“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”-Charlie Chaplin
What better way to make audience happy than make them laugh. Charlie Chaplin had done all this throughout his life with his touchstone tramp act. And it not only comedy but a mirror image or irony of human situation which he depicted in almost all of his movies.
Give me a name of any director-actor who tells you the story of emotional depth without being melodramatic for a single moment & still successfully touch the chords of your heart. Only Chaplin can do that. And that’s why he is my “the favorite”.
This is again a silent film of Chaplin. The tramp entered the circus accidently to save himself from an unwanted situation & fell in love with a beautiful daughter of the circus master. With his magic laughter he won the hearts of the audience & the girl. But here comes an antagonist in the form of new rope trick man named Rex. Girl is gullible & now she like Rex more. Charlie realized it & unites the love of girl to make her happy. The last scene leaves a long impression of internal loner whom the world known as the man who makes them laugh.
Charlie is not a man but a miracle, a man of extraordinary capabilities & creative genius.
He is the first real screen maverick of the world cinema & he remains immortal till the cinema survives.
Sound had already come, in 1927 with greater success of ‘The Jazz Singer’ but Charlie refused to speak. Bravo! What need of speech when one could say so much with a lift of eyebrow and a shrug of a shoulder?
Timeless classics don’t require ratings of any critic.
Post Script & Copy + paste from Wikipedia about the film-
“It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and the short-lived Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture (both for Charlie Chaplin), but the Academy took Chaplin out of the running for competitive awards by giving him a Special Award "For versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus," and no longer lists his nominations for Best Actor or Comedy Direction in their official list of nominees, although most unofficial lists of nominations do include him.”
One more proof of double standards of Academy from early age.
No comments:
Post a Comment