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Post by afriendlychicken on Jun 25, 2013 18:35:17 GMT -5
I'm glad you kind of enjoyed it. I'm also not a big musical fan so I didn't even know this existed. It is sad when the myths of a famous person overshadow the reality and it seems like this play has some of the myths. From Arbuckle, Chaplin & Keaton to Orson Welles, Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe the myths are better known than the truth. And Salieri was completely innocent folks! Stupid "Amadeus" movie...
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Post by nondescript spice on Jun 26, 2013 9:14:09 GMT -5
ahhh, thank you for posting that, chicken. i didn't think a new page was EVER going to start!
now that it has been a few days since i've watched it and it's had a chance to settle, i think my opinion of it is better than it originally was. i have to remember i was also watching a bootleg - every so often the framing would be off, you'd see someone get up in front of the lens to leave (or return) to their seat) - it wasn't a properly produced piece of film. that is a a short piece done about the musical - short interviews with some of the cast. two minutes in you can see mcclure informally dressed up as the tramp, doing his walk to get an idea of how well suited he was for the role. i was impressed that he ran in place on a lazy susan like chaplin did in one a.m.. as far as the changes that were made - i just don't get it. mcclure, the director and writers were very familiar with the timeline of chaplin's life, so i don't understand why they would deliberately screw with the facts. i guess that's showbiz.the gold rush was released 88 years ago today on june 26th 1925i just found out the original '25 version has been rescored with the music chaplin created for the '42 re-release. that is great news - i rarely watch the '42 version, but it does have beautiful music behind it.
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Post by nondescript spice on Jul 17, 2013 14:52:56 GMT -5
had to post this when i came across it earlier. the tramp, after a night of boozing, finds a girl under his bed. it's edna purviance in her first short with chaplin in a night out, made in 1915. the tramp had been checking her out earlier, but did not know she was staying across the hall from him in the hotel. while in her jammies, edna ran into the tramp's empty room after her dog, only to hide under the bed when she hears him enter the room and begins to prepare for bed. this was a common theme for shorts back then, an innocent way to conjure up some very risque comedy. and you thought it began with three's company. of course, being as wasted as he is, the tramp is startled to suddenly see a girl under his bed. ^that is one of my all time favorite moments from chaplin's early work. that little grin on his face when he realizes he's not dreaming after all, just sends me.
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Post by nondescript spice on Aug 7, 2013 14:59:29 GMT -5
chaplin starred in the mutual short film one a.m. on this date in 1916, 97 years ago. can ya dig it?
one a.m. was my first favorite short of chaplin's. i bet i've watched it 25 times or more. all it is about, is a drunk guy getting home and trying to get into his bed. but everything in his house is against him. been there. chaplin really shows off his acrobatic skill in this one. in the shickel doc, robert downey jr. said if that was the only thing he (chaplin) had ever done, that would be enough. yet he did it over and over and over.
if you watched that short clip of the cast rehearsing the chaplin musical, you'd see rob mcclure, who played chaplin, copying an astounding move from one a.m..
i've had other favorite shorts since one a.m. - i change my list all the time, but it will always have a spot in my black heart.
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Post by nondescript spice on Aug 13, 2013 8:55:21 GMT -5
awesome, awesome, awesome. radiohead and charlie chaplin.
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Post by nondescript spice on Jan 22, 2014 13:00:28 GMT -5
97 years ago today, easy street was released - waaay back in 1917, by charlie chaplin while he was with mutual. it's a great little short about the tramp turning his life around when he gets a job as a policeman. this was normally not a usual theme for the tramp - for him to work on the side of the law (respect mah ah-thor-i-TEE!) instead of running from them all the time is definitely different. but wow, the issues it dealt with - poverty, domestic abuse, drug abuse - it was a meaty little short. strange - according to that video, which looks as if it came directly from the mutuals collection, it says easy street was released in '16. either way, it's old as hell. non-chapliny, but still relevant to the theme of the thread - our dancing daughters, released in 1928. a friend of mine recently sent me this gem of a silent film and i watched it yesterday. i've seen parts of it before on TCM, but i never watched it through until now. wow, i LOVED it. i know i will watch it many more times. i know this is the usual image we picture when joan crawford's name comes up - the hair, the boxy dresses and suits, those blood red lips and scary eyebrows. wielding a wire coat hanger, right? right. it's a shame, because back the early years of hollywoodland, joan crawford was an absolute stunner. okay, she was wearing more than her fair share of max factor in that pic, but she had a natural beauty to her she lost as she aged. i suppose that happens to the best of us, but when i look at those early pictures of joan and then the ones of her in the '40's and later, it's like looking at two different people. joan in the center with her co-stars from ODD, anita page and dorothy sebastian
our dancing daughters is a great look at the jazz age, the rise of the glorious flappers. crawford plays diana, the free spirit, the wild child who can party with the best of them. check out her moves - i'm not crazy about the music, but it was a good choice for different scenes of her dancing talents.
