Charlie Chaplin

Among the numerous great silent film directors, the three that are commonly mentioned surrounding that discussion are Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Having seen a greater amount of Charlie Chaplin’s wonderful work than the others, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd most certainly still got my consideration. In spite of every one of the three delivering awesome pieces of visual artwork, they shared some comparable attributes, but they each had unique differences which contributed…

The Great Dictator, an American satirical political comedy written and played by Charlie Chaplin during the time the United States was still formally at peace with Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a harsh and controversial condemnation of Adolf Hitler, fascism, anti semitism, and the Nazis. Charlie Chaplin plays a poor Jewish barber, the main protagonist. The Barber was a soldier during World War I and loses his memory for about 20 years then becomes of the Fuhrer of Tomainia due to his…

By now we are familiar with Charlie Chaplin’s silent films and his talents; not only as a pantomime actor but also as a writer and director. Certainty, his 1931 silent film “City Lights” is a proof of his talent as an actor, writer, chorographer and director (Kamin) . The film gave Chaplin the opportunity to display his creative talents within the silent film industry. Although, Chaplin’s talents are numerous we are going to concentrate on his acting performance in the “City Lights” film. In…

Charlie Chaplin The Speech Charlie Chaplin directed, produced, and starred in the film “The Great Dictator” in 1940. The film was considered by most a propaganda film that showed through comic satire that those that were against us as a country were incapable, untrustworthy cowards. The idea was to create something that would lead the audience to those same conclusions. The speech included in the film became an iconic proclamation of our own issues in the United States at the time. In the film,…

and the silent film medium extend this to its maximum. Exaggerated actions and visual gags with occasional intertitles explaining the situation became the centerpiece of attraction and entertainment. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were two legendary comedy filmmakers emerging from this era. Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights was a combination of Chaplin’s skills from previous movies. In this movie, he employs purely innocent jokes under the famous Tramp image. It actually works on multiple level…

Prompt: In what ways can "Monsieur Verdoux" (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1947) be considered a version of "Bluebeard"? Pick out a couple scenes you saw in the movie and explain their connection to the original tale and what unique attitude is revealed by Mr. Chaplin's changes to the story. Even though there are several differences between “Monsieur Verdoux” and “Bluebeard”, “Monsieur Verdoux” can be considered a version of “Bluebeard” due to the actions of Monsieur Verdoux and the plot of the movie.…

Charlie Chaplin is most well-known for his character The Tramp, as well as writing, directing, and starring in his own films. Just as Hollywood was moving into “talkies” or films with sound, Chaplin was still going against the grain. He remained one of the last silent film stars until the release of the political satire comedy-drama The Great Dictator in 1940. Besides his singing part in Modern Times, this was the first time audiences heard Chaplin’s true voice. The Great Dictator tells the…

Night’s (American) Dream Through semiotics and representation, Ellen Lauren relates the illusion of the American Dream to the conflict between reality and dreams in her 1930s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the image of Puck as Charlie Chaplin. In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, by Stuart Hall, Hall explains that when a person sees an object, they can connect meaning to that object. They see the object, connect it to a concept in their…

Scrivener” and Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” share the same theme, which is the despair of the working class under the upper class. Bartleby and Chaplin respectively represent the working class in their stories, and they both undergo hardships due to the tedious tasks they are given to perform. Both characters eventually rebel against their managers (which represent the upper class) in their own ways; Bartleby constantly rejects the lawyer’s order of proofreading his documents, while Chaplin…

conditions, lost his humanity out of greed. The movie opens up with the text “humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness” across the image of a clock ticking away, which shows that time dictates progress and everyday life within the factory (Chaplin). The clock also symbolizes the idea that “time is money” and that efficiency -- the greatest amount of work completed in the least amount of time using the least amount of money and resources, but for the largest profit -- drives progress. The…