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My Autobiography

My Autobiography

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A true Genius
Review: Charlie Chaplin is easily the most brilliant man that ever lived on-screen, and he had a very fascinating life, as you learn from his autobiography that Chaplin wrote late on in his life.

He tells us of his childhood, living in poverty in London, his father rarely ever being there. About how Charlie, his mother, and brother Sydney had to go for a job at the workhouse, his mother later ended up going insane and was put into a Lunatic Asylum. His early life in the theatre, before going into the film business. Working for Mack Sennett's Keystone company, talking about Mabel Normand. His Essannay and Mutual films. He talks about his early romances, Edna Purviance and others. His marriages, firstly to Mildred Harris, up to his last wife, Oona O'Neill. He talks about his times with First National, then about forming United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith. About his much loved feature films like 'The Kid' etc, however, he fails to mention 'The Circus' in his autobiography at all. And so on, and so on.

While Chaplin fails to mention certain things in his autobiography, you still get an interesting look at the man himself, and his most interesting life.

This book is most highly recommended, and no true Chaplin fan should be without it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: As told in his very own words
Review: Even though he was supposed to be a funny-looking little tramp, we could still see that he was a very beautiful and very savage young gentleman who had an unquenchable thrist for cute little girls, power, and eternal recognition for his great talents as a slapstick comedian of the silent era.

Written late in his life, Charlie Chaplin's autobiography displays a very prosaic writing style and a great deal of candid details, though he very obviously left out a few parts of his personal life and some people he knew as well as incorrectly recreating some of his very own experiences, including the very part when he first conjured up his world-famous character as The Little Tramp. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting piece of history all about one of the 20th century's greatest actors.

Here we are taken on Chaplin's very long tour from the London slums of his Victorian-Era childhood through the early Hollywood studios with The Keystone Kops and Mabel Normand, his lovely young co-star to his finally peaceful post-career days with his very last wife, Oona O'Neill at his beautiful home in Switzerland. And here he even paid a little respect to a few women who would haunt his memories like Lita Grey, his ill-fated second wife who was still passing her puberty at the time and Joan Barry, the vengeful hellcat who eventually dragged him to the court for paternity tests.

Thus this is just one of the countless biographies all about the funny little man. Nevertheless - right behind Chaplin's comical mask is a great velvet-padded tiger sleepily reclining in the hot limelight - yet he is quite capable of suddenly lashing out to deal a painful, blood-tracing blow when sourly displeased.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just as good as his own films
Review: GREAT, WONDERFUL, THE BEST. these are just a few of the words that could discribe this briliant book about the talented little tramp, Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. He tells of his hardships as a child, and his stage debute at the age of five that changed his life, all the way to the first time he walked onto the keystone movie sets, with the creation of the little tramp. He goes on to tell us about all of his movies and all of the trouble making them. He talkes about the invasion of talking movies and the meeting and wedding of the love of his life to the day he died, Oona O'neil. He very gracfully talkes of his exil on the way to the london premier of "Limelight," and the buying of his new house in Switerland, Manoir de Ban. This was, is, and forever will be a great book for all ages to read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Brilliant Look Inside Chaplin's Mind
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It allows the reader to see the world through Chaplin's mind. It offers insights to what he thought about things. He talks about his depression, thoughts on life, and so on. Anyone wanting to spend their time reading a great book should pick up this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Charles Chaplin is a genius
Review: I always knew Charlie Chaplin was a comic genius. However, after I read his book I realized he was more than that. He was an incredible man with a remarkable mind that didn't just apply to the silver screen. If he hadn't been a film star he could have been a great writer. His autobiography tells one of the greatest rags to riches stories ever. And he does it with beautiful, poetic prose. I can guarantee anyone who reads this book that they will love both the book and the man who wrote it. There never has been and never will be another man like Charles Chaplin.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: brillant
Review: i enjoyed the book alot.the man was the first triple threat acting,directing&music.he could do it all.his movies were great.the characters & stories were done really well.the book tells of his highs&lows.i also enjoyed the film about his life.a must read.a true pioneer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Exceptional Reading Experience!
Review: I originally read this book back in the early 1970's when I was a teen-ager. Recently I found it at my Dad's house and had the great pleasure of re-reading it. As with any autobiography there is a certain amount of self-promotion and justification, however this book really keeps it to a minimum. The period covered is from birth until his expulsion from the United States, and gives great insight on the early years of Hollywood, including his formation of United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. If you're a fan of "the Tramp" then I highly recommend this book. If you're not a fan but looking for a great true-to-life story, I would still recommend it as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: true guy, true story
Review: I remember one day I was sharing thoughts with this guy, who told me with sort of a mock on is face "Chaplin is a great guy for all Cuban people". I couldn't quite get his point, but I knew he had been there more than once, not living as a tourist. This is my favorite book (other than techy|science ones), I have read it more than 10 times. I am glad to have the time to read the English version of it, after reading one of these Castro's "Ediciones Revolucionarias" ..., that also published The Autobiography of Malcolm X. To me it was neither about "how he made it in Hollywood ...", nor about "the troubled life of a genious", but it is about - what a difference a Mother can make -. I don't think that inheritance is only|primarily about genes. Each time I read this book I get blasted by his Mother's strong character, and integrity.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Deeply flawed
Review: It may as well have been subtitled "Famous People Who Paid Obeisance to My Brilliance". Chaplin was brilliant, no doubt. I love his films and consider him one of the great artists of this century. This book merely confirms my view that great artists aren't exactly wonderful human beings. Chaplin doesn't make one mention of Rollie Totheroh in this book, for example, and doesn't even mention his second wife's name. (Her name was Lita Grey--some believe she was the inspiration for Nabokov's 'Lolita'-- and she only gave him his first two sons). Chaplin, his autobiography makes evident, was a man who could tolerate no one who could possibly pose a threat to his own image of himself as some kind of creative god; therefore he lists, name after name, Great People He Has Known and Who Have Admired His Holy Presence (Cocteau, Einstein, Churchill, etc.). Maybe this explains why he married 'women' who were too young and inexperienced to stand up to him and declare that he was an egotistical annoyance. I don't like this guy at all, needless to say, but was still fascinated by this autobiography, for the reason that I'm a silent-film buff and couldn't ignore him. Admire his work, but not the man.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Masterful Inside View of a Genius
Review: One of the best autobiographies written by a major talent. Thoughtful and poignient, it holds the reader's interest from start to finish with amusing anecdotes. Highly recommended.


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