Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
"Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot."
Charlie Chaplin
Birth name:
Charles Spencer Chaplin
Born:
16th April 1889, Walworth, South London, UK
Died:
25th December 1977, Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
Years active:
1914 - 1967
Charles Spencer Chaplin rose from abject poverty on London’s backstreets to Hollywood royalty. Almost a century after he last graced our screens, his Little Tramp remains instantly recognisable. However, his political views meant he was not always revered, particularly in his adopted home of America.
Early Life and Background
He was born on 16th April 1889 in Walworth, South London, to music-hall singer Charles Chaplin Senior and actress and vocalist Hannah Chaplin. His parents separated when he was about one-year-old. His father, an alcoholic, did little to support his poverty-stricken family. Chaplin’s mother suffered from mental illness and was first committed to an asylum when he was nine years old. Even before her repeated absences, the family would regularly live in workhouses and charity institutions. Because of the harsh conditions, he developed a strong sense of empathy for the poor and marginalised, a theme he frequently explored in his films.
Chaplin first performed on stage with a clog-dancing troupe called the Eight Lancashire Lads around 1898. When he was twelve, he won a small but important role as Billy the page boy in stage productions of Sherlock Holmes.
Stage apprenticeship and move to film
By the mid-1900s, Chaplin was working in music-hall. His first big break came when he joined Fred Karno’s famous comedy troupe in February 1908. He quickly established himself as a star member of the troupe as “The Drunk” in a sketch known as A Night in an English Music Hall. Chaplin toured the United States with the troupe, which also included another top comic among its ranks: Stan Laurel.
In 1913, Chaplin signed with Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company, earning about $150 a week. His early shorts for Keystone were broad slapstick, but he rapidly developed a more nuanced, character-based comedy style when he began writing and directing his own material.
Creation of the Little Tramp
Chaplin assembled the elements of his iconic ‘Little Tramp’ costume - bowler hat, toothbrush moustache, tight coat, baggy trousers and cane - in early 1914. The character immediately resonated with audiences, thanks to his comic blend of dignity, resilience, clumsiness and sentimentality. Within a year, he was one of cinema’s most recognisable faces.
Chaplin left Keystone for Essanay in December 1914, then moved to Mutual in 1916. He later recalled his time at Mutual, where he made such two-reel classics as The Floorwalker (1916), The Fireman (1916), One AM (1916), Easy Street (1917), The Cure (1917), The Immigrant (1917) and The Adventurer (1917), as the happiest of his career, but left in 1918 to join First National as an independent producer. Each move earned the star a generous wage increase and greater artistic control.
United Artists and major silent features
In 1919, Chaplin co-founded United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, which allowed him to finance and control his own productions. This meant he could spend more time writing, directing, producing, and editing. Such artistic freedom meant his output slowed considerably, but he continued to create a hit with each release.
His films during this period include:
The Kid (1921): His first feature, combining pathos and comedy in the story of a tramp and an abandoned child, played by Jackie Coogan.
A Woman of Paris (1923): A sophisticated drama in which he appeared only briefly.
The Gold Rush (1925): A tale set during the Klondike Gold Rush, which is today considered one of his masterpieces.
The Circus (1928): An underrated work when released that many critics consider among his funniest films.
During this period, Chaplin refined his style, blending visual gags with social commentary and emotional depth.
Confronting sound: City Lights and Modern Times
The transition from silent pictures to talkies proved difficult for silent comedians. Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd both saw their careers decline as they struggled to adapt.
Chaplin simply ignored it, releasing City Lights as a silent film in 1931, almost two years after the rest of Hollywood had embraced talking pictures. Today, historians consider the film about a tramp who befriends a blind flower girl to be one of his greatest achievements.
He again resisted full dialogue in Modern Times (1936), incorporating only a song the Little Tramp sings in gibberish into the otherwise silent picture. The film satirised modern mechanised life while confronting industrialisation and factory regimentation. It marked the Little Tramp’s last appearance in a feature film.
