Sunnyside Is More Average But Still Pretty Humorous Charlie Chaplin Fare

Sunnyside, released 100 years ago this year, is about par for the course for a late 1910s Charlie Chaplin comedy featurette. Wacky physical comedy, Chaplin playing a kind of precursor to The Tramp character, a thinly-sketched love interest for Chaplin's protagonist to pine after, it's all here. That means Sunnyside offers little in the way of surprises but if one is watching Charlie Chaplin films from the 1910s, it's doubtful you're looking for a twisty-turny thriller on par with Se7en. If you're just looking for the kind of amiable comedy only Charlie Chaplin could deliver, Sunnyside will do alright.

Charlie Chaplin Bid Farewell To The Tramp By Embracing Real-World Turmoil In Modern Times

Whether you're Bear in the Big Blue House or Johnny Carson, there comes a time when you must say goodbye. Whether it's because the general public has gotten tired of you, by your own choice or other external circumstances, there comes a moment when all pop culture figures must take their final bows and walk off gracefully into the sunset. This was true even for a cinematic icon like Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp character, who had been entertaining audiences for more than two decades since he first premiered in the 1914 short film Twenty Minutes of Love. Yes, even The Tramp couldn't last forever and so the character went out with a bang with the 1936 movie Modern Times.

Charlie Chaplin's First Foray Into Feature-Length Storytelling Was A Delightful Film Called The Kid

Transitioning from short films to feature films is a daunting prospect that many filmmakers and production companies have faced over the years, among them being Charlie Chaplin, a star of silent short films that found himself trying his hand at a longer-form of storytelling with 1921's feature The Kid. The runtime may be longer, but Chaplin's character The Tramp is very much the same fellow audiences had come to know and love while the type of physical comedy and level of quality that had made Chaplin such a revered cinematic icon in the past were very much in hearty supply on this bold new step in Charlie Chaplin's fascinating career.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, A Quiet Place Is Exquisitely Realized Horror Fare

There's plenty about A Quiet Place worth pondering but one of the aspects of this film that I really can't stop thinking about is how much it feels like a deviation from John Krasinski's career up to this point. Nothing in his past acting or directorial credits indicate he had any interest in the horror genre (heck, Krasinski has been open in interviews about not growing up as an ardent fan of horror movies), up to this point Krasinski has been known as Jim Halpert from The Office first and also as comedic actor who starred or appeared in light-hearted feature-length dramedies. But here is, directing, writing and acting in an intense horror film with nary a joke in sight, an audacious move worth applauding on its own.

The Great Dictator's Comedy And Message Of Unity Are As Timeless As Ever

As the 1940's began, the world as people had known it was changing rapidly. In the world of entertainment, the advent of color and sound in cinema was altering everything people knew was possible in this medium of storytelling. Films like The Jazz Singer, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and The Wizard of Oz would ensure that the future of cinema would look radically different from what had come before it, and what had come prior to this age of colorized cinema was a world of movies dominated by Charlie Chaplin, a guy known for making a silent movies even into an age where sound had become the default standard for movies.

Comedic Craftsmanship And Cute Doggies Make A Dog's Life A Major Winner

Chocolate and peanut butter. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Michael Buble and music. Sometimes, two items that are awesome on their own manage to come together in a once in a lifetime even that manages to both enhance their individual merits and create something entirely new in the process. So it is with the 1918 film A Dog's Life that the individually outstanding elements of Charlie Chaplin and cute puppies were brought together to make a movie called A Dog's Life that ends up being oh so entertaining. Considering just how outstanding Charlie Chaplin and cute puppies are on their own merits, you'd have to be a real schmuck to mess up this combo!

"Here Comes The General!" "This Should Be Fun!"

Sight & Sound Voyage Entry #32
Placement On Sight & Sound Top 50 Movies List: #34

Me and my love for classic silent movies have already had plenty of experiences with one Mr. Charlie Chaplin while the phenomenal motion picture Safety Last! allowed me the chance to be introduced to Harold Lloyd, another titan of this era of filmmaking. But despite my intense affection for this particular decade of movies, there's one major star from the age of classic silent movies that I have not been exposed to; the one and only Buster Keaton! Yep, somehow Keaton and his numerous massively influential features have passed me by over the year, though that changed for the better recently when I finally saw  Keaton's 1926 feature The General!

Silent Movie Laughs Are Plentiful In The Fantastic Charlie Chaplin Effort The Gold Rush

Note: This review covers the 1942 version of The Gold Rush.

As Smash Mouth once sang, "All that glitters is gold". And in the 19th century, people headed West in the great California gold rush in hopes of scoring a fortune that was located directly below your feet. Even once that gold rush died down, people fervently traveled across the globe to all kinds of biomes in hopes of obtaining financial prosperity beyond their wildest dreams. This concept of striking rich by way of gold was such a ubiquitous idea throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, it was inevitable that one of the most prolific filmmakers of the early 20th century would tackle it in one of his films.

City Lights Has A Heart As Big As The City It Takes Place In

There's an undeniable sense of wonder that creeps into one's body while watching Charlie Chaplin move around on-screen. He makes the artforms of slapstick and physical comedy seem so natural, like he realizes that this was what he was put on this Earth to do and he's gonna do it as well as he can. The rhythm of his body movements is impeccable, ditto for the timing found in his humorous pratfalls. To watch Charlie Chaplin in a film like City Lights is to see a master at the top of his game and to be astonished that one man can carry such command over his craft.