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Chaplin
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Chaplin
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- 1992
- Richard Attenborough
- 138 mins
- 12
Summary
Biographical drama about the early years of Charlie Chaplin's life, starring Robert Downey Jr. Despite a poverty-stricken childhood in London, the young Chaplin learns his craft on the music-hall stage, beginning an acting career that will lead him to international fame and a place among movie legends.
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Review
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Tony Sloman
This epic about the early years of Charlie Chaplin's life from co-producer/director Richard Attenborough is, for the most part, extremely entertaining and intelligent, with Oscar-nominated Robert Downey Jr superb in a role that was reportedly coveted by Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. The opening sequences are genuinely affecting, with Geraldine Chaplin playing Chaplin's mother (her own grandmother), a music-hall singer who spent many years in asylums. But the overall depiction of early Hollywood is too rose-tinted and the true tragic tale of a misunderstood comic genius is reduced to a series of star-studded vignettes. The story is also not helped by the device of having the older Chaplin dictate his tale to a diffident (and utterly fictitious) publisher, played by Anthony Hopkins. It's clearly the result of too many cooks, with William Boyd, Bryan Forbes and William Goldman among the writers who dipped into Chaplin's autobiography and David Robinson's seminal biography for inspiration. And, however good Downey Jr is, you can't help feeling that Johnny Depp might have brought more pathos to the part, especially after seeing him re-create the famous bread-roll dance from The Gold Rush in Benny and Joon. Still, this remains a noble attempt to tell the story of the great man.
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7.5/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameCharlie ChaplinRobert Downey JrHannah ChaplinGeraldine ChaplinSydney ChaplinPaul RhysFred KarnoJohn ThawHetty Kelly / Oona O'NeillMoira KellyGeorge HaydenAnthony HopkinsMack SennettDan AykroydMabel NormandMarisa TomeiEdna PurviancePenelope Ann MillerDouglas FairbanksKevin KlineMildred HarrisMilla JovovichJ Edgar HooverKevin DunnPaulette GoddardDiane LaneLawyer ScottJames WoodsRollie TotherohDavid DuchovnyStan LaurelMatthew CottleMary PickfordMaria PitilloLita GreyDeborah Moore (1)Joan BarryNancy TravisStage managerBill PatersonMrs KarnoMary HealeyTed the drunkRobert StephensButlerJohn Standing
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Crew
rolenameDirectorRichard Attenborough
Details
Theatrical distributor
Guild Film Distribution Ltd
Released on
1992-12-17
Languages
English | German | Italian
Guidance
Swearing, sex references
Available on
video, DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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