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A King In New York/ A Woman Of Paris

A King In New York/ A Woman Of Paris

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Why such an underrated classic?
Review: "A King in New York" (1957) is a misguided political satire from Charlie Chaplin that lacks the deft serio-comic touch of "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator." Chaplin's final starring feature (made five years after his exile from America) revels in shoddy filmmaking and stale gags. Furthermore, King Shahdov is a decidedly uninteresting character who lacks the sardonic charm of a Monsieur Verdoux -- he's simply a bitter, aging Charlie Chaplin sans makeup. Though "A King in New York" is fascinating to watch from an academic standpoint, one wishes Chaplin had ended his film career with "Limelight."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uneven, but still a fine satire from Chaplin
Review: "A King in New York" is a flawed film, but reflects the insanity of the 1950's Communist witch-hunts.

It's an odd film, though. It's a parody of 1950's America MADE in the 1950's. A lot of the gags (especially the CinemaScope parody) are great, though.

I think the main problem with the film has to do with it being a little bit long-winded in parts and too much plot fortification. Most of Chaplin's films only needed a tiny bit of a plot to be great. Overall, watch with an open mind and enjoy the very accurate parodies on the 50's.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uneven, but still a fine satire from Chaplin
Review: "A King in New York" is a flawed film, but reflects the insanity of the 1950's Communist witch-hunts.

It's an odd film, though. It's a parody of 1950's America MADE in the 1950's. A lot of the gags (especially the CinemaScope parody) are great, though.

I think the main problem with the film has to do with it being a little bit long-winded in parts and too much plot fortification. Most of Chaplin's films only needed a tiny bit of a plot to be great. Overall, watch with an open mind and enjoy the very accurate parodies on the 50's.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Chaplin Misfire
Review: "A King in New York" is a misguided political satire from Charlie Chaplin that lacks the deft serio-comic touch of "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator." Chaplin's final starring feature (made five years after his exile from America) revels in shoddy filmmaking and stale gags. Furthermore, Chaplin's King Shahdov is a decidedly uninteresting character who lacks the sardonic charm of a Monsieur Verdoux -- he's simply a bitter, aging Charlie Chaplin sans makeup. From an academic standpoint, "A King in New York" remains fascinating to watch for the obvious deterioration of Chaplin's creative powers. One wishes he had ended his film career with "Limelight."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Admit this is not his best, yet still funny enough!
Review: Considering the worse surroundings of his creating job and life itself of those days -- and following "Limelight", one of his best -- "King in New York" should be generally rated lower than most of his other works, and also rated as the sign of the fading of his sharp genius. Even so, I can't help myself taking out this videotape very often and by the time it comes to the end, I usually find myself satisfied -- specifically, with two major funny sequences: "Bathtub nonsense" (I have named this after the accompanied tune of the sequence with the same title) and the pantomime at the night club (at which King Shadov was struggling not to laugh after facial surgery for uplifting). They are the perfect reminder of Chaplin-style pantomime slapstics in the good old silnet era. My imagination is that Charlie must have put a large amount of his passion into these sequences, and demonstrated first and instructed all by himself. In my opinion, these sequences alone give us a sense of consistency, finding not merely the same style of Charlie's comedy but its timelessness.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Chaplin Comedy-Drama
Review: I have the honor of owning this film. Chaplin as King Shavow may be serious, but like in all his films, their is a little humor in him. His son Michael's preformace as Rupurt is unforgetable. his speech to the Atomic Commission is closely silmiar to Chaplin's specch in Monsuier Verdoux in 1947. To think it wasn't released until 1975. two years before his death

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Bitter, very bitter.
Review: There is a remarkible resemblence between the character of The Tramp and Chaplin's real life character. It is all the more evident in this film.
When The Tramp was kicked in the behind, he kicked back, with tripple force. When Charles Chaplin was banned from the States, he was not the kind of person to sit down and take it. He kicked back, right in America's face.
Not one thing Chaplin leaves untouched: Rock & Roll, the importance of commercials, the sillyness of face lifts and of course the political system. A King in New York starts as a comedy and more funny than satirical, but soon, very obviously, becomes a personal revenche. Chaplin felt stabbed in his heart by what America had done to him, and it shows in every scene.
Definately a film to watch with mixed feelings.

A Woman of Paris is an exceptional film, especially considering that it was made in the early 20's. It is warm, sophisticated and charming. Although it was not very popular with the public back then, now it is considered to belong to the top 10 of all-time best films. And it is included as a bonus to A King of New York... it should be the other way around! Don't miss it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Bitter, very bitter.
Review: There is a remarkible resemblence between the character of The Tramp and Chaplin's real life character. It is all the more evident in this film.
When The Tramp was kicked in the behind, he kicked back, with tripple force. When Charles Chaplin was banned from the States, he was not the kind of person to sit down and take it. He kicked back, right in America's face.
Not one thing Chaplin leaves untouched: Rock & Roll, the importance of commercials, the sillyness of face lifts and of course the political system. A King in New York starts as a comedy and more funny than satirical, but soon, very obviously, becomes a personal revenche. Chaplin felt stabbed in his heart by what America had done to him, and it shows in every scene.
Definately a film to watch with mixed feelings.

A Woman of Paris is an exceptional film, especially considering that it was made in the early 20's. It is warm, sophisticated and charming. Although it was not very popular with the public back then, now it is considered to belong to the top 10 of all-time best films. And it is included as a bonus to A King of New York... it should be the other way around! Don't miss it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Chaplin Fans -- Stay Away
Review: This is a sad excuse for a comedy from a once-great filmmaker. Fans of Charlie Chaplin can only be saddened and depressed by this lugubrious waste of time. Chaplin vents his spleen at the U.S. (justifiably so), but his satire is ineffective and the slapstick just doesn't work.

There is a second film on this DVD, but "A Woman of Paris," while a wonderful film, is not a Chaplin comedy (he only makes a brief cameo appearance and if you don't know it's him you'll miss him completely), and needs to be seen on a big screen to do it justice. So I can't honestly recommend this DVD for most people. This is only for rabid Chaplin completists who must have everything he ever made. For the rest of us, go out and buy "City Lights" or "Modern Times" instead, and see Chaplin at his best and in his prime.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great film, and an okish film,
Review: This Part of the Chaplin DVD collection, is worthwile. It has two films. "A Woman of Paris" and "A King in New York". The earliest movie is the reason why you will want this, while the later movie is only ok, its more for die-hard fans of Chaplin(which I admit, I am). So as for my reviews of the two movies.....

"A Woman of Paris", released in 1923, is a film which Chaplin does not appear in. Unless of course you include the cameo appearance, lasting maybe 2 seconds. A lot of people dislike this movie, because when they see a Chaplin movie, they want to actually SEE him. Either way, it does not bother me. I think Chaplin was the greatest of all film makers, and I dont really care whether you see him, or you dont. I enjoy his work as simply a director. This is a truly underrated masterpiece (yes, masterpiece), which has some fine acting. The two stars are Edna Purviance and Adolphe Menjou. The film was ideally supposed to launch Edna Purviance's career as a serious actress, but it didnt do much for her, since nobody really went to see this movie upon its release. Although I believe the critics loved it. Its actually somewhat of a favourite among Chaplin's films, and he was just so brilliant behind the camera. At whatever he did, he was great. If you only want to see Chaplin films with him in, then this one is not for you. This one for me would get 5 stars.

Now for "A King in New York" from 1957. I do not rate this film highly. Its one that some will enjoy, and some wont enjoy. I did enjoy it, but after seeing Chaplins other work, you cant help but notice how much more poor this is compared to others. A really bad idea would be to watch "City Light's" and then right after, watch this. You will REALLY see the difference in his work through the years. I dont particularly think much to some of Chaplins talking pictures, although I loved "Monsieur Verdoux". As for this film itself, I guess the highlights come from Chaplins son, Michael. Hes maybe the funniest thing in this movie. His fast talking, cleverness about things that should only really be concerning adults is the thing that makes the comedy in this one. Chaplin IS funny in this one also, but his silent film days are completely lost here. I guess in some ways, this is a film Chaplin fans should see, and if you are completists (like moi) then you will want to own. Only 3 stars for this one.

The DVDs are decent. Like the others in the Chaplin Collection, these include the usual featurettes, and what ever else you get on them. "A Woman of Paris" has a decent little extra, a film called "Camille" which Chaplin is in, along with a load of other top named people, like Ethel Barrymore, Paul Robeson etc. This is not a masterpiece film, its just an interesting extra to the DVD. The prints on both "A Woman of Paris" and "A King in New Yourk" and great, and this is a good way to see them.


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