even though diana is a wild child, she is a good girl, meaning no one has claimed her...uh, cat's meow, if you know what i'm saying. you see what kind of life that gave her best friend, beatrice. she confesses to her boyfriend that she can't marry him because...well...you see...anyway, she's damaged goods, toots, see? but he claims he can overlook that, so they get married. except then he's a jealous as*hole most of the time, making her feel like a tramp. lesson learned. anita page plays ann. she's a jerk. she comes off all pure and holier-than-thou, but she's a little schemer, looking to land a rich husband. the two girls meet ben blaine at the same party, and both fall for him. diana, because she thinks he's the bee's knees; ann because she finds out he's a millionaire. diana entices ben by her energy and spirit - she's fun, flirty, outgoing and wants to see the world. she and ben make out a little, but that's it. but ann plays her cards differently. and damned if she doesn't get him to marry her. you guys are such idiots sometimes. of course, diana is crushed. she puts on the brave face for her rich, snooty friends, but only her best friend, beatrice, knows the deal. joan really proved herself as an actress in this movie. it was the first one where she received star billing and she earned it. i love a good, dramatic silent film. i know sometimes they can be a little cheesy, a little over-acted, but that only makes me love them more.
ben learns a valuable lesson - ann turns into a real bitcherooney after they're married. she sneaks around with an old boyfriend and lies to ben's face about it. i actually couldn't like ben too much in this movie. he's a chump. i didn't sense any real chemistry between he and joan or anita - it all came from them. his name should have been ben bland.
anyway, he goes to a going away party for diana - we aren't told where she's going, but all the rich, snooty friends come to send her off. he confesses to her that he still loves her and he made a mistake. ha! sucker! ann shows up, drunk and pissed and embarrasses herself by starting a fight with both of them. but diana and ben leave - separately - only to meet up later to say goodbye. beatrice and her husband try to help ann get home, but after she makes fun of the women scrubbing the floor after the party - (i had a similar hairstyle back in the '80's, but that's another story)
she has a little slip up - hey, we've all been there. but she evils herself to death and dies after the fall. it's kind of odd - you know a happy ending is coming for ben and diana, but it almost felt like they ran out of time or money or something, because the whole story wraps up in like, ten seconds or less after ann's tragic fall. at any rate, it was a happy ending. it's a great little love story. the sets were all very rich, expansive and still clean somehow. the little side story with beatrice and her jealous husband didn't take up too much time, but was still interesting. and hats off to anita page. it's never easy to be the one playing the jerk in a movie, to be the one everyone hates. but she did it well. and i love how joan got so many roles similar to diana - realistic and exuding that potent girl power vibe. even so, i don't think she ever topped it as she did as diana. aaarrghh...someone figure out the time-space continuum thingy so we can get a time machine built and send me back to the '20's. ....whooooaaaa...the cocaine just kicked in....!
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 2, 2014 21:14:31 GMT -5
dig it - chaplin's very first appearance on screen in his first short took place 100 years ago today. making a living. i don't watch it that often, because it's a rough bit of comedy. this was before he made himself into an icon with the tramp - he had just joined keystone and would feel his way over the next several films until he grabbed the attention of just a few at first - then the world. making a living is just a jumble to me. chaplin plays a guy who is constantly getting the better of a foppish man by stealing his girl and his job at a newspaper. the title cards are few. you don't need many in a good silent production, but the first time i watched MAL, i was a bit baffled to what was happening. it was a typical keystone comedy - a lot of over acting and madcap chases. but it's worth watching for the historical value of it, imo. get used to me doing this throughout the year - 100 years ago today.. it's hard to believe.
