― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:40 (nineteen years ago) link
arbuckle was a fucking genius and most of his jokes aren't really fat jokes (there are a lot of dumb jokes too! and the fat jokes are usually pretty funny!)
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:42 (nineteen years ago) link
And it's not really a matter of which "movies" you like, remember. All Chaplin movies are of a piece, just as all WC Fields movies are of a piece (always hating the kids, always drunk, ya know), and the Marx Borthers (always bilking the rich woman out of her fortune, always with the music numbers, ya know), etc. His physical comedy seems a little too WHOOPS! for me -- maybe it's that fast speed he liked because it made things "funnier" -- it's not funnier. It's more precious, that's all.
Precious! OMG that's the word. Chaplin is so fuckin' precious. Put him next to Groucho, and he'd be blown out of the room like a leaf in the breeze by the first snide barb.
― slightly more subdued (kenan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:45 (nineteen years ago) link
kenan have you seen "the immigrant"? you should.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― slightly more subdued (kenan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:02 (nineteen years ago) link
i thought it was the unfunny load of arse when i was 17
― fcussen (Burger), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:08 (nineteen years ago) link
this is the second time youve attacked me though, Amatuer(ist) and i am not sure its warranted...and one of the times i wasnt even on the fucking thread--you and a few others just decided to take swings, i didnt know what i did to deserve it, kind of hurtz
can we talk more about mabel normand
― anthony, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 11:34 (nineteen years ago) link
>All Chaplin movies are of a piece, just as all WC Fields movies are of a piece ...and the Marx Borthers<
There's a big diff between Easy Street and Limelight, Duck Soup and The Big Store. Less variance in Fields' work, maybe cuz the prime of his film career was in his fifties and youthful exuberance was never part of his persona. Still, It's a Gift kicks Never Give a Sucker an Even Break's ass.
>[Chaplin's] physical comedy seems a little too WHOOPS! for me -- maybe it's that fast speed he liked because it made things "funnier" -- it's not funnier.<
SMS, you have likely seen prints or videos that were mastered at the wrong speed. (ie, makers of silent comedies didn't use beat-up film stock either)
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:37 (nineteen years ago) link
Or maybe people just walked faster in the old days because they weren't used to the new technology like the automobile and the motion picture camera and they thought they had to walk faster to keep up with it.
― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:59 (nineteen years ago) link
I wonder how many of the Chaplin-bashing tossers have seen each waste of celluloid by Saturday Night Live alumni?
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 13:07 (nineteen years ago) link
As far as Chaplin is concerned, it seems to me that it became received wisdom in the past few decades that the stoic lover of mature women Buster Keaton is vastly preferable to the schmaltzy cradle-robber Charlie Chaplin, so maybe it is time to redress the balance.
― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link
contemporary films are projected at 24fps. silent film speeds varied, but most chaplins should be projected around 16fps. of course for video it's a different issue--there are various ways of making a film appear to be run at the right speed in a video transfer (i think ntsc video is 25fps or something like that, i forget).
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 15:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:23 (nineteen years ago) link
Was it mostly Europeans, tho? That would make sense -- his sensibility seems more European than any of his Hollywood contemporaries'. The whole sad-clown/trickster thing maybe resonates more with French and Italian ideas of commedia dell'arte than with broader and/or more deadpan American comedy (which could be why American viewers prefer the very American pacing and mayhem of the Sennett shorts). The most obvious Chaplin descendants I can think of are mostly European (Giulietta Masina, Jacques Tati).
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:55 (nineteen years ago) link
Chaplin (re)invented cinema comedy grammar, hence all who followed are influenced whether they know it or not. Similar to Griffith with melodramas and chase sequences.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link
how do you mean? as an assertion this is both vague and broad.
max linder's films have some very chaplin-esque qualities, pre-chaplin. though a search for precedents is neverending, almost by definition.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago) link
Chiefly, no predecessor incorporated gags, set pieces, etc into a dramatic narrative to the degree he did.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 21:34 (nineteen years ago) link
Also, "The Gold Rush" is rather unimpeachable; some utterly majestic sequences...
In terms of his sound films, yes, he doesn't work so well in the format, but do not underestimate "Monsieur Verdoux", a notably dark film, with Chaplin's addressing-the-world tendency for once injecting a note of lasting despair. Well balanced by lighter moments. However, "A King in New York" is forlornly bad; a bitter film that just ends up seeming petty and stillborn. The self-regarding "Limelight" I am undecided about, and "The Great Dictator" is a bizarre panoply of tones and approaches...
― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link
And I think that's the rub. Up-thread, there is comment on his Victorian quality. He brings sophisticated physical comedy and high cultural signifiers (self-composed classical scores, lest we forget) together with all of the pathos and spectacle of the Victorian showman - whether Irving or Dan Leno. There are sentimental music-hall type songs/themes, such as "Smile" (melo) and exaggerated villains and desperate situations ('drama'). His tramp's a bit like a Dickensian protagonist, or a persecuted hero in mid-Victorian crime melodramas such as Tom Taylor's "Ticket of Leave Man".
It's not particularly easy to fully enjoy Chaplin on the terms set out by comedy in 2005, or even 1955...
― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 23:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 31 March 2006 00:52 (eighteen years ago) link
this is amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4
― and what, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 20:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Saw The Gold Rush at the NY Film Fest today, w/ accompaniment by members of the NY Philharmonic. I didn't know that TGR (and other features of his) can't be theatrically exhibited unless there's an orcgestra of at least 13 pieces playing!
Anyway, tho I prefer Keaton's features in general, the dance of the rolls is one of the all-time great moments. And the laughs still counterbalanced the pathos at that point.
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 01:03 (twelve years ago) link
(...of his career, I mean)
if you don't like The Kid you're insane.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
ha, forgot about this thread -- i disown most of what i said; chaplin subsequently became more or less my favorite film person ever.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 05:58 (twelve years ago) link
i saw 'city lights' with an audience a couple years ago and it pretty much was the best film experience ever.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 06:02 (twelve years ago) link
probably should quit ending sentences with 'ever.'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 06:03 (twelve years ago) link
this thread just reminded me that i forgot to record Limelight on TCM last night. I've never seen it.
― Rory's new misogynist car (Gukbe), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 06:11 (twelve years ago) link
the MI5 file: "It may be that Chaplin is a communist sympathiser but on the information before us he would appear to be no more than a 'progressive', or radical."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/17/mi5-spied-on-charlie-chaplin
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 18 February 2012 10:02 (twelve years ago) link
"City Lights" is being shown here at the end of March with accompaniment by the Cleveland Orchestra and I'm seriously considering going even though I just watched it again on Netflix not two months ago.
― A Full Torgo Apparition (Phil D.), Saturday, 18 February 2012 13:32 (twelve years ago) link
Ugh, went w/partner to a screening of The Gold Rush not realising it was the 1942 re-release.
"In 1942, Chaplin released a new version of The Gold Rush, taking the original silent 1925 film and composing and recording a musical score, adding a narration which he recorded himself, and tightening the editing which reduced the film's running time by several minutes.
DO NOT WANT. We ended up leaving about five minutes in; we couldn't take the narration any longer.
― etc, Monday, 16 April 2012 17:48 (twelve years ago) link
Dana Carvey shared this on FB (public post): https://fb.watch/nu2nxwahL6/?mibextid=NnVzG8
This is one of my favorite #SNL short films. The brilliant Robert Smigel ( Triumph the Insult Comic Dog ) wrote it - and recruited me to play #Chaplin. I thought its premise was inspired. And I never turn down an opportunity to play Chaplin. Unfortunately it never made it to air.It played at dress rehearsal to crickets, live crickets, and we still maintain that a human audience might have liked it. Here now, for the first time, watch ‘Chaplin’ and, for the trazillionth time, enjoy the magic of #PhilHartman, #JonLovitz, and I.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 5 October 2023 05:58 (eleven months ago) link
The philistines didn't get the final joke!
Hilariously, it also reminds me of a story about Paul Simon on the set of One-Trick Pony. I've never seen the movie so I have no idea which scene this refers to, but when they shot the first take, Simon talks with a supporting player who has a line that draws an enormous laugh from everyone after they yell cut. Simon picks up on this, privately talks to the director who then goes over to the other actor and says, "we're going to do another take but this time we're giving your lines to Paul."
― birdistheword, Thursday, 5 October 2023 06:55 (eleven months ago) link
Anyone who's seen One-Trick Pony* probably couldn't tell you what scene that was.
