Stubs - Chaplin

Chaplin (1992) Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Dunn, Anthony Hopkins, Milla Jovovich, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, Penelope Ann Miller, Paul Rhys, John Thaw, Marisa Tomei, Nancy Travis, James Woods Directed by Richard Attenborough. Screenplay by William Boyd, Bryan Forbes, William Goldman Based on My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin, and Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson. Produced by Richard Attenborough, and Mario Kassar. USA/United Kingdom Color Run time: 145 minutes. Biography

Oftentimes when you learn the truth about your heroes, they become very human. Such is the case with Charlie Chaplin, one of the most influential filmmakers to have ever lived. If you’re not familiar with him, then you should be. Besides his genius, Chaplin had a fascination with young women, read that very young women, that would eventually catch up with him and be the excuse the U.S. government would use to ban him, for two decades, from entering his adopted country.

Since Chaplin was so influential in films, his being the subject of a film seems to be a no-brainer. Director Richard Attenborough, following his success with Gandhi (1982), had announced his plans to direct a Charlie Chaplin biopic, as part of his $75 million, three-picture deal with Universal Pictures. A longtime fan of Chaplin’s, Attenborough recalled seeing The Gold Rush (1925) at the age of eleven and credited the silent film star with inspiring his early acting career. He had also become friendly with Chaplin and his family in the 1970s while vacationing near them in the south of France. With the blessings of Oona Chaplin, Charlie’s widow, Attenborough acquired the rights to Chaplin’s autobiography, My Autobiography, and footage from his films.

For the title role, Attenborough apparently tested seven of the total thirty actors considered for the role, including Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams. He was looking for someone between the ages of thirty and thirty-five, who was small in stature, as he believed the body likeness was more important than the face.

Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey Jr.) in conversation with George Hayden
(Anthony Hopkins), the editor of his autobiography.

The film is structured around flashbacks as the elderly Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey Jr.), now living in Switzerland, recollects moments from his life during a conversation with fictional character George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins), the editor of his autobiography.

Chaplin's childhood was one of extreme poverty from which he escapes by immersing himself in the world of the London music halls. When his mother Hannah Chaplin (Geraldine Chaplin) has an attack of nerves on stage during a performance, the four-year-old Chaplin takes his mother's place on the stage. You can tell right away that he loves the applause.

Moira Kelly plays Hetty Kelly, Chaplin's first love.

After that, Hannah retires from performing and is eventually committed to an asylum after developing psychosis. Through his half-brother Sydney (Paul Rhys), Chaplin gains work with variety show producer Fred Karno (John Thaw). Chaplin becomes the hit of the show with his comedy drunk act. He begins a relationship with his first love Hetty Kelly (Moira Kelly); the night before he is due to leave for America, he proposes to her, but she declines, reasoning she is too young. Chaplin promises to return to England for her when he is a success.

Dan Aykroyd plays Mack Sennett.

While on tour in America, Chaplin is offered a job by Mack Sennett (Dan Aykroyd), the most famous comedy producer in Hollywood at the time. It is while he’s working at Sennett that he creates his iconic Tramp persona. Because of the terrible directorial capabilities of Sennett's girlfriend and star Mabel Normand (Marisa Tomei), Chaplin is allowed to direct his own movies. Before the year is over, Chaplin directs over 20 movies. It is at Sennett that Chaplin meets Roland Totheroh (David Duchovny), his long-time cameraman.

Chaplin has a difference of opinion with his director Mabel Normand (Marisa Tomei).

After Sydney joins him in America to become his manager, Chaplin decides to break away from Sennett to have complete creative control over his films with the goal of one day owning his own studio. He makes a deal with cowboy star Bronco Billy Anderson (Richard Fast).

Sydney (Paul Rhys), Charlie's half-brother, comes to America and manages Charlie's career.

In 1917, Chaplin completes work on The Immigrant, which causes some concern over the film's political subject matter, and starts a brief romance with actress Edna Purviance (Penelope Ann Miller), a secretary whom he would cast as the love interest in many of his early films.

Penelope Ann Miller plays Edna Purviance.

Years later at an industry party thrown by Douglas Fairbanks (Kevin Kline), Chaplin meets and begins dating child actress Mildred Harris (Milla Jovovich), who would become his first wife.

Mildred Harris (Milla Jovovich) becomes Chaplin's first wife.