Charlie Chaplin in Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
Political matters: The Great Dictator and controversies
Chaplin finally embraced sound in The Great Dictator (1940), in which he played both a Jewish barber and a fascist dictator closely modelled on Adolf Hitler. The satire on fascism ends with an impassioned speech calling for democracy and human decency that earned Chaplin an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Released before the United States’ entry into WWII, it was widely praised for its bold political stance.
In the Cold War years, Chaplin’s left-leaning political views, outspoken humanism, and criticism of capitalism drew scrutiny in the United States. His private life - especially his relationships with much younger women - and highly publicised paternity and divorce cases generated unwelcome scandal in the press and politics.
Later films: Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight and exile
Chaplin’s later American films shifted further towards dark comedy and reflection.
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) cast him as a charming serial wife-killer, using black comedy to critique economic systems and war. It was controversial and only later fully appreciated.
Limelight (1952), set in London, features Chaplin as a faded music-hall clown mentoring a young dancer, and touches on ageing, failure, and artistic legacy. It also contains a historic screen collaboration with Buster Keaton.
In 1952, while he was in Europe for Limelight’s premiere, U.S. authorities revoked Chaplin’s re-entry permit, accusing him of communist sympathies and moral impropriety. Chaplin and his family moved into a mansion near Vevey on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. While based there, he made A King in New York (1957), a satire about American consumerism and McCarthyism. Ten years later, he released his last film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren.
Personal Life
Chaplin’s complex personal life was prone to scandal throughout his career. His first marriage, to 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris, swiftly ended in divorce. His marriage to Lita Grey, nineteen years his junior, ended in an acrimonious and widely publicised divorce. In 1936, he wed actress Paulette Goddard, his co-star in Modern Times (1931), but they had separated by the early 1940s. His longest marriage was to Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, whom he married in 1943 when she was 18. They had eight children together. Oona accompanied her husband into Swiss exile and later managed his estate.
Return, honours and final years
In 1964, Chaplin published his memoir, My Autobiography, recounting his rise from an impoverished childhood to world fame, followed by My Life in Pictures in 1974. His reputation slowly recovered in the United States as critical appreciation of his films grew. In 1972, he returned to America for the first time in two decades to receive an honorary Academy Award ‘for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.’ Limelight was finally released in the U.S. the same year, and won Chaplin an Oscar for its score.
In March 1975, Queen Elizabeth knighted him, making him Sir Charles Chaplin. He spent his final years in Switzerland, making only occasional public appearances because of his increasing frailty. He died of a stroke aged 88 at his home in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, on 25th December 1977.
On 1st March 1978, two unemployed motor mechanics, Roman Wardas and Gantscho Ganev, stole Chaplin’s body from his grave and demanded £400,000 from his widow for its return. After 11 weeks, police found Chaplin’s body buried in a cornfield in the nearby village of Noville. Wardas was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ hard labour, while Ganev received an 18-month suspended sentence. Chaplin was reburied, and the grave secured within a reinforced concrete vault.
Legacy and influence
Chaplin acted in, wrote, or directed over 80 films in a career that spanned six decades. His ‘Little Tramp’ became one of the most recognisable images of the 20th century. His blend of slapstick and pathos helped define screen comedy, influencing comedians and filmmakers worldwide.
Charlie Chaplin filmography
Making a Living (1914), 13m, Keystone. Dir: Henry Lehrman. With Henry Lehrman, Virginia Kirtley, Alice Davenport, Minta Durfee. Chaplin's screen debut; he plays Edgar English, a flashy swindler in top hat and monocle — notably not the Tramp. Released 2 February 1914.
Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), 7m, Keystone. Dir: Henry Lehrman. With Henry Lehrman, Gordon Griffith. Released 7 February 1914. First screen appearance of the Tramp costume and character — filmed after Mabel's Strange Predicament but released before it. Shot on location at the Junior Vanderbilt Cup race, Venice, California, using a 'documentary' style with real spectators. Added to the US National Film Registry in 2020.
Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914), 17m, Keystone. Dir: Mabel Normand (and George Nichols, uncredited). With Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, Alice Davenport, Harry McCoy. Released 9 February 1914. Filmed before Kid Auto Races at Venice; thus technically the first film in which the Tramp costume was worn. Chaplin improvised the costume during production.
A Thief Catcher (1914), 8m, Keystone. Dir: Ford Sterling. With Ford Sterling, Phyllis Allen, Keystone Cops. Released 19 February 1914. Print discovered in 2010 in an archive in Dayton, Ohio; previously considered a lost film. Chaplin plays a policeman in a non-Tramp role.
Between Showers (1914), 15m, Keystone. Dir: Henry Lehrman. With Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Emma Clifton. Released 28 February 1914. Chaplin plays the Tramp (here called 'Masher') competing with Ford Sterling for the attentions of a young woman.
A Film Johnnie (1914), 15m, Keystone. Dir: George Nichols. With Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Peggy Pearce, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling. Released 2 March 1914. Early self-referential comedy; notable for cameos by Keystone regulars playing themselves.
Tango Tangles (1914), 12m, Keystone. Dir: Mack Sennett. With Ford Sterling, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Chester Conklin, Minta Durfee. Released 9 March 1914. Shot at a real public ballroom with real dancers as extras.
His Favorite Pastime (1914), 16m, Keystone. Dir: George Nichols. With Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Peggy Pearce. Released 16 March 1914.
Cruel, Cruel Love (1914), 9m–16m, Keystone. Dir: George Nichols. With Chester Conklin, Minta Durfee, Alice Davenport. Released 26 March 1914.
The Star Boarder (1914), 12m–16m, Keystone. Dir: George Nichols. With Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Gordon Griffith, Alice Davenport. Released 4 April 1914. Early use of comedic foreshadowing and a 'movie within the movie' gag involving a camera.
Mabel at the Wheel (1914), 23m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett. With Mabel Normand, Harry McCoy, Chester Conklin. Released 18 April 1914. Production was turbulent: Chaplin clashed with Normand over direction, leading to a standoff resolved only by Sennett's intervention.
Twenty Minutes of Love (1914), 20m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin (and Joseph Maddern, uncredited). With Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Gordon Griffith, Chester Conklin. Released 20 April 1914. Chaplin's directorial debut (sole credited director on some prints, shared credit on others).
Caught in a Cabaret (1914), 23m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Mabel. With Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, Edgar Kennedy, Minta Durfee. Released 27 April 1914.
Caught in the Rain (1914), 16m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mack Swain, Alice Davenport. Released 4 May 1914. First film Chaplin directed alone.
A Busy Day (1914), 6m, Keystone (split reel). Dir: Mack Sennett. With Mack Swain, Phyllis Allen. Released 7 May 1914. Chaplin plays a woman — one of his cross-dressing roles — a shrewish wife at a military parade. Released as a split reel with the short documentary The Morning Papers.
The Fatal Mallet (1914), 18m, Keystone. Dir: Mack Sennett. With Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Mack Swain. Released 1 June 1914.
Her Friend the Bandit (1914), 16m, Keystone. Dir: Mack Sennett. With Mabel Normand, Charles Murray. Released 4 June 1914. Chaplin plays a bandit invited to a society party. LOST FILM.
The Knockout (1914), 27m–30m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Mack Sennett. With Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Edgar Kennedy, Minta Durfee, Al St. John, Hank Mann. Released 11 June 1914. An Arbuckle vehicle; Chaplin appears briefly as the referee.
Mabel's Busy Day (1914), 10m–15m, Keystone. Dir: Mack Sennett. With Mabel Normand, Chester Conklin, Edgar Kennedy. Released 13 June 1914.
Mabel's Married Life (1914), 17m, Keystone. Dir: Mack Sennett. With Mabel Normand, Mack Swain. Released 20 June 1914. Written and co-directed with Mabel Normand.
Laughing Gas (1914), 13m–16m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Fritz Schade, Alice Howell. Released 9 July 1914.
