't have gotten tired of it!
Of the trio that almost everyone has seen, I think Modern Times is my favorite, but it's been so long since I've see City Lights that my ranking may be innacurate.
I'm a little worried to find out what Warner Bros. has in store for us Keaton fans. They're planning on releasing his films but I wonder what they'll have that the Kino box set doesn't. I swear, if it's like the Chaplin Collection I'll be livid; I spent $250 Canadian on that box set. If there's going to be something released thats superior to it, there's no telling what I'll do.
yeah i havent seen any keaton or griffith yet. but i plan on watching Sherlock Jr., The General and Intolerance, Birth of a Nation soon.
is the Keaton box set really good......i.e.; nice transfers, extras, etc?
here is a cheap solution for those interested in Chaplin/Keaton:
in the 5.50 dvd bin at Wal-Mart they have a 2 DVD set which includes
The General and Steamboat Bill Jr. &
The Kid and Tillies Punctured Romance
i'm not saying the DVD's are all that great, but it's a relatively cheap way of checking them out........i got it mainly for The General.....i haven't seen these 2 Chaplin films though
i bought the first Chaplin box set and it was really great.
at first the Gold Rush was my favorite (i wish they would have had the original score for the original cut....that elec piano just don't cut it), but now i think it's Modern Times.......but they're all good.........anyone notice how much the Great Dictator has influenced films/people like Dr Strangelove, Austin Powers series, Mel Brooks?
Quote from: bigideasis the Keaton box set really good......i.e.; nice transfers, extras, etc?
Yes, its incredible. Love it. This is why I don't know what Warner Bros. is planning to do, because I don't see how they're going to top it. Unless somehow they release the Cameraman or something. The transfers are beautiful and the extras are all compiled on a disc called Keaton Plus. It's basically the definitive Keaton and if you like Chaplin, the Keaton box set is must.
Here's (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?postid=1665986#post1665986) why I haven't bought the WB Chaplin discs. I saw a Chaplin short on TCM recently that had the PAL to NTSC look. I hope they don't do this with the Keaton films.
QuoteWhat a waste. Obviously the Warner image is sharper than the Image Entertainment image, but I am very disappointed in the blurring which is still prevalent here as in The Great Dictator DVD. The contrast levels in the new Warner discs are very dark. My bet would still be to buy the European versions. I am very disappointed in my purchase of this Region 1 DVD. It does have quite an array of Extra Features, but the "ghosting" is extremely visible as well as other associated artifacts that appear with PAL->NTSC.
Instead of doing the transfer from the original source themselves, Warner let someone else do it (Mk2) then took THEIR PAL transfer. Now we get the worst of both worlds: 4% PAL speedup from original source and lower NTSC resolution (AND "ghosting"). It looks to me to have excessive digital processing. I'm glad I still have my Image discs, but will look into the PAL Mk2 versions as they are released.
uh oh. now this goes right back to the other thread "Whats More Important to You on a DVD?". even though i watched the mk2 versions and they looked great to me, this guy seems to think there are problems with it. so, now i'm faced with the dilemma: do i buy the image box set with ZERO extras because of a supposedly better picture? or do i buy the superextras sets that has a problem i would never notice in a million years?
I wouldn't worry about it, mod. The guy was probably WAY too picky... but maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic about it. :?
A local theater here in Austin, the Alamo has this thing called "Rolling Roadshow" which has featured movie events that are just cool as shit (ex. "Goonies" shown in a cave, "Jaws" on the water, and this weekend is "Caddyshack" on a golfcourse).
I usually don't mention these, but I thought this just looked cool as shit:
http://www.drafthouse.com/RRS/frames.asp
(you have to click on the Buster Keaton Poster on the right)
The General - live music by Guy Forsyth
We'll be taking a 2 hour train ride out into the boonies on the vintage Austin Steam Train. Along the way, there'll be southern barbecued pork picnic (veggie options available) with drinks (dessert will be served on the return trip). Then we'll settle into a rural pasture in Burnet and wait for the sun to set and the show to begin. Guy Forsyth will be performing live his score for a pristine 35mm print of Buster Keaton's pinnacle film achievement, THE GENERAL.
Guy generally performs as a quartet. This night, however, he will have a quintet, the fifth member being a 44 ton vintage locomotive, sounding off on cue.
It's $45, but I really think it'll be worth it... hopefully I'll make it.
That sounds like it will be fantastic.
Similar events are held here in the UK by Stella Artois. They did the Jaws at the beach thing, they also did Shawshank in a decomissioned prison, which I thought was pretty cool.
:yabbse-cry:
So, I went to this event (three posts above for the lazy) and it was pretty awesome.
The train ride lasted a little too long (it was 2 hours each way) and the bar on the train was over priced with little selection. Once we got there, though, it was all worth it.
They have a giant inflatable screen that they put out in the middle of nowhere, we get off the train and hike to this clearing, set up our folding chairs and wait for the sun to go down. Then the coordinator introduces the event and talks about upcoming stuff (including a Romero-fest hosted by the man himself) and then it started.
Guy Forsythe was incredible... They didn't miss a beat... the music was extremely tight and in-cue with the movie (I kept forgetting that there was a live band and not a prerecorded soundtrack) and it was really unique, they played the sawblade in certain scenes and it sounded lovely.