*I've seen it twice and own the Warner Archive DVD-R.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 5 October 2023 17:20 (eleven months ago) link
eat shit
― Left, Saturday, 24 April 2021 bookmarkflaglink
fuck men
Does this apply to Lennon and McCartney?
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 5 October 2023 17:28 (eleven months ago) link
It's kind of wild to think SNL has been on long enough to go from that Chaplin sketch bombing in dress to that January Jones Rear Window sketch making the cut and airing in the first 1/3 of an ep 20 or so years later.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 5 October 2023 18:09 (eleven months ago) link
The original SNL did a whole parody of Fellini's La Dolce Vita - it's pretty crazy what kind of arthouse film references they've packed into the show over the years. They were rarely funny, but then again SNL was always a very uneven show - it's perfect for clip shows for that reason.
Love Chaplin. Still the greatest comic actor in cinema IMHO.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:23 (eleven months ago) link
who has a line that draws an enormous laugh from everyone after they yell cut
there's a similar story about Rodney Dangerfield on the set of Caddyshack... after he does some bit and nobody on the set laughs, he tells Bill Murray "I'm bombing out there, I'm just bombing" and Bill has to remind him that they're shooting a film, and that crew members are not supposed to laugh because it would ruin the take. Dangerfield only knew the standup world at that point
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:41 (eleven months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T95GvS3u4mg
Odenkirk on that Chaplin sketch.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 6 October 2023 14:48 (eleven months ago) link
^^Includes the whole sketh for those who don't do the Facebook thing.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 6 October 2023 14:52 (eleven months ago) link
I think it would have appeared in either Geena Davis or Dolly Parton's shows from 1989 (the two closest to Chaplin's centennial).
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 6 October 2023 14:56 (eleven months ago) link
This is one of those sketches that just plays better to creatives (all of whom have probably experienced others stealing their ideas) than it does everyone else
― peanut filibuster parfait (Eric H.), Friday, 6 October 2023 15:24 (eleven months ago) link
a dana carvey sketch and no one laughed? say it ain’t so
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 6 October 2023 15:37 (eleven months ago) link
he’s so bad at telegraphing what he’s thinking, instead of just showing off his imitation skills - IN A SILENT SKETCH - that it takes a little while to even understand what the joke is supposed to be
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 6 October 2023 15:38 (eleven months ago) link
I feel like that's an unfortunate byproduct of modern-day film (and television) comedy in general, and probably a big reason why I've exponentially grown to love Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, early Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and other silent masters - that era was really the only time where all of a comedy was perfectly geared towards a visual medium for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, so much of a comedy in the modern era is based around sketch comedy and stand-up routines, becoming much more dependent on verbal cues.
― birdistheword, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:01 (eleven months ago) link
*all of comedy
― birdistheword, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:02 (eleven months ago) link
Darn these Talkies have ruined everything
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:14 (eleven months ago) link
https://img.nbc.com/sites/nbcunbc/files/images/2015/5/04/140208_2723724_Weekend_Update_Segment___Grumpy_Old_Man_anvver_1.jpg
In my day, we didn't have "DIALOGUE"!
― birdistheword, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:37 (eleven months ago) link
That's an extremely clever sketch (idea) that somehow never actually reaches "funny".
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:39 (eleven months ago) link
I kind of like the few "famous stories about great artists" sketches I can remember from that era - it seems like a concept they really enjoyed doing, partly so they can go to town with depicting gross mischaracterizations. For example, the one where Ringo goes from "I'm just happy to be here!" to being really opinionated about the direction the Beatles should take during their formidable years, and also when Picasso is a loud-mouthed cheap buffoon who pays everything by scribbling a doodle. (Not even that - at one point he sneezes some snot into a tissue and says "why it's another masterpiece from Picasso!" and proceeds to sign it and toss it on to the ground, prompting all the waiters to dive for it.)
― birdistheword, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:48 (eleven months ago) link
Showed my class the boxing match from City Lights; they laughed
Watching "City Lights" right now and the boxing match is so brilliantly choreographed - and funny. I feel like see dozens of "comical" boxing scenes in movies but this is the best by a million miles.
― I've left the box of soup near your shoes (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 May 2024 13:20 (four months ago) link
... I feel like I've seen, that is.
It really is, down to the split-second--especially the way Chaplin keeps disappearing behind the referee.
― clemenza, Saturday, 4 May 2024 16:27 (four months ago) link