The Property Man (1914), 28m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Phyllis Allen, Charles Bennett, Alice Davenport, Chester Conklin, Harry McCoy. Released 1 August 1914. One of Chaplin’s longer Keystone efforts; the slapstick is broader and more physical than usual.
The Face on the Barroom Floor (1914), 14m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Cecile Arnold, Jess Dandy. Released 10 August 1914. Adapted (loosely) from the 1887 poem by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy.
Recreation (1914), 6m–7m, Keystone (split reel). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Charles Bennett, Helen Carruthers. Released 13 August 1914. Released as a split reel with the travelogue The Yosemite. One of Chaplin's briefest films.
The Masquerader (1914), 12m–13m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Chester Conklin, Charles Murray. Released 27 August 1914. An early and self-reflexive use of cross-dressing.
His New Profession (1914), 16m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Charley Chase (as Charles Parrot), Helen Carruthers, Jess Dandy, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Released 31 August 1914.
The Rounders (1914), 13m–16m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Phyllis Allen, Minta Durfee, Al St. John. Released 7 September 1914. A rare near-equal co-starring vehicle for Chaplin and Arbuckle.
The New Janitor (1914), 12m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With John T. Dillon, Al St. John. Released 24 September 1914.
Those Love Pangs (1914), 12m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Chester Conklin, Cecile Arnold, Vivian Edwards, Charley Chase. Released 10 October 1914.
Dough and Dynamite (1914), 28m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin (co-written with Mack Sennett). With Chester Conklin, Fritz Schade, Norma Nichols. Released 26 October 1914. One of Chaplin's most popular Keystone releases, with elaborate slapstick involving dough and explosives.
Gentlemen of Nerve (1914), 15m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mabel Normand, Mack Swain, Chester Conklin, Phyllis Allen. Released 29 October 1914.
His Musical Career (1914), 13m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mack Swain, Charley Chase. Released 7 November 1914.
His Trysting Places (1914), 21m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mabel Normand, Mack Swain, Phyllis Allen. Released 9 November 1914.
Getting Acquainted (1914), 14m, Keystone. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Phyllis Allen, Mack Swain, Mabel Normand, Edgar Kennedy. Released 5 December 1914.
His Prehistoric Past (1914), 22m, Keystone (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mack Swain, May Wallace, Gene Marsh. Released 7 December 1914. An early 'dream' structure: the Tramp falls asleep on a park bench and dreams he is a caveman.
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), 85m, Keystone (6 reels). Dir: Mack Sennett. With Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, Mack Swain. Released 21 December 1914. Chaplin's only Keystone feature and the first feature-length comedy film. Adapted from the stage show Tillie's Nightmare by A. Baldwin Sloane. Chaplin plays Charlie, a city swindler, but this is Dressler's film.
His New Job (1915), 31m, Essanay (Chicago). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Billy Armstrong, Agnes Ayres, Ben Turpin. Released 1 February 1915. Filmed at the Essanay studio in Chicago. Gloria Swanson is said to have an uncredited walk-on role, though this is disputed by some scholars.
A Night Out (1915), 34m, Essanay (Niles, California). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Ben Turpin, Edna Purviance, Charles Allen Dealey. Released 15 February 1915. Debut of Edna Purviance, who would become Chaplin's key leading lady for the next eight years. Alternative UK titles: Champagne Charlie, Charlie's Drunken Daze.
The Champion (1915), 31m, Essanay (Niles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Billy Armstrong, Ben Turpin, G.M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson. Released 11 March 1915. Anderson, Essanay's Western star, has a cameo.
In the Park (1915), 14m, Essanay (Niles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Lloyd Bacon, Billy Armstrong, Bud Jamison, Ernest Van Pelt, Leo White. Released 18 March 1915.
A Jitney Elopement (1915), 26m, Essanay (Niles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Lloyd Bacon, Carl Stockdale, Fred Goodwins, Bud Jamison, Leo White. Released 1 April 1915. Features one of the most elaborate chase sequences of the Essanay period. Alternative title: Married in Haste.
