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March 21, 2004
TT: Dust-up in the mailbox
I almost forgot to post some of the great mail I've been getting in response to what I wrote the other day about Charlie Chaplin:- "For the most part, I think your criticism of all kinds is dead-on. In fact, I have once or twice asked myself whether you are me when I grow up. But your recent dismissal of Chaplin made me very sad. I agree that ‘by common consent' The Gold Rush is considered Chaplin's best movie, but I have never been able to understand why, especially when considering the 1942 rerelease with Chaplin's narration (that narration really saps the humor and spark right out of the movie, in my opinion). And certainly Monsieur Verdoux is not very good (neither is the Great Dictator, really...neither are any of his sound movies). But I suggest that you defer final judgement of Chaplin until you've seen Modern Times and City Lights--especially Modern Times. I think that Modern Times alone will lead you to wrinkle your nose at David Thomson's contention that Chaplin's films are ‘cut off from any known period or reality.' Both films are very, very funny as well (and I have never laughed during The Gold Rush either, although I have smiled), and both are great venues for his unique physical virtuosity. The ending of City Lights really is one of the best Hollywood Moments ever--it still gets me to reach for the kleenex, and I've seen it maybe a dozen times. Certainly Chaplin has some English dance-hall moments and extended lazzi routines (such as his fondness for strange-noise-making hiccups) that get tedious even in his best films, but Lordy, TT, you're depriving yourself of some really funny, really moving cinema if you give up on him now.
"One parting remark on the Chaplin-versus-Keaton tone of your post. The Chaplin/Keaton dichotomy, in the last twenty years or so, seems to have attained in some critical circles an either/or status. I love Keaton--and yes, there are moments of startling currency in his films, which you won't find in Chaplin. But his greatness does not preclude Chaplin's."
Conversely:
- "I don't know if you've seen Bertolucci's The Dreamers, but there's a fine scene in which the sexy young French guy and the sexy young American guy argue over who is the greater comedian: Chaplin or Keaton. The American picks Keaton; the Frenchman picks Chaplin. When the American protests, the French guy dismisses him, snapping: ‘You Americans don't even understand the essence of Jerry Lewis!?'
"So there you go."
Thanks, folks. I ain't budgin', though.
(In addition, God of the Machine has waded into the fray, with a little help from Wyndham Lewis. Go look.)
Posted March 21, 2004 11:02 AM
