The Real Charlie Chaplin

With the type of attention to detail and editing that Chaplin used throughout his career, this documentary could have been wonderful. But it's not. It's overly long, dwells too much on some things while ignoring others, and gives us an arms-length view. Shame. Better editing could make it wonderful.

An insightful documentary which manages to largely follow the man's entire life whilst trying, largely successfully, to understand and articulate his motivations and aching doubts. He remains highly regarded and it is hard to understand now how incredibly popular and loved he was. He was though not a particularly nice man and seemed to find affection for others difficult, until possibly in his old age. The nonsensical communist paranoia that plagued the US finally got him and he had to live his later years in Switzerland which often seems here so very sad, particularly given the somewhat hypocritical Oscar he received in his last few years.

I rather liked Pearl Mackie's rather affectionate narration, which made a nice change from the usual Walter Cronkite type austerity.

As "The Real Charlie Chaplin" (2021 release; 114 min.) opens, it is December, 1916, and Chaplin-mania is in full swing. We then go back in time, and visit London, where Chaplin was born in 1889 (4 days apart from a certain fella named Adolf Hitler). The film makers have dug up a 1983 interview with the Chaplin family's neighbor from the early days, and the woman reflects on Charlie as a boy. At this point we are 10 min into the film.

Couple of comments: this documentary is co-directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney ("Notes On Blindness"). Here they reassess the man, the myth and the legacy of Charlie Chaplin. It appears that this film received the full cooperation of the Chaplin estate, as the film features tons of archive home footage. As is noted by several talking heads: Charlie Chaplin's the Tramp character is just that: a character, and not Charlie Chaplin himself. Chaplin the film maker was a genius. Chaplin the man was a deeply flawed person. Meanwhile the US doesn't come out great in this either, and that's a serious understatement. After years of a smear campaign led by the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, to boot Chaplin and his family out of the country in 1952 at the height of McCarthyism was simply petty and vindictive (and unfounded I might add). The movie also contains a large segment as to the parallels between Chaplin and Hitler. None of it is "new" but to see it laid out as it is here, is startling nevertheless. One thing about the documentary that bothered me (perhaps more than it should) is the reenactment of various interviews that were audio-taped only, but shown here in full stage reenactments, as if these events were filmed (which they were not). It is completely unnecessary and frankly misleading. Aside from that stain, this documentary is a timely reminder of the genius and shortcomings at the same time that befell Charlie Chaplin.

"The Real Charlie Chaplin" recently premiered in Showtime, and is now available on SHO On Demand (where I caught it). If you have any interest in movie history or are simply a fan of Charlie Chapin, I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

I did not learn anything new about him.... But it was nice to see all those old clips. Especially the home movies of him and Oona and kids in his later years. My fav movie of his is Monsieur Verdoux.... The 'tramp' was interesting but repetitive. Chaplin wanted to become 'famous' and he did. And wealthy. It's too bad his love for way too young girls led him and his career astray....

A current Showtime doc about the master of silent film. Told from actual archival audio reels by Chaplin & key players in his life, this film is a welcome intro which gets at the heart of where his genius stemmed from (his poor upbringing in a working class section of England), where it would take him (he became the preeminent filmmaker of his generation w/crowds in the thousands flocking to his appearances) & how life humbled him (his persecution by the FBI for his communist leanings & his predilection for wooing young girls). Using actor portrayals to animate the archival audio gives the spoken words a perfect concreteness since there isn't any talking head interviews (Chaplin's son & daughters are interviewed be we only hear them). Probably not the definitive word on Chaplin (even 1992's Chaplin w/Robert Downey Jr. Scratched the surface a bit) but considering Showtime's stellar documentary presentations, this one will stand for the moment.