Chaplin eventually becomes wealthy and profitable enough to set up his own studio and becomes "the most famous man in the world" all before his thirtieth birthday. While playing tennis, Chaplin reveals to Fairbanks that he is to marry Harris because she’s pregnant, but later at a party thrown by William Randolph Hearst (Jack Ritschel), Mary Pickford (Maria Pitillo) delights in telling him that the pregnancy is a hoax. At the same party, Chaplin has an uncomfortable confrontation with J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn) about Hollywood stars and their responsibilities with regard to audiences. While Hoover speaks, Chaplin apparently works on the dinner roll dance that would show up in The Gold Rush. The apparent slight sparks a forty-year-long vendetta and Hoover attempts to ruin Chaplin's reputation.

Rather than listening to Edgar Hoover, Chaplin amuses dinner guests with dancing dinner rolls.

Chaplin and Mildred separate after the premature death of their only child and Chaplin's utter devotion to his films. During the couple's divorce proceedings, Harris's lawyers attempt to take possession of Chaplin's then-current movie The Kid, reasoning that it is one of his assets. Chaplin and Sydney flee with the film's footage to finish editing it in a remote hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah before a bellhop figures out what they’re doing and reports them. In a sequence shot like an old slapstick silent, they manage to smuggle it out before the authorities can confiscate it and successfully get it back to Los Angeles.

The brothers arrange for their mother Hannah (Geraldine Chaplin) to join them in America.

The brothers eventually arrange for their mother to join them in America. Chaplin is initially happy to see her, but has been away from her for so long that he is unable to cope with her worsening mental illness. He buys her a house overlooking the ocean where she can live out the rest of her days.

In 1921, seeking a break from filmmaking and his private life, Chaplin returns to England to attend the UK premiere of The Kid. He reunites with Karno, who sadly informs him that Hetty, who Chaplin wants to find, has died in the influenza epidemic shortly after the war. Chaplin also discovers that although most are happy to see him, his success has meant that the poverty-stricken working-class British no longer consider him to be one of their own and resent him for not fighting in the war for England as they did.

J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn) has it out for Chaplin.

Back in America, Hoover is beginning to investigate Chaplin's private life, suspecting that he may be a member of the Communist Party, and Chaplin is forced to consider the implications the introduction of "talkies" may have on his filmmaking career. Despite the arrival of sound pictures drawing nearer, Chaplin vows never to make a talkie featuring the Tramp.

In 1923, Chaplin makes The Gold Rush and marries his leading lady Lita Grey (Deborah Moore), with whom he goes on to have two children. However, Chaplin later confides to George that he always thought of her as a "total bitch" and dedicates no more than five lines to her in the finished autobiography.

Diane Lane plays Paulette Goddard.

Years pass and although Chaplin finds a new wife and leading lady in Paulette Goddard (Diane Lane), his co-star in Modern Times, he feels a sense of guilt and sympathy to the millions of Americans who have recently been made unemployed due to the Wall Street Crash. Chaplin avoided losing all of his money in The Great Depression by the fact he had sold most of his stocks the year before. Chaplin decides to address the issue in Modern Times, but his complete dedication to getting the movie finished puts excessive strain on his home life and eventually results in the breakup of his marriage to Goddard.

At another industry party, Chaplin causes a minor scandal when he refuses to shake hands with a visiting member of the Nazi party who admits to being a fan. Fairbanks, his health in great decline, comments to him that he looks a lot like Adolf Hitler. This provided Chaplin with the inspiration for his next film, The Great Dictator. The film, which satirized the Nazis and Hitler, is a huge hit throughout the world, but Hoover only sees it as a work of anti-American propaganda.

Even though he doesn’t want to meet her, he quickly falls in love with Oona O’Neill (Moira Kelly), a would-be actress who comes to him looking for career advice. Oona reminds him of his first love Hetty Kelly and they soon marry.

Chaplin goes to court when Joan Berry (Nancy Travis) claims he's the father of her daughter.

Chaplin’s blissful life with Oona is short-lived when another scandal erupts. His former lover, Joan Berry (Nancy Travis), who is later found to be insane, accuses Chaplin of being the father of her daughter. Sydney tries to get Chaplin to settle, but he insists on a blood test, which proves he’s not the father. However, California won’t admit the evidence and DA Joseph Scott (James Woods) uses the sympathy of the jury for Berry to force him into supporting the child. His reputation severely damaged, Chaplin stays out of the public eye for over seven years until re-emerging to produce a new film, Limelight.

In 1952 during the height of the Joe McCarthy scandal, Chaplin leaves America with Oona on a trip back to Britain, but subsequently finds out that the U.S. Attorney General has revoked Chaplin's permit to re-enter the United States.

In 1972, ten years after completing his autobiography, Chaplin is invited back to America in order to receive a special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1972 Academy Award ceremony. Though Chaplin is initially still resentful at being exiled from the country, he is fearful that no one will remember him. However, the audience happily rejoices upon seeing clips from his classic films. Chaplin stands on the stage and is moved to tears when the audience provides him with the Oscars' longest standing ovation.

The film was released on December 18, 1992, in the UK and a week later in the United States. The film was surprisingly a flop. Made on a budget of $31 million, the film only made $9,493,259 at the box office. Chaplin received mixed reviews. While Downey was lauded for his performance as Chaplin, the film was criticized for trying to cover too much ground, for dramatic license with Chaplin’s life story, and for being too formulaic. The film received three Academy Award nominations, Best Actor for Robert Downey Jr.; Best Original Score for John Barry; and Best Art Direction for Stuart Craig and Chris A. Butler. It won none.

Robert Downing Jr. (r) portrays Charlie Chaplin (l).

Any review of the film has to applaud Robert Downey Jr.’s performance. It may come as a shock to some that Downey had a career prior to his performance as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In his prior career, playing Chaplin was perhaps his most lauded performance. Taking on a well-known figure is always a challenge and taking on the persona of one of the most famous people to ever live is especially so. There are times, though, especially when he’s playing the older man, that it really looks like a young man in makeup, but otherwise, while not a dead ringer for Chaplin, Downey looks enough like him to have been a very good choice for the role. It’s hard to imagine any of the other actors who were considered for the part actually playing it.

Downey’s Chaplin is one of several performances that attempted to recreate early film personas. While Downey was cast, in part, on his likeness, I don’t think that was a consideration for most of his contemporaries. In most cases, they are more representational than accurate. As an example, Kevin Kline would never be confused as a look-alike for Douglas Fairbanks, however, his performance seems to capture Fairbanks’ larger-than-life persona.

Moira Kelly plays Oona O’Neill, Charlie's last wife.

It is a really nice touch to have the same actress, Moira Kelly, play both Chaplin’s first love, Hetty Kelly, as well as his final one that reminded him of her, Oona O’Neill. She is good in both roles, but it would be impossible to say if her portrayals were at all accurate of either woman.

While I could continue for many more paragraphs talking about all the other performances, and there are many, it’s easy to say that whether or not they’re dead ringers for their subjects, the acting is very good across the board.

Geraldine Chaplin plays her grandmother Hannah.

It should be noted that Geraldine Chaplin, Chaplin’s daughter with Oona, gets to play Charlie and Sydney’s mother, her grandmother, Hannah. Even though it is a relatively small part, she is very good. Her talent is most apparent when she plays Hannah in her later, more obviously insane, years.

The only role original to the story is that of George Hayden, played by Anthony Hopkins. Like many stories that attempt to tell historical facts, there is the need to interject someone to help tie it together and that is the role George plays, as his questions about the manuscript are what seems to drive the story forward. I had to remind myself that there are several sequences when Hopkins, Sir Anthony Hopkins, a British actor, is playing an American, and Downey, an American, is playing the British-born comic and filmmaker. They are both fine enough actors that the swap of nationalities is never an issue.

As far as taking liberties with Chaplin’s life, the autobiography the film is partially based on already takes plenty. The film even notes that with his second wife and the mother of his two sons, Lita Grey, Chaplin only spends five lines on her. The film also glosses over much of his films, but that seems only reasonable considering he made so many during his career. However, it does ignore the last few films he made, including Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and the two films he made in the UK after being refused re-entry into the U.S., A King in New York (1957) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the latter of which comes after the original story wrapped, but before his return to the U.S. to the Academy Awards.

One of the things I like best about the film was the recreations of early Hollywood and the filmmaking process and Chaplin’s launch of his new studio. The moment he walks into his main studio, you get the real sense that he knows he’s arrived at the top.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in Charlie Chaplin and early Hollywood. While liberties are taken, they are not enough to get in the way of a really well-done biography of a truly great but flawed individual. Geniuses like Charlie Chaplin don’t come along very often and he is deserved of an epic film about his life.