Sunday, April 18, 2021

Thinking activity:Frame study: Charlie Chaplin's Films: Modern Times And The Great Dictator

🟡 FRAME STUDY OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S FILMS:

  1.  MODERN TIMES

  1. THE GREAT DICTATOR



Hello friends,



 I am  going to write about the frame studies of  the , " Charlie Chaplin's two films one is "the modern times" and the second is "The great dictator". So let's begin…



CHARLIE CHAPLIN


Who don't know about the Charlie Chaplin ? 


 "A day without laughter is a day wasted."


One of my favourite quotes of Charlie Chaplin. 


Charlie Chaplin was considered one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of American cinema, whose movies were and still are popular throughout the world, and have even gained notoriety as time progresses. His films show, through the Little Tramp's positive outlook on life in a world full of chaos, that the human spirit has and always will remain the same.


🔵Overview of His Life🔵


Childhood

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England, on April 16th, 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. 


Charlie was thrown on his own resources before he reached the age of ten as the early death of his father and the subsequent illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother, Sydney, to fend for themselves. 


Beginning of his career


When he was about twelve, he got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as “Billy” the page boy, in support of first H. A. Saintsbury and then William Gillette in different productions of “Sherlock Holmes”. At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. 

He finally agreed to appear before the cameras at the expiration of his vaudeville commitments in November 1913; and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month when he joined Mack Sennett and the Keystone Film Company. His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for his services. 

At the completion of his Sennett contract, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company  at a large increase. Sydney Chaplin had then arrived from England, and took his brother’s place with Keystone as their leading comedian. 



The Masterpiece Features


A women of Paris (1923)



The Gold Rush (1925)

The Gold Rush (1925)



The Circus (1928)



City Lights (1931)



Modern Times (1936)



The Great Dictator (1940)



Monsieur Verdoux (1947)



Limelight (1952)


A King in New York (1957)



Last years


Chaplin’s versatility extended to writing, music and sports. He was the author of at least four books, “My Trip Abroad”, “A Comedian Sees the World”, “My Autobiography”, “My Life in Pictures” as well as all of his scripts. An accomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments with equal skill and facility . 


He was also a composer, having written and published many songs, among them: “Sing a Song”; “With You Dear in Bombay”; and “There’s Always One You Can’t Forget”, “Smile”, “Eternally”, “You are My Song”, as well as the soundtracks for all his films. Charles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films , but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well. 


He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey. 


You might also wants to read...Chaplin & music



Then, let's take a tour of Chaplin's studios


On Sunday, February 7, 2021 there is the the 107th anniversary of the debut of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character Kate Guyonvarch, managing director of the Chaplin Office in Paris, will narrate the Chaplin Studio Tour, footage of the abandoned studio shot circa 1953. Recently restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in collaboration with the Chaplin  Roy Export S.A.S. and Lobster Films, the film shows Chaplin’s cameraman Rollie Totheroh escorting Kathryn Reed around the studio. 


Between 1918 and 1952, Charlie Chaplin made films at his studio at Sunset Blvd. and La Brea in Hollywood. Masterpieces like The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times all made on this site! In 1952, on his way to the UK for the premiere of Limelight, Chaplin, a lifelong British subject, got word that his US re entry permit had been rescinded.  


The Great Dictator


A Jewish barber loses his memory after a plane crash. When he finally tries to make sense of his surroundings, he finds himself subjected to a dictator's tyranny.




When the first started One must remember that , Hitler was generally admired in the US and essentially no one at all was standing up for the Jews. 


Here you have a man at the peak of his celebrity who has some moral responsibility. 

How rare! Imagine Michael Jordan risking all  in order to do the right thing. This film is a multidimensional risk: he is trying to master the talkie , he is trying to mix tragedy and comedy  and he is trying to actually effect his audience, to counter evil in the land.  


he succeeds so far as the talkie, but he doesn't stand at the top of the heap, and several years before, the Marx brothers had made their own, superior, antiwar movie . He succeeds in mixing comedy and tragedy only by alternating, and extending the length of the film. 


Concerning his effectiveness in countering evil: his impassioned speech at the end is powerful. But it appears to have had no effect whatsoever.  one of his mistakes was portraying the pogrom and invasions as the work of one man, rather than of a whole nation: Germans, not Nazis. 



What did Hitler's reaction to Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"?


We can say that the Hilter hated it. Just watch the final speech of this great piece of cinema one more time, with quotes as: 


  • Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…. 

  • To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. ….. 


