Charles Chaplin: 10 key films to understand his cinema

Charles Chaplin was a British comedian and filmmaker who worked as a director, screenwriter, producer and actor on more than a hundred films from the early to mid-20th century. His cinematic legacy left a permanent curve in the face of viewers for posterity.

Let's get to know the 10 key movies to understand the cinema of the master of the gag, the genius of comic gestures, through his phrases most emblematic.

1. The Immigrant (1917)

Life is a tragedy in the foreground, but a comedy in general.

The immigrant is an essential short film in Chaplin's filmography that offers a satirical and critical vision on the problem of immigration.

Although it reflects how was the immigration of Europeans to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century were treated upon arrival, we can extrapolate the migration problem to reality contemporary.

This cinematographic work corresponds to the beginning of his career and his story centers on the odyssey of some immigrants who go to New York in search of the “American dream”.

Immigration was something that Chaplin had suffered in his own flesh, perhaps that is one of the reasons why he decided to capture it on the big screen.

In this case, Charlot is an immigrant and therefore one of the passengers on that ship. During the journey he falls in love with a young woman who is also traveling with her sick mother. On the ship, the protagonist has to deal with accusations that implicate him in stealing money from the girl.

One of the most important aspects of a short film is that the viewer is able to empathize with the character and his American adventure with the desire to earn a living.

The situation of immigrants trying to become new Americans, the dangers posed by this journey and their subsequent integration into A new culture are treated comically and, perhaps, this is what makes this audiovisual piece one of the most famous films of the world. genius.

2. The boy (1921)

A movie with a smile, and maybe a tear.

This phrase, which appears at the beginning, describes the film perfectly. The boy is a film as beautiful as it is sentimental.

The plot features a young woman who is forced to abandon her son because of her financial situation. The woman abandons him at the door of the house of a wealthy family, however chance causes the child to fall into the hands of Charlot, this time in the role of a tramp.

It is one of the most important films in the filmmaker's filmography as it provides a very important lesson: the fight against adversity. The protagonists try to survive and go through a lot of needs, but both are happy working as glaziers.

Little by little, the relationship between Charlot and the young man is transforming into a very special parterno-filial bond. Five years later, the boy's mother turns out to be a famous singer and wants her son back.

The boy is an essential film by Charles Chaplin because it alerts us to the importance of relationships between parents and children throughout life.

3. The Gold Chimera (1925)

Apart from everything - from the fun of the clothes, the mustache and the sneakers - he really wanted to create something that would move people.

With these words, Chaplin wanted to remember how valuable his cinema is and the importance of moving audiences through comedy, while also making social criticism.

This quote shows that the line between comedy and tragedy can be very thin. In it he wanted to deal with tough situations such as hunger, loneliness or the cold they faced the prospectors during the Klondyke gold rush (1896-1898), through the eyes of a homeless.

This time, the iconic character becomes a gold digger in Alaska. During a storm he takes refuge in the cabin of a criminal, there he meets his inseparable friend Big Jim with whom he will share multiple events and calamities.

On some occasion, Chaplin himself affirmed that this is one of the films for which he would like to be remembered and, it is not for less, because the film has left peak scenes within the history of the movie theater. Like, for example, the cabin about to fall off the cliff and the one with the muffin dance.

4. The circus (1928)

Look up at the sky, you will never find the rainbow if you are always looking down.

This phrase corresponds to the translation of the song Swing Little Girl, which was intended for the re-release of the film The circus in the sixties.

The film shows us a homeless man who breaks into a circus performance while he is on the run from the police, who accuse him of being a pickpocket.

At that moment, the owner of the circus, a haughty man who mistreats his employees, sees in the tramp the possibility of rebuilding his business and getting rich. Meanwhile the young man falls in love with the daughter of his boss, but her love is not reciprocated because she is in love with an aerialist.

The circus is a film that was shot at the dawn of talkies, Charles Chaplin was one of the filmmakers who refused to incorporate sound into the cinematographic medium. Perhaps with this film, in which he presents Charlot in the middle of a circus, he will remind us of the mimic and caricature origin of cinema.

One of the most moving scenes in the film appears at the end when the tramp leaves the circus behind, like the character, Charles Chaplin also wonders if he should leave the cinema silent.

Perhaps, as in the previous quote, the director assumed the situation that silent cinema was going through as a storm, without having keep in mind that the most beautiful thing appears after the storm in the form of a rainbow, that the secret is to wait and look towards in front of.

5. City Lights (1931)

Tomorrow the birds will sing again.

This quote is included in one of the most moving scenes of the film, when the character of Charlot prevents the suicide of a millionaire man whose problems in his marriage lead to despair.

This is undoubtedly one of the most precious lessons that the film leaves us if we extrapolate it to the daily life of anyone who is going through problems that they believe are irremediable. "Tomorrow the birds will sing again", is a proverb that reminds us not to give up in the face of adversity.

The film, which is one of the greatest milestones in the history of cinema, presents a homeless man as the protagonist who falls in love with a blind florist, who does not know her social status. From that moment on, the character struggles to please the young woman's wishes until her sight is restored at the end of the film.

6. In modern times (1936)

Unemployment is the vital question (...) The machine should benefit humanity; It shouldn't mean tragedy and unemployment.

In 1931 he declared these words to an interviewer. With them Charles Chaplin demonstrated his concern for the social problems of the time in this 1936 film.

A quote about the consequences of the industrial revolution and the dehumanization of man.

The age of machines narrated through the eyes of Charlot, one more worker among the millions of people who work in the factories of everyone, who goes mad as a result of the monotony of his work as an observer of a conveyor belt that will serve to produce in mass.

The tape, which is divided into four acts, serves to warn of the dangers posed by placing the machine above man and that man is reduced to a number more within the chain of production.

The film was as necessary in the 20th century as it is in the 21st, since it is a song in the fight against poverty, inequality, unemployment and political intolerance. Problems that are still present today and that are treated humorously.

In addition, In modern times it leaves room for hope by getting love to take precedence over money and power.

7. The great Dictator (1940)

We think too much and feel too little.

It is a masterpiece of talkies. Although at this stage Chaplin continued to delight his audience with silent films, the genius of the gag bowed before a world full of noise.

Thus, in the middle of the Second World War, he released this film as a reproach to North American society.

It is a satire that puts the fascist regimes and Hitler's rise to power in the spotlight. Chaplin himself puts himself in the shoes of a Jewish barber and also plays the German Führer. He makes an in-depth critique of the latter.

Both characters are physically identical, which is why, at one point in the film, they are confused and the dictator has to act as a barber and vice versa.

The film keeps with it one of the best speeches in the history of cinema. In it appears the quote written in the upper lines, which reminds us that we must give more importance to feelings. Often times, the rational being prevails over the emotion and this makes us enjoy things less.

An exciting speech that invites you to a world where freedom reigns above all things, where there is only room for love and peace in the face of wars, slavery and dictatorial systems. An overwhelming and distressingly close speech.

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8. Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Wars, conflicts, all of that is big business. Numbers sanctify, if you kill a few you are a criminal, if you kill thousands you are a hero.

One of the great contributions of this film is, without a doubt, Chaplin's masterful performance in a new role, totally different from the tramp present in most of his work cinematographic.

In this film, Chaplin puts aside the character of Charlot to become Henri Verdoux, a man who had worked in a bank. for years and, after being fired, he becomes a conqueror of millionaire women to later murder them and keep his fortune.

The previous sentence, declared by the protagonist when he is convicted in court, shows that private murder is condemned while the public is glorified.

It represents an attack on American sentiments at a time when Chaplin was in the crosshairs of the political right. The film can be seen as a critique of the warmongering of the time.

9. Footlights (1952)

The worst thing about you is that you refuse to fight, you give up, you just think about illness and death. But there is something as inevitable as death and it is life!

These words correspond to one of the most dramatic films of Chaplin's career. The film's plot delves deeply into topics such as the complexity of the world of fame and the decline of success.

It is set in the early days of the First World War and features Calvero, a theatrical clown whose career is in decline. The man, immersed in alcohol, saves a sick dancer who is on the verge of suicide.

The quote set out in the previous lines is a silver lining that the protagonist offers to the young woman, who invites her to look at problems from a more positive side, to fight and not limit herself to the most complex.

10. A king in New York (1957)

Today man has excess power (...) The monopoly of power is a threat to freedom, degrades and makes the victim a victim. individual, and where is the individual? he is in terror because he is taught to hate instead of to love. If we want civilization to survive, we must fight power until we can restore peace and human dignity.

With this speech, Chaplin again makes a harsh criticism of society, especially that of the United States.

The viewer is immersed again in the reflection about the corrosive nature of power. When the human being has authority he tends to approach hatred and turns his back on love.

In this film, Chaplin also abandons the character of the tramp to transform himself into the King. Igor Shahdov, who arrives in New York after being forced to leave his country when the revolution. There he meets a publicist who proposes to him to star in commercials for a television network.

A king in New York it is Chaplin's last film in which he stars. In it he makes a very personal critique of North American society, the place where he had come to triumph as one more movie star and then had to give up when being chased during the hunt for witches

Perhaps, with this film, he wanted to make known a society that seemed evolved but that, in reality, manifested a shameless involution by expelling anyone who betrayed the country due to his disparate political ideas. In it, he also questions the freedom of expression and decision of a people oppressed by political power.

Biography of Charles Chaplin

Charles Chaplin was born in Great Britain into a very poor family of comedians, which makes him spend a very hard childhood and youth.

In 1912 he migrated to the United States and created Charlot, one of the most emblematic characters in the history of cinema. With him he represents a cinema critical of the society of the time, but always from the comic point of view.

Thus, throughout his career, Chaplin has served as director, screenwriter, producer and actor in more than a hundred films that make up his cinematographic work.

The decline of his career was marked by his exile from the United States due to his political ideas, also by scandals in his private life and by his rejection of talkies.

Despite this, Charles Chaplin has remained one of the "greats" in the history of cinema within the collective imagination and his filmography will always be synonymous with teaching.