When I was a child, Charlie Chaplin's name was anathema. Here was the
personification of the "Red Peril," made worse still by the fact that we
had loved and trusted him through a lifetime of film. When A KING IN NEW
YORK came out it couldn't even get a distributor in the U.S. so virulent
was the hatred for "turncoat" Charlie.
Now, forty seven years later, and thanks tp the amazing TCM, I have
finally seen A KING IN NEW YORK and though it is somewhat uneven and
episodic, I believe it to be one of the best of Chaplin's films.
A mixture of broad slapstick and wry and subtle satire, the film is
often hilarious while at the same time touching and thought provoking.
Satire has to be the hardest form of art to translate to the screen and
there are few films that even try to tackle it, (Frank Tashlin's
hilarious WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? one delightful example), so A
KING IN NEW YORK is welcome as an attempt to satirize a rather
unsettling time in US history.
There are many brilliant scenes in A KING IN NEW YORK; the ones in the
movie theater, at the "Montesori" type school and shooting the Scotch
commercial among the best. Above all, the warmth, humanity and total
befuddlement of the King, as performed by Chaplin, is the glue that
holds the enterprise together.
In every frame, Chaplin is mesmerizing and Dawn Addams, playing it way
over the top as the epitome of the "woman in the grey flannel suit"
(one, by the way,that is covered by a floor length mink!), is a constant
delight. Excellent too is Michael Chaplin, the director's son, as a
young genius who spouts the joys of Communism at the drop of a hat.
Joe McCarthy is gone (so far!), Chaplin is dead and we are left in yet
another unsure world. Comedy, as always, will help get us through. A
KING IN NEW YORK gives us that comedic respite, while proving, so many
years later, that governments are, after all, transitory things while
art last forever.
A comedic gem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
personification of the "Red Peril," made worse still by the fact that we
had loved and trusted him through a lifetime of film. When A KING IN NEW
YORK came out it couldn't even get a distributor in the U.S. so virulent
was the hatred for "turncoat" Charlie.
Now, forty seven years later, and thanks tp the amazing TCM, I have
finally seen A KING IN NEW YORK and though it is somewhat uneven and
episodic, I believe it to be one of the best of Chaplin's films.
A mixture of broad slapstick and wry and subtle satire, the film is
often hilarious while at the same time touching and thought provoking.
Satire has to be the hardest form of art to translate to the screen and
there are few films that even try to tackle it, (Frank Tashlin's
hilarious WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? one delightful example), so A
KING IN NEW YORK is welcome as an attempt to satirize a rather
unsettling time in US history.
There are many brilliant scenes in A KING IN NEW YORK; the ones in the
movie theater, at the "Montesori" type school and shooting the Scotch
commercial among the best. Above all, the warmth, humanity and total
befuddlement of the King, as performed by Chaplin, is the glue that
holds the enterprise together.
In every frame, Chaplin is mesmerizing and Dawn Addams, playing it way
over the top as the epitome of the "woman in the grey flannel suit"
(one, by the way,that is covered by a floor length mink!), is a constant
delight. Excellent too is Michael Chaplin, the director's son, as a
young genius who spouts the joys of Communism at the drop of a hat.
Joe McCarthy is gone (so far!), Chaplin is dead and we are left in yet
another unsure world. Comedy, as always, will help get us through. A
KING IN NEW YORK gives us that comedic respite, while proving, so many
years later, that governments are, after all, transitory things while
art last forever.
A comedic gem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!