The Tramp (1915), 26m, Essanay (Niles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Billy Armstrong, Lloyd Bacon, Bud Jamison, Paddy McGuire, Leo White. Released 11 April 1915. A pivotal film in Chaplin's development. The first use of the now-iconic shot of the Tramp walking away down a road into the distance. Alternative title: Charlie the Hobo.
By the Sea (1915), 20m, Essanay (Crystal Pier, Los Angeles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Billy Armstrong, Bud Jamison, Snub Pollard, Ernest Van Pelt, Margie Reiger. Released 29 April 1915. Cast per restoration catalogue; some earlier sources list a slightly shorter runtime of 14m.
His Regeneration (1915), 15m, Essanay. Dir: G.M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson. With Gilbert M. Anderson, Lee Willard, Marguerite Clayton. Chaplin makes a brief uncredited cameo as a customer. One of his few acknowledged non-Keystone appearances in another director's production.
Work (1915), 31m, Essanay (Bradbury Mansion, Los Angeles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Billy Armstrong, Charles Inslee, Edna Purviance, Marta Golden, Leo White, Paddy McGuire. Released 21 June 1915. Considered one of the best Essanay films.
A Woman (1915), 26m, Essanay (Majestic Studio, Los Angeles). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Billy Armstrong, Edna Purviance, Leo White, Marta Golden, Charles Inslee, Jess Robbins. Released 12 July 1915. Alternative title: The Perfect Lady.
The Bank (1915), 25m, Essanay. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Carl Stockdale, Billy Armstrong, Charles Inslee, Lloyd Bacon, Leo White, Paddy McGuire. Released 9 August 1915. One of the most critically admired Essanay films: the Tramp as a janitor who fantasises about being a bank hero and winning the cashier's love (Purviance), only to wake and find it all a dream. Notably more melancholic in tone.
Shanghaied (1915), 27m, Essanay. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Billy Armstrong, Bud Jamison, Leo White, Paddy McGuire. Released 4 October 1915. Alternative title: Charlie the Sailor.
A Night in the Show (1915), 24m, Essanay. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Charles Inslee, Bud Jamison, Leo White, Paddy McGuire. Released 20 November 1915. Based on Chaplin's Fred Karno sketch Mumming Birds / A Night in an English Music Hall.
A Burlesque on Carmen (1915/16), 31–44m, Essanay. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Ben Turpin, Leo White, May White, Bud Jamison. Released December 1915 (Chaplin's 2-reel version) / expanded to 4 reels without Chaplin's authorisation and re-released 22 April 1916 with new footage directed by Leo White. The unauthorised re-release runs c.44m. Loosely based on Mérimée's novel and Bizet's opera. The expansion by Essanay after Chaplin's departure was a source of lasting bitterness.
Police (1916), 34m, Essanay. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Wesley Ruggles, John Rand, Billy Armstrong, Bud Jamison, Leo White, Snub Pollard, Paddy McGuire. Released 27 May 1916. Chaplin's last authorised Essanay film. Chaplin revisited the film's melancholy ending — where redemption slips just out of reach — in more sophisticated form in his Mutual and United Artists work.
The Floorwalker (1916), 29m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Lloyd Bacon. Written with Vincent Bryan. Released 15 May 1916. Features an extended escalator chase sequence — one of the first prominent uses of a department store escalator in cinema.
The Fireman (1916), 26m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Lloyd Bacon. Written with Vincent Bryan. Released 12 June 1916. Notable for Chaplin's virtuosic physical clowning on ladders and fire equipment.
The Vagabond (1916), 24m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin. Written with Vincent Bryan. Released 10 July 1916. One of the most emotionally ambitious Mutual films; an early full realisation of Chaplin's mixture of comedy and pathos.
One A.M. (1916), 27m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Albert Austin. Released 7 August 1916. Almost entirely a solo performance: Considered among the most technically accomplished of the Mutual films — an extended pas de deux between Chaplin and inanimate objects.
