The Real Charlie Chaplin (2021) Narrated by Pearl
Mackie. Starring Jeff Rawle, Paul Ryan, Anne Rosenfeld, Dominic Marsh. Directed
by Peter Middleton, James Spinney. Written by Oliver Kindeberg, Peter
Middleton, James Spinney. Produced by John Battsek, Mike Brett, Jo Jo Ellison, Steve
Jamison, Ben Limberg. Run time: 114 minutes. Color/Black and White. USA. Documentary.
With few options for entertainment on a recent flight, I happened across this documentary. Being a fan of Charlie Chaplin, I was interested by the title. With someone like Charlie Chaplin, the real can and does, in this film, refer to different facets of the man’s life. Primarily, there is separating Chaplin from the Tramp character that he invented while working for Mack Sennet’s Keystone studio.Then, there’s Chaplin’s Tramp vs. the apparently many impersonators, including those who, in essence, made their own Tramp films. And then, there's really who is Charlie Chaplin, the man himself.
