because his comedy can be seen by everyone in the world. not until elvis do you get a kind of popularity on that level. and chaplin worship continues to this day, albeit on a smaller scale. i do like the way he transformed cinema, starting with silent movies, but what i appreciate the most is how much of a philosopher he is, and how much he had to say to the world. all his films are just great, for every age. i think even for kids. he has done such a lot of things, and he came from the bottom and goes to the top. with chaplin you have - the humble guy on the street and also the greatest star. in the world, and i suppose he sometimes makes people realise that they have a little bit of greatness inside them. i have often wondered how charlie chaplin felt when he first set foot in america, here in new york city 110 years ago. he wrote of his early impressions in his
autobiography, and at first he wasn t that taken with the country. but he describes how one evening, during the month of october, he took a walk on broadway in this neighbourhood where i am standing right now, and his attitude began to change. he said: the meaning of america came to me, the tall skyscrapers, the brilliant lights, the dazzling displays of advertisements, stirred me with hope and a sense of adventure. i said, this is it, this is where i belong . america, where chaplin lived for some a0 years until 1952, brought him both great fortune and great difficulty. first and foremost, it provided him with an arena in which he could make his films. all his best movies were made in his prolific american years. he had his own studio, he did everything he wrote, directed, produced and starred in his movies, and he composed the music. charlie chaplin clearly had this great talent as a stage
politician hakeem jeffries has been elected to succeed nancy pelosi in the us house of representatives stopper he will become the first blaak american to hold such a high ranking position in us congress. now on bbc news, talking movies: charlie chaplin special. newsreel: now what distinguished visitor i is arriving on this train that so many are waiting for? charlie chaplin was the biggest, most popular icon in the 20th century. newsreel: the man who gives the london bobbies a battle - with the crowds is, i yes, charlie chaplin. he had a level of fame and immediacy to his audience that was completely unprecedented. whatever is effective, dramatic and arresting as far as the public, the main
and had a major and lasting impact on 20th century cinema. in an age where many hollywood studio films feel stale and lifeless, chaplin s work remains vibrant. we can learn from him. to watch his 1931 movie city lights, particularly the ending, is to be enthralled by one of the most magical moments in cinema. it involves a florist who had been blind in the past, and had mistaken chaplin s character for a wealthy man. she has now regained her sight and sees him for who he really is the tramp. he recognises her, she doesn t at first realise it s him. she looks into his face,
the tramp is a really important part of the chaplin persona. he had obviously grown up in south london in very trying circumstances, very serious poverty, and he had also grown up with the musical. so he had known about all the different characters, in fact one of his earliest popular characters was actually an aristocrat who would drink and swell and toff, but when he created the tramp persona he immediately went to someone that was visually arresting and already very popular in american culture, sort of vaudeville comedy acts. and it allows him to express a lot of what he felt about the world as well as being a clown, is also putting himself out there as the underdog, the everyman, the sort of put upon character from society. the tramp is funny, you can laugh at him, but you can also feel for him. there is something pathetic about the tramp. that tramp figure, which wasn t new, but he brought to it through cinema a chance for the audience to feel like they are all part