The Count (1916), 25m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin. Released 4 September 1916. A comedy of social pretension and mistaken identity that anticipates later Chaplin themes in The Idle Class and City Lights.
The Pawnshop (1916), 26m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin, Eric Campbell, John Rand. Released 2 October 1916. Widely considered among the finest of the Mutual series. The celebrated sequence in which Chaplin's pawnbroker's assistant examines and dismantles a customer's alarm clock — treating it as though it were a living creature — is one of cinema's great comic set pieces.
Behind the Screen (1916), 25m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman. Released 13 November 1916. A satire of film production; contains an early cross-dressing/gender-subversion gag remarkable for its period.
The Rink (1916), 30m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, James T. Kelley, Albert Austin, Lloyd Bacon. Released 4 December 1916. Chaplin on skates rates among the most celebrated of his physical performances.
Easy Street (1917), 27m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman. Released 22 January 1917. One of Chaplin's most famous shorts, and one of the few in which the Tramp succeeds as an agent of social order — albeit through unconventional means.
The Cure (1917), 26m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman. Released 16 April 1917.
The Immigrant (1917), 25m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman. Released 17 June 1917. Chaplin and Purviance as immigrants arriving in America. Widely considered one of Chaplin's greatest shorts. Added to the US National Film Registry in 1998.
The Adventurer (1917), 27m, Lone Star/Mutual. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin. Released 22 October 1917. Chaplin’s last Mutual film, and the Eric Campbell’s last film before his death in a car accident in December 1917. Chaplin reportedly spent four months and hundreds of takes on this film.
A Dog's Life (1918), 33m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (3 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Syd Chaplin, Henry Bergman, Tom Wilson, Charles Reisner. Released 14 April 1918. The Tramp and Scraps, a mongrel dog, form an alliance against an uncaring world. The film draws direct structural parallels between the dog's existence and the Tramp's. Syd Chaplin plays a lunch-wagon owner.
Triple Trouble (1918), 23m, Essanay. Compiled and partly directed by Leo White. Released 11 August 1918. Assembled by Essanay after Chaplin's departure from footage from the unfinished project Life (1915–16) and Police (1916), with new scenes directed by White. Chaplin sued to prevent release but lost. He includes it in his autobiography's filmography.
The Bond (1918), 9m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (half reel). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin, Albert Austin. Released 29 September 1918. A short propaganda film made for the Liberty Loan drive during World War I; Chaplin financed it himself. Chaplin plays himself; Syd Chaplin appears as 'the Kaiser'
Shoulder Arms (1918), 36m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (3 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman, Loyal Underwood. Released 20 October 1918. Released just three weeks before the Armistice; its irreverent take on military life was initially considered a risk. Hugely successful.
Sunnyside (1919), 34m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (3 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Tom Wilson, Henry Bergman. Released 15 June 1919. Contains a celebrated dream sequence in which Chaplin performs a ballet with wood nymphs. More introspective than earlier work; critically divisive on release but now more highly regarded.
A Day's Pleasure (1919), 21m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Henry Bergman, Jackie Coogan, Tom Wilson, Babe London. Released 15 December 1919. Jackie Coogan's screen debut alongside Chaplin before their more famous collaboration in The Kid. Alternative title: A Pleasant Day.
The Kid (1921), 68m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (6 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller, Tom Wilson, Henry Bergman, Charles Reisner, Lita Grey (as Lillita MacMurray). Released 6 February 1921. Chaplin's first feature as director/producer. A worldwide sensation and one of the most commercially successful of the silent era. Added to the US National Film Registry in 2011.
The Idle Class (1921), 32m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Mack Swain, Allan Garcia, Rex Storey. Released 25 September 1921. One of several Chaplin films exploring class double and social mobility. Alternative title: Vanity Fair.
Pay Day (1922), 22m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (2 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Mack Swain, Phyllis Allen, Edna Purviance, Allan Garcia, Henry Bergman. Released 2 April 1922. Chaplin's last short film (under 30 minutes). The brick-catching sