Main Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Dunn, Anthony Hopkins
Release Year: 1992
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 144 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Partly based on Charlie Chaplin's My Autobiography, this humorous and dramatic biopic features an all-star cast including Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, and Chaplin's real-life daughter, Geraldine Chaplin, who portrays his mentally ill mother. With the use of flashback, an elderly Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor (Hopkins), who urges him to be more vulnerable and emotionally honest with his memoirs while journeying through his poverty-stricken childhood, closest friendships, many marriages, merciless pursuit by J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn), and ingenious invention of "The Little Tramp." Highlighted works such as The Gold Rush (1925) and The Great Dictator (1940) illustrate significant turning points in Chaplin's prolific filmography. Director Richard Attenborough's film also explores the circumstances surrounding Chaplin's exile from America and his eventual return to receive an honorary Academy Award. ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, All Movie Guide
Review
The Academy Award-winning director of another biopic, Gandhi (1982), Richard Attenborough reveals his obvious reverence for the iconoclastic Charlie Chaplin in this critically if not commercially successful film. Robert Downey Jr., who trained for over a year to replicate Chaplin's English cockney accent, tics, and rhythm as well as his graceful balletic and athletic movements, physical humor, and posture, gives the star-making performance of his career and is riveting to watch as he brings to life one of the most influential people in the history of cinema. The film is a thoughtful mixture of melancholy and humor, juxtaposing Chaplin's private loneliness and loss with his professional comedic talents and fortitude. Spanning a period of nearly 80 years in the actor's life, the film has been criticized for trying to cover too much narrative ground, but given the enormity of Chaplin's contribution to his art and the personal obstacles he overcame, this is an enjoyable, emotional, and authentic film. From its rural Hollywood locations in the early 1900s and demonstration of early moviemaking techniques to its superb cast, Chaplin is a potent tribute to a gifted cinematic artist. ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, All Movie Guide
Milla Jovovich - Mildred Harris; Moira Kelly - Hetty Kelly/Oona O'Neill; Kevin Kline - Douglas Fairbanks; Diane Lane - Paulette Goddard; Penelope Ann Miller - Edna Purviance; Paul Rhys - Sydney Chaplin; John Thaw - Fred Karno; Marisa Tomei - Mabel Normand; Nancy Travis - Joan Barry; James Woods - Lawyer Scott; Michael Blevins - David Raskin; Francesca Buller - Minnie Chaplin; Peter Crook - Frank Hooper; David Duchovny - Rollie Totheroh; Donnie Kehr - Sound Engineer; Karen Lewis - Yankee Doodle Dancer; Deborah Moore - Lita Grey; Sean O'Bryan - Lewis Seeley; Bill Paterson - Stage Manager; Maria Pitillo - Mary Pickford; Gerald Sim - Doctor; John Standing - Chaplin Butler; Robert Stephens - Ted the Drunk; Norbert Weisser - German Diplomat; Michael Adler - Party Guest; Iris Bath - Party Guest; Andre Bernard - Yankee Doodle Dancer; Una Brandon-Jones - Inmate; Phil Brown - Projectionist; Michael Cade - Sydney Chaplin, Jr.; Alan Charof - Federal Marshall; Joy Claussen - Dinner Guest; Nicky Corello - Masseur; Dana Craig - Federal Marshal; Nick Edmett - Working Man; Donald Elson - Prop Man; David Finch - Working Man; Vicki Frederick - Party Guest; David Gant - London Maitre d'; Michael A. Goorjian - Adult Charles Chaplin, Jr.; Caroline Guthrie - Courting Couple; Charles Howerton - Dinner Guest; William Hunt - US Maitre D'; Jerry Jenson - Hotel Porter; Jayson Kane - Reporter; Howard Lew Lewis - Workhouse Official; Brian Lipson - Warder; Jason Logan - Dinner Guest; Mark Long - Working Man; Raymond Lynch - Bride's Father; Ken Magee - Federal Marshal; Heather McNair - Marion Davies; P.H. Moriarty - Workhouse Official; John Otrin - Reporter; Bradley Michael Pierce - Sydney Chaplin, Jr.--Age 6; Stuart Richman - Barman; Jack Ritschel - William Randolph Hearst; Malcolm Terris - Stallholder; Ralph Votrian - Reporter; Richard James - Pianist; Tom Wright - Working Man; Laura Bastianelli - Dinner Guest; Todd Mason Covert - Reporter; Mary Healey - Mrs. Karno; Emma Lewis - Production Assistant; J. Michael Patterson - Reporter; Tom Preston - Party Guest; Renata Scott - Dinner Guest; Dennis Vero - Wedding Guest; Annie Waterman - Party Guest; Valorie Massalas; Susie Figgis; Mike Fenton; Caroline Cornell; Ann Fairlie - Wedding Guest; Alan Ford - Warder; Peter Georges - Groom; Paul Hayes; Bryan Coleman - Drunk; Michael Miller - Reporter; Robert Peters - 'Great Dictator' cinematographer
Credit
Norman Dorme - Art Director, John King - Art Director, Mark Mansbridge - Art Director, Diana Hawkins - Associate Producer, John Barry - Conductor, Terence A. Clegg - Co-producer, Ellen Mirojnick - Costume Designer, John Mollo - Costume Designer, Richard Attenborough - Director, Anne V. Coates - Editor, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Wally Schneiderman - Makeup, Kevin Jewison - Camera Operator, Stuart Craig - Production Designer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, Richard Attenborough - Producer, Mario Kassar - Producer, Chris A. Butler - Set Designer, Stephenie McMillan - Set Designer, Jonathan Bates - Sound Editor, Keith Campbell - Stunts, George Marshall Ruge - Stunts, Neil Summers - Stunts, Jim Wilkey - Stunts, Brian Williams - Stunts, Diana Hawkins - Screen Story, Bryan Forbes - Screenwriter, William Goldman - Screenwriter, William Boyd - Screenwriter, Charles Chaplin - Book Author, David Robinson - Book Author
The film is structured around lengthy flashbacks as the elderly Chaplin recollects moments from his life during a conversation with fictional character George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins), the editor of his autobiography. Chaplin's recollections begin with his childhood of extreme poverty, from which he escapes by immersing himself in the world of the London music halls, after which he relocates to the United States. The film includes references to some of his many romantic episodes (including Hetty Kelly, Mildred Harris, Georgia Hale, Marion Davies, Edna Purviance, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, Joan Barry and Oona O'Neill).
Although the film was criticized for taking dramatic licence with some respects of Chaplin's life, Downey's performance as Chaplin won almost universal acclaim. Attenborough was sufficiently confident in Downey's performance to include historical footage of Chaplin himself at the end of the film.
The film was lauded for its high production values, but many critics dismissed it as an overly glossy biopic.[1] One critic wrote that the screenplay "endeavors to cover too much ground. The life of Charlie Chaplin was so vast and varied that a film is far too restrictive a format to give it justice."[2]
The film was released on DVD in 1998. A fifteenth-anniversary edition was released by Lions Gate Entertainment (who obtained the distribution rights to the film in the interim) in 2008 (admittedly 16 years after the film's original release date). The anniversary edition contained extensive interviews with the producers, and included several minutes of home-movie footage shot on Chaplin's yacht. The box for this DVD mistakenly lists the film's running time as 135 minutes (it is 144 minutes, the same as the original theater release).[3]
References
^ "Dismissed on its release by many critics as a typically fluffy paean to Chaplin . . this sumptuous biopic may have a touch too much gloss, but it's anything but bland."[1]