At one point, the generator died in the middle of the movie and the screen deflated. They got it up and running again in no time, but while the screen was re-inflating, Guy and his band played some song songs (with actual singing)... it was really nice.
I slept during the train ride back.. and now my wife really likes Buster Keaton... it was a great night.
Nice one. I'm very jealous. Glad it was good.
Charlie Chaplin's only novel published for the first time
4 February 2014
via The Guardian
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Out of Limelight ... Chaplin in a still from the eponymous film. Photograph: W Eugene Smith/Time & Life Pictures
Footlights, the screen legend's unseen prequel in prose to the film Limelight, reflects his sadness at declining stardom
Read an extract from Footlights by Charlie Chaplin (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/04/footlights-charlie-chaplin-extract)
The only work of fiction ever written by Charlie Chaplin, a dark, nostalgic novella which was the root of his great film Limelight and which has lain unpublished for over 60 years, is being made public for the first time.
Footlights, which runs to 34,000 words, traces the same story as Chaplin's valedictory film Limelight – that of an ageing, alcoholic clown Calvero and the ballerina he saves from suicide.
The film, in which Chaplin played Calvero and Claire Bloom the ballerina, was the final American movie Chaplin made before he was banned from the country for alleged communist sympathies. The novella, which Chaplin wrote in 1948, before the film script, widens and deepens the story, giving an insight into the author's state of mind at the time.
It has lain in Chaplin's archive for decades, but has now been pieced together from a mix of handwritten and typed scripts by Chaplin's biographer David Robinson. It is published by the Cineteca di Bologna, an Italian film restoration institute which has been digitising the Chaplin archive for his family.
Cecilia Cenciarelli, co-director of the Cineteca's Chaplin project, said the novella "has shadows. It's the story of a comedian who has lost his public, by a comedian who at that time had lost his public, who was referred to in the press of the time as a 'former comedian', a 'former successful film maker'".
It is a prequel of sorts to the film, in that it fleshes out "why Calvero has nightmares, why he is so disenchanted with his career, with the public", she said. "The book deals a little more with the relationship of the artist to his audience, with the meaning of art."
"I know I'm funny," says Calvero in the novella, "but the managers think I'm through ... a has-been. God! It would be wonderful to make them eat their words. That's what I hate about getting old – the contempt and indifference they show you. They think I'm useless ... That's why it would be wonderful to make a comeback! ... I mean sensational! To rock them with laughter like I used to ... to hear that roar go up ... waves of laughter coming at you, lifting you off your feet ... what a tonic! You want to laugh with them, but you hold back and laugh inside ... God, there's nothing like it! As much as I hate those lousy – I love to hear them laugh!"
Chaplin was going through a bad time in America when he wrote the novella, said Robinson. "He was a big target for J Edgar Hoover ... which was effective to the extent that a great deal of middle America turned against him. This was a shock to him, who had been the best loved man in the world for 30 years." These feelings, said Robinson, "work themselves out in the story of Calvero".
Footlights, complete with Robinson's commentary and description of the story's evolution, is being launched by the Cineteca this week, with an event at the British Film Institute Southbank, London, featuring Robinson and Bloom, to whom the book is dedicated. The book will be available from the publisher's website (http://cinestore.cinetecadibologna.it/bookshop/dettaglio/7) and Amazon, although it does not yet have a British or American publisher – something Cenciarelli is hoping will change.
"It is astonishing that this man who went to school for six months in his life managed to become a writer," she said. "The reason it has never been published before is because the family has been a little protective ... but eventually they were convinced this would be a good thing to do."
"He never meant it for publication," said Robinson. "It was something absolutely private ... he wrote it for himself."
In his commentary, Robinson writes that Chaplin "can move without warning from the baldly colloquial to dazzling yet apparently effortless imagery, as when the crushed Calvero gazes 'wearily into the secretive river, gliding phantom-like in a life of its own ... smiling satanically at him as it flecked myriad lights from the moon and from the lamps along the embankment'".
Chaplin's childhood in south London can be seen, he writes, in a child character's "aversion to parks – 'the dreary, forlorn patches of green, and the people who sat about them, were the living graveyards of the hopeless and the destitute'". The novella also shows "the delight in fine or strange words of the self-confessed autodidact, who kept a dictionary beside him and set out to learn a new word every day: brattled, selenic, efflorescing, fanfaronading and – to the end of his life his all-purpose favourite – ineffable."
"Once he'd got a word he liked to use it, even if it was not quite right for the situation," Robinson said. "Nevertheless he does write amazingly. With his films he worked and worked until it came right, and it is the same with this book. It's a good read. Strange, but good."
Pamela Hutchinson, who blogs about silent film at www.silentlondon.co.uk (http://silentlondon.co.uk/), called the publication "very exciting".
"There is always tremendous interest in Chaplin – and when so much has been written about him over the years the chance to read his own words, especially ones we haven't heard before, is refreshing," she said. "One of the things that is really wonderful about Limelight is that it shows Chaplin returning to the London of his youth: the tenements and music halls that he knew.
"To read what he was writing about this world in the 40s confirms our fondly-held belief that Chaplin never forgot his British roots throughout his successes in the States.
"The subject matter of Limelight – poverty, mental health and the variety stage – as well as its London setting, could have been plucked straight from his childhood. The drafts of this novella confirm that these things were still playing on his mind late in his life."