Judging Chaplin on The Tramp is like judging Leonardo DiCaprio based on Critters 3. Have you watched Chaplin’s main feature films ? Compared to other comics at the time, he had a strong sense of directing and was able to convey a lot of emotions (the end of City Lights is still one of the greatest and most beautiful ends I’ve seen). He was a great filmmaker before being a good actor, with a extraordinary sense of rhythm, not just for comedy. He also tried a range of genres (Monsieur Verdoux is a serial-killer film, The Great Dictator is about Hitler and the Shoah, etc) with a lot of empathy, while being very critical about his times. For me, Keaton was a magician and Chaplin a poet.
I totally agree, and you're kind of saying what I said back when I recorded the podcast. Going into this I had never seen any of his films, so I'm really watching his career unfold, and, as I said, I expect that he's going to become far far better as his career progresses.
Judging Chaplin on The Tramp is like judging Leonardo DiCaprio based on Critters 3. Have you watched Chaplin’s main feature films ? Compared to other comics at the time, he had a strong sense of directing and was able to convey a lot of emotions (the end of City Lights is still one of the greatest and most beautiful ends I’ve seen). He was a great filmmaker before being a good actor, with a extraordinary sense of rhythm, not just for comedy. He also tried a range of genres (Monsieur Verdoux is a serial-killer film, The Great Dictator is about Hitler and the Shoah, etc) with a lot of empathy, while being very critical about his times. For me, Keaton was a magician and Chaplin a poet.
I totally agree, and you're kind of saying what I said back when I recorded the podcast. Going into this I had never seen any of his films, so I'm really watching his career unfold, and, as I said, I expect that he's going to become far far better as his career progresses.