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Cast : Charles Chaplin
What was it about?
Charlie is an immigrant who endures a challenging voyage and gets into trouble as soon as he arrives in America.
My two cents:
I don’t think I have ever seen this short before but, within a few mins, I was reminded why I used to love these shorts so much when I was a kid. Indeed, the damned thing was just so hilarious and, in my opinion, Chaplin was just from a different league than everyone else involved in silent comedies at the time (Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy,…) . Concerning the story itself, there were basically 2 parts. The first one was about the Tramp going on a trip to America and it was quite amazing how still topical the damned thing was, even 100 years later. Indeed, you can be pretty sure that most (illegal) immigrants face such hardship and worse when they try to reach Europe or the US and the fact that Chaplin managed to turn such dark material into something so entertaining is just a pure marvel. The second part was this time about the poor guy trying to pay his meal at a restaurant when he didn’t have a dime. It was actually the starting point of his short, Chaplin apparently did add the first part as an explanation on how the main character ended up in this predicament. Eventually, I actually preferred the 1st part because it had more impact but the 2nd part was some serious fun as well.
My rating: 08/10
Check the full review
“By now, I have seen all the full-length features directed by Charles Chaplin but it had been several decades since I saw one of his shorts. Well, according to the IMDb ratings, it must be one of his very best so I thought I might as well check this one out. First of all, it was pretty neat that the ” read more
“Since I have seen all the movies directed by Steven Spielberg and since this last directorial effort had received some really good reviews, I thought I might as well check it out. Another cool thing is that I saw this movie with my mother who is also a major movie buff and she was the one who introd” read more
30 TV Shows
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“To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie. Anyway, this movie was and still is the stuff of legends. Indeed, what was supposed to be a rather small TV feature became a surprising success, one of the most heralded directing debuts and the start one of the most impressive careers ” read more
Notes: I was actually caught out of guard by this movie as it turned out to be such an intense and intriguing drama. Indeed, for most of the duration, I didn’t really know what they were getting at with this story but, while it could have been frustrating, I thought it was actually quite fascinating. I’m not surprised that it was adapted from a play since most of the action took place in the Delaney’s house with only a handful of characters involved but I was just so impressed by the dialogues and the depth they brought to Lola and Doc Delaney. Back then, there were some critics that Burt Lancaster was actually too young to play that part and I have to admit that it was probably the case. Eventually, you have to get used to the idea that this man was actually married with this woman who seemed to be much older than he is. And, yet, Lancaster gave here a strong performance but, even though he was displayed on all the promotional material, I was above all so impressed by Shirley Booth who received an Academy Award for her work here. Indeed, she was just brilliant, playing the most ordinary woman that you could possibly imagine and, yet, there were so many layers in her performance, it was just mind-blowing. I think it also gave a ghastly but realistic look on what alcoholism can do to an individual and their relatives. In my opinion, it shows how ridiculous it is that it is socially acceptable to drink when you can’t even smoke a cigarette in peace when drinking obviously can actually have such a devastating impact.
Notes: I was actually caught out of guard by this movie as it turned out to be such an intense and intriguing drama. Indeed, for most of the duration, I didn’t really know what they were getting at with this story but, while it could have been frustrating, I thought it was actually quite fascinating. I’m not surprised that it was adapted from a play since most of the action took place in the Delaney’s house with only a handful of characters involved but I was just so impressed by the dialogues and the depth they brought to Lola and Doc Delaney. Back then, there were some critics that Burt Lancaster was actually too young to play that part and I have to admit that it was probably the case. Eventually, you have to get used to the idea that this man was actually married with this woman who seemed to be much older than he is. And, yet, Lancaster gave here a strong performance but, even though he was displayed on all the promotional material, I was above all so impressed by Shirley Booth who received an Academy Award for her work here. I wonder who she was but it made sense since it was actually her acting debut and she was above all a theater actress. Anyway, she was just brilliant, playing the most ordinary woman that you could possibly imagine and, yet, there were so many layers in her performance, it was just mind-blowing. I think it also gave a ghastly but realistic look on what alcoholism can do to an individual and their relatives. In my opinion, it shows how ridiculous it is that it is socially acceptable to drink when you can’t even smoke a cigarette in peace when drinking obviously can actually have such a devastating impact.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I was actually caught out of guard by this movie as it turned out to be such an intense and intriguing drama. Indeed, for most of the dur” read more
“The main reason why I ended up watching this movie was that I was quite eager to check what Miranda Jully delivered 15 years after her heralded debut 'Me and You and Everyone We Know’ (I have to admit that I completely skipped ‘The Future’ but I guess I will watch it as well at some point). We” read more