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 7, 2014 12:51:05 GMT -5
this truly is worth mentioning. ^that is from kid auto races in venice, released 100 years ago today. that was the very first time chaplin ever appeared in his tramp costume on camera. i love that opening shot that you (a part of, anyway) in that gif. because i so love watching the crowd's reaction to him. it's not exactly the same as it was watching the crowd in, say - a day's pleasure, which was made five years later when chaplin was with first national. by then, everyone knew who the tramp was. a day's pleasure but think of it - film making was still very new to a great deal of people - what they must have been thinking when they saw this man dressed in the shabby clothes, scampering around the crowd, making a nuisance of himself? it was the very first reaction to the tramp. to me, that is priceless and i feel honored to be able to witness it. here's the whole story: the tramp sees this new invention of the movie camera, and is determined to keep himself in front of it, no matter how many times he's thrown off or almost run over. the symbolism is great here - chaplin himself felt that need his whole career to be in front of the camera - or behind it - sometimes both. mack sennett used to send his people out to public events like this race to give them some free extras - they went to parades, festivals, dance contests, etc. it's one of the shorter shorts chaplin did. they didn't become noticeably longer until chaplin began receiving a great deal of attention from fans.
and finally - here's an adorable chaplin doll a friend sent me yesterday -
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 9, 2014 21:58:01 GMT -5
i told you this would start happening more often. i just finished watching mabel's strange predicament last week, as i find myself going slowly through the keystones. i intended only to watch making a living and maybe kid auto races, but as it almost always happens, if i watch one chaplin short, i have to methodically go through them all. mabel's strange predicament has a plot very similar, almost exactly, really - like a night out, which was made a year later, when he had moved to essanay. mabel is the pretty girl playing with a dog (i swear it almost resembles the same dog) in a hotel room, throwing a ball for it to fetch. when the dog and ball end up out in the hall (hey, ima poet), mabel runs out after, but ends up getting locked out of her room. and the only place she can hide - because - gasp - she's fully covered in her pajamas - is the tramp's room next door. chaplin - with edna purviance under the bed in a night out, 1915
the tramp being drunk adds to the ruckus, of course. this was a common theme in silent comedy - a good way to get a little blue without offending people. still, some considered it risque for the time, just like when the tramp would stretch a leg over a girl's lap sitting next to him. shock-ing!
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 9, 2014 22:56:58 GMT -5
i realized after that post that there was another similar plot to the hotel-mix-up one that was featured in mabel's strange predicament and a night out - it was caught in the rain, also made in 1914. in this one, the tramp flirts with a married woman, only to get walloped by her husband, played by mack swain. then the tramp checks into a hotel, not realizing the same married couple are in the room across the hall. the wife, played by alice davenport, is a sleepwalker - one of the creepiest ones i've ever seen - and wanders into the tramps room after he falls asleep and while her husband is out. you can imagine the rest. yes, pure hilarity! mack swain worked with chaplin for many years - he most always played a foe of the tramp. but he is best remembered for his role of big jim mckay in the gold rush.
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 21, 2014 10:57:55 GMT -5
incredibly touching. it's from the '75 doc, gentleman tramp. the ending is similar to modern times. as you watch an elderly chaplin walk away with oona - the way he swings his cane almost makes me leak ocular fluid.
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Post by nondescript spice on Mar 4, 2014 12:26:53 GMT -5
chaplin and the family39 years ago today in 1975, charlie chaplin, nearly 86, was knighted at buckingham palace. i can't imagine how it must have felt for him, knowing he started out as a poor, many times homeless, boy in victorian england. after the troubles and scandals he went through, i'm sure it meant a great deal to him, because though he called himself a citizen of the world, chaplin could be very sentimental about england.
i saw a film clip taken after the ceremony once. though chaplin was frail looking, when asked by a reporter what he would do now that he was knighted, he answered, "get drunk!" chaplin & oona
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Post by nondescript spice on Mar 9, 2014 18:48:00 GMT -5
i found a cool quote from geraldine chaplin, chaplin's oldest daughter, about robert downey jr. on his role as her father in the 1992 movie, chaplin: "I have to tell you: I had never, ever dreamed that anybody could convince me that they were Daddy. But that young man was Daddy. I don’t think that any actor could do what Robert did. It was as if my father came down from Heaven and inhabited him and possessed him for the length of the movie. He is so gorgeous, which is appropriate because my father was a beautiful man too. He’s heartbreaking and he has my father’s sense of melancholy. The first time I met him as the Little Tramp I hugged him and he hugged me, and there I was with my father as a young man in my arms.” how cool that must have been - for them both. some of chaplin's other kids said the same thing about the resemblance and similar qualities RDJ had of their father during the film. they said it was almost eerie. honestly, i didn't see it as much when RDJ played chaplin as an old man. but as a younger man and especially as the tramp, no one else could have come as close as he did. he was so good at it that anytime a clip of one of chaplin's films was shown in the film, they didn't bother to re-shoot it with RDJ - it was the actual film. considering what a genius chaplin was at mimicking others, that's saying a lot for RDJ.
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Post by nondescript spice on Mar 9, 2014 18:49:26 GMT -5
when is this bloody page going to end!??
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Post by nondescript spice on Mar 9, 2014 18:49:59 GMT -5
....still?
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