Early this morning Austin sneaked in a tweet
One of the finest scenes in cinema history. - AUS10
Agreed it is one of the finest scenes in movie history. (With a great history behind it)
But is there more to this tweet than a cinephile show and tell moment?
Props to one of the best actor/directors in the history of film?
Passing the political commentary of Chaplin along to those who might not ever see it otherwise?
Looking at some classic films for inspiration?
Giving a wink and a nod to the CA, where Chaplin went on location up and down the state, and was a frequent visitor to North Cali?
(Film buffs, check out this great great site of location stills then and now for Chaplin movies and this video/lecture about Chaplin's locations for some of his most iconic films)
Or is he just a fan of The Little Tramp?
Monday, September 12, 2011
Tramps Like Us
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8 comments:
CDefendis Chris Defendis
Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are like Heather Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in Brokeback Mountain.
1 hour ago
Has anyone seen The Great Dictator? It's been a lot time since I've seen the whole thing.
Talk about what a bold move it was for Chaplin, who was one of the most famous men in the world, to make a satire about Nazi Germany, condemning Hitler, fascism, and antisemitism,when Hitler and Mussolini were at the height of their power.
Don't know if there are any actors today who are at the top who would be willing to risk it all and do something like Chaplin did, now.
They say that Hitler banned the movie in Germany and all countries under German occupation, but he was so curious he had it snuck into Germany for him to screen. They said he watched it twice, but no one knew what he thought of it.
I’ve probably seen The Great Dictator, at least, three times. The work is an extraordinary film on many levels, politically, socially, intellectually, artistically et al. Chaplain was a major supporter of FDR and was a man who was vehemently against racism. Given the fascist tendencies in both America and Great Britain in the 1930s, there were many efforts to prevent the film’s completion. If I remember right, he started the project in 1938 the year of the Munich Agreement and England was concerned about the anti-Hitler perspective (Chamberlain, anyone), but by the time he finished the work, England was at war so, not surprisingly, they rushed to use it as a propaganda film. I know a lot of film critics and historians call TGD a top notch satire and certainly that element is presented, but it’s a great film, for me, because of its timeless and timely quality. The work is definitely a heroic personal commitment against racism and the advancement of democratic ideals like peace, possessing massive social implications. Beautifully constructed and courageously pursued. Films these days by major film studios and performers are so commonitized and dumbed-down, designed to offend the least amount of people that it’s hard to believe something similar could be produced and distributed at all.
I think you're right about Austin's tweet, Special. Austin is a master of the non sequitur but he is, often times, strategic in his messaging. What seems to have no meaning, is chocked full of substance. An English major at play in the sandbox.
The speech at the end of the movie, you wonder how Hitler sat through it twice and didn't think about what he was doing.
What is really interesting is that Chaplin and Hitler were born the same year, grew up in poverty and were at the time both one of the famous/infamous men in the world.
This from wiki:
As Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to prominence, Chaplin's popularity throughout the world became greater than ever; he was mobbed by fans on a 1931 trip to Berlin, which annoyed the Nazis, who published a book in 1934 titled The Jews Are Looking at You, in which the comedian was described as "a disgusting Jewish acrobat" (despite the fact that Chaplin was not Jewish). Ivor Montagu, a close friend of Chaplin, relates that he sent Chaplin a copy of the book and always believed this was the genesis of Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin's son Charles Chaplin, Jr. describes how his father was haunted by the similar backgrounds of Hitler and himself. He writes,
Their destinies were poles apart. One was to make millions weep, while the other was to set the whole world laughing. Dad could never think of Hitler without a shudder, half of horror, half of fascination. “Just think,” he would say uneasily, “he’s the madman, I’m the comic. But it could have been the other way around."
Sorry, I misspelled Chaplin. Had Neville Chamberlain on the brain. Not a good thing. LOL!
I have always admired Charlie Chaplin, and I don't think I have seen TGD, maybe bits of it - I certainly have heard and read about it. A very powerful thing to do at the time. That period in time is always an absolute horror to me, the very worst that humanity can be. But humanity is capable of the very best too, thankfully.
To call current movies that revisit these themes "revenge fantasies" is an oversimplification and an insult. The further away from history people get, I think they tend to forget. If anyone ever had a "fantasy" it would be to go back and stop these horrors before they ever began.
I appreciate Chaplin for what he did, but I've just never been that entertained by his movies. Heresy I know.
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