On Chaplin

I've been a fan of Charlie Chaplin for a relatively short time. Although I've always been aware of his films, I'd never actually seen any until I saw a documentary on the BBC about 4 years ago. The documentary concluded with a showing of Easy Street, a short from 1917.

The very next day I went to MVC, picked up a DVD boxset and the collection has been growing since. I think now I've only 20 more films to go until I have a full collection. Just for the fun of it, I wanted to recommend a couple of my favourites for any movie fans out there.

The Kid

The Tramp finds an abandoned baby and brings him up as his own. When the child is discovered by the welfare services, he is taken away resulting in a chase in order to rescue the boy. This quite possibly goes to the top of my list and one of the main reasons is because of Chaplin's (then) pint-sized co-star Jackie Coogan who gives a great performance.

One a.m

A simple but brilliant short film. The story is very basic, Chaplin arrives home late after having a few too many drinks and he wants to go to bed and his many attempts at getting there are thwarted by objects in his house. A great example of his timing and athleticism

The Gold Rush

The film starts with The Tramp in Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th Century. He finds himself caught in a snow storm and stranded in a small hut with another prospector and a fugitive. After the storm they part ways and the Tramp ends up in a small town where he meets the leading lady, Georgia Hale, whom he mistakingly believes she's fallen in love with him. The prospector shows up in town but can't recall the location of his claim and enlists the help of the Tramp in exchange for a share of the fortune. The film ends with a wealthy prospector and former tramp reunited with the leading lady.