Like all of Chaplin's films, this movie is saying a lot and doing a lot while being completely hilarious all at the same time. Historically this film is important for many reasons. Rich with commentary about things like the industrial changes in the USA (people working in factories more and more, people growing up on farms less and less - we're talking really big changes in life styles in our nation and Chaplin wanted to explore that), in your opinion, what were Chaplin's feelings on that change in our country? This film was also released during the heavy-laden and very challenging depression era. As always, Chaplin attempted to raise awareness about poverty, but that message may have been felt even stronger by the nation during this economically challenging time. In what ways did Chaplin represent poverty in this film?
Made nearly 10 years after sound was invented, yet still considered a silent film, what things did Chaplin do to use sound?
What was your experience like seeing Charlie's Tramp speak, and saying goodbye to this beloved character?
Again, genre kids, did you have any eureka moments watching this? Any ideas for things to do or include in a silent comedy script?
Goodbye, Tramp, we love you.
This is the shortest blog post ever. You win.
ReplyDeletei thought this movie had a good story and charters ~yami gaia
ReplyDeleteThis movie is another one of Charlie Chaplin's greats. With most silent actors like Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton when it came to the talkies they suddenly became unpopular because of their voices. This one Charlie kept going during the talkies but it's mostly a silent film with little dialogue.
ReplyDeleteThe comedy was much better than City Lights putting in relatable jokes and clever funny moments. I love the scene where Charlie tries out the feeding machine. The acting was very good with a lot of emotion in this one.
Overall it's another great Charlie Chaplin movie definitely very good.
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Chaplin did not like the farm to factory change. As stated in the film, he believed that it seemed more like the men were working for the machine, rather than the machine working for the men. He felt that with all these factories, a bunch of people were being overworked, almost to insanity, and it was all just a very unnatural affair (a very mechanical affair, if you will).
ReplyDeleteThe film starred The Tramp, who had always been a poor person in Chaplin's other films, but in this film he actually tries getting a factory job and working for a living, becoming a lot more realistic to what the average person affected by the depression was like at that time, poor but still trying to work, usually at some kind of a factory.
Using sound Chaplin of course got to have a score made up for it that would for sure always be the score. He also even had some actual talking in the film, all of the talking coming only from machines (probably to show machine's control over man), until the climactic scene in which the crowds and singers of the restaurant can be heard, and also someone else a little more important can, too, be heard. Come. Come with me to the next paragraph, where I will explain my experience with The Tramp's singing.
The next paragraph: I thought The Tramp's singing was a great way to say goodbye to character. I am very glad that Chaplin didn't just have him say something normally in English, as that would have made it seem a lot more like some sort of a cheap gimmick. Having him sing in gibberish was a great decision because it was pretty hilarious that Chaplin would pull such a prank on the average want-to-hear-Tramp-talk viewer. It was a funny and awesome experience to hear Tramp sing his nonsense. It was also sad at the same time to know that that was the final appearance of The Tramp. He is such a great character. I must see more Tramp at home...
Charlie Chaplin represented poverty in this film quite a bit. Like after he got fired from his factory job he became homeless once again. The main girl character and her family were extremely poor and they struggled with getting food and such. It was her, her two sisters and her father, which I don't remember if he had a job or not. In the film you can see that the girl character is so poor that she has to steal bananas from a boat, and she gives most of them to other poor children.
ReplyDeleteWell my experience with hearing the tramp speak was well, I didn't really know what to think about it. I suppose I was a bit confused. At first I thought he was singing in Italian but after the movie I heard that he was actually singing gibberish. I somewhat got disappointed by that but I did find the scene to be entertaining and I thought it was good. He sounded how I would of thought he sounded so that's good.
Chaplin used sound effects instead of speaking, and I thought it was cool because it stuck to his classic style while giving it a bit of a tweak to keep it fresh with the times. Seeing the tramp speak was intense, even if it wasn't English. Seeing this character die was fairly sad, and has made me want to go and see more of him.
ReplyDelete~Brennan Hanks
I love how Chaplin took this new tech to use. And the way he used the sounds instead of speaking was both humorous and creative. Hearing him speak for the first time even though it was italian was a huuuuge throw off. But I love this movie for how creative it was because Chaplin made it so it wasn't just a complete transition with sound but it was smooth and enjoyable. I want more movies of the Tramp character and if Charlie Chaplin came back to life that would be my first request. Second would be an autograph.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Chaplin liked the farm to machine change. Chaplin represented a poor man that was forced to work. I liked the Tramp and was sad to see him go.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this movie i thought this was his high point of his film carrier, but i really didn't like how the tramp spoke, i thought it was something that he would stick to till the end. It was almost like if they revealed Blondie's real name at the end of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. It was something i really thought they should have left alone. But i thought it was really clever how they had him speak in a different language.
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