Based on today’s knowledge, Hilter was never quoted with his opinion about the “The Great Dictator”. We could only guess that he actually hated it, which is easy watching the movie and learning about his history. For the same reasons it would be true to believe he never saw it. 


We can only guess or question about how we feel about dictators. 


The final speech form The Great Dictator




 




Chaplin's final speech of "The Great Dictator" is that begins with the words… 


I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. 

      


Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…. 


To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. ….. more 



If we have a question that 


"Does Charles Chaplin's speech about the great dictator still apply to this century?"



As a point of view , About this I would like to say "yes" . If you listen he says that in the speech  “we have developed speed what he have shut ourselves in.” It's even more true today because we have developed even more speed then we had in 1940, and we continue to shut ourselves in. I think that speech will always apply and  it is still remembered. Even after that it will still apply for today. 



⚫Modern Times ⚫


First let's begin with  some introduction about Chaplin's "Modern Times"...

      


Modern Times, American silent film, released in 1936, that starred Charlie Chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. It is regarded as the last great silent film.



The film, which was set during the Great Depression, centres on a luckless factory worker (played by Chaplin) who finds himself so unnerved by trying to cope with the modern equipment he must operate that he suffers a breakdown. After being institutionalized, he is freed, only to be mistaken for a  communist agitator. He is arrested but released after preventing a jailbreak. He subsequently falls in love with a young girl (Paulette Goddard) whom he met when she was running from the police after stealing a loaf of bread. The factory worker and the girl have many adventures together as they evade the police and struggle for a better life. Eventually they escape for the open road.

      


Modern Times is regarded as one of Chaplin’s most lighthearted films. There is certainly plenty of social criticism , but he plays the story mostly for laughs. The sight gag of Chaplin haplessly trying to keep pace with the 

assembly line in the factory is regarded as a classic comedy sequence.


The film also gave Goddard, who was living with Chaplin, her first starring role. The movie introduced Chaplin’s trademark song “Smile.” 



What is the theme of modern times?

“Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confronting the 21th century.


 

But if we want to know about the modern times, then first we have to know about " what is The "modernist literature".


Modern Literature




Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing...more


If we talk about Chaplin's Modern Times we find that This is the  great comedic epic. Chaplin's critique of capitalism is right on the money, but none of it would have worked if the movie wasn't also hilarious.


Amusing and charming, Modern Times still entertains decades later. The set and prop design for the first act are very good. The plot takes us through the many ups and downs  of the hero and heroine, and the way they handle it all is very endearing. The lead actress has great spirit and natural beauty. Modern Times isn't a must see, but I would definitely recommend it.  


We also find that A factory worker and his homeless love struggle to fulfill the "American Dream" despite the advances of "progress." This is how satire is done. Clear in its images - The Tramp literally caught in the machinery - and exact in what it's criticizing - the Big Brother factory boss and the criminalization of the economically disenfranchised - Modern Times is one of Chaplin's most precise and incisive comedies. In this film, The Tramp becomes more than an extension of vaudeville; he stands in for the poor everyman, and as a result Chaplin's work takes on a profundity and significance unique to him. The filmmaking, or the direction, is quite strong. While this was supposed to be Chaplin's first talkie, it works better in the genre Super Reviewer Alice Shen calls a "neo-silent film" . Chaplin's use of sound occurs at strategic moments in the narrative: the corporate boss can speak as he has entered the mechanized age, but The Tramp stays mostly silent, only once singing in gibberish. Chaplin sets up the conflict between the ways of the past and the future in the film's technique as well as its theme. I did think that the film occasionally fell into slapstick and schtick, abandoning its central concerns, but these moments were rare in the grand scheme of the film. Overall, Modern Times ranks among Limelight and The Great Dictator as one of Chaplin's finest films. 



Analysis of the movie "Modern Times" 




“Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, 



farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confronting the twenty-first century. 



  • Why did the Little Tramp want to stay in jail a little longer? 


On the surface, it may seem that he wants to stay in jail because his luck has turned around and prison has become quite comfortable for him. ... In prison, the Tramp knows he is guaranteed a roof over his head and regular meals, while out in the real world he will hardly be able to feed himself. 


Important



What is the massege which is given by the Charlie Chaplin through this film "Modern Times"?


So, in Chaplin's Modern Times "Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confront .an entertaining piece at the surface, also serves as a political and social commentary criticizing the flourishing industrialization, commercialization, and commoditization of big-business America, which has developed at the expense of the everyday citizen. 

👉📽️ Here is the full movie video of Chaplin's "Modern Times"
  





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