Chaplin (1993)

Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film of the life and times of Charles Chaplin is a little thin as a narrative, but it is so charmingly creative and ultimately moving, it's hard to care about any deficits. Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job re-creating Chaplin's graceful slapstick and getting inside the silent-film superstar's head over many years of triumph, defeat, scandal, official persecution, exile, and inner peace. A huge cast portray the allies, friends, lovers, and enemies in Chaplin's life, including Moira Kelly as his final, longtime wife, Oona, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Chaplin as Charlie's mother, and James Woods as a prosecutor working hard to nail Chaplin for anti-American sentiments. Attenborough declines to tell the story in a flat, linear way, employing such clever techniques as detailing one chapter in Chaplin's life as a silent comedy. The climactic scene set at an Oscar tribute for Chaplin will get the tears flowing. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a fan of Charlie Chaplin and Robert Downey Jr for years. This is the perfect combonation of the two. RDJ does a wonderful job becoming Chaplin. It is not an easy task to do. I love the movie. October 1, 2008

Robert Downey, Jr, - The Bad Boy at His Best!

If you're anything like me, the almost semi-annual relapse and recovery of Robert Downey Jr. has been an interesting periodic feature of the morning news. After a while one begins to question why does Hollywood put up with him when there is no shortage of talented actors desperately trying to make it in Hollywood? Why would producers and studios, who are so financially dependent on their productions going off without a hitch, take yet another chance on Robert Downey, Jr? Then I saw Chaplin, and I understood.

The intensity and power of the Robert Downey's performance in this film is the stuff of Oscars and true movie legend! It's both a beautiful performance and a beautiful film!

Somehow Sir Richard Attenborough got out of Downey the kind of performance that can sustain a career, and a legend. But Sir Richard's mastery didn't stop there. He got spectacular performance out of everyone, including a young, pre-X-Files David Duchovny. (I know I misspelled that. But you know who I mean.)

In summation, Robert Downey's performance is every bit the equal of James Dean's in Giant, East of Eden or Rebel without a Cause, and maybe that's what we should keep in mind. For unlike Dean, another self-destructive personality, Robert Downey has not driven off the cliff yet, and hopefully he never will. September 29, 2008

ONE BUSY "LITTLE TRAMP"! WORTH SEEING FOR DOWNEY'S PERFORMANCE ALONE!

'Chaplin' is a difficult film to pull off for at least two reasons, first... who could possibly portray Charlie Chaplin and his genius?... and how do you fit this guy's entire story into one film? Chaplin had one heck of a complicated, long life with many severe ups and downs! Fortunately for us, they got some of these important factors right. The film runs well over two hours, but I never felt truly satisfied with the detail of many scenes. The biggest flaw is that some areas of his life are whisked by so fast it's hard to grasp everything.

Robert Downey Jr. should get a lot of credit as without his believable portrayal of this man, the movie could never work at all. It's a very interesting movie with great performances, but it's not a great movie. The DVD has a very good transfer, but lacks in any worthy extras. September 14, 2008

Good transfer to DVD, but not anamorphic

This review refers to the 1998 DVD edition, the only edition available as of this writing. "Chaplin" is a well-crafted, well-acted biography of the famous silent-screen actor/comedian. The transfer of this 1993 film to DVD is adequate. The format is letter-boxed widescreen (not anamorphic--there are black bars on all sides of the image on a large-screen TV. The side bars are not seen on a smaller screen TV). The picture is fairly sharp, the colors are good, sound quality is fine. The film has an old look about it, but this was probably the intended effect. This is the kind of movie you will watch more than once, so it's worth the purchase price. Highly recommended! July 31, 2008

Downey and the cast are top notch

I actually met Robert back in the day when they were filming this. He was in Charlie Chaplin character and didn't speak a word - used only expressions and cracked us up. It was funny, then when I finally saw the film just this year, I realized how talented this man is, and often with talent comes addictions etc. If you've seen Iron Man, Downey is having a great comeback! Chaplin is a really candid look at Mr. Chaplin's real life, the silent films, the era,the politics of old Hollywood etc. I tried to rent it but the store didn't have it, so I purchased a copy and plan to watch this one many more times. The cast is amazing, and everyone's performances are right on. July 24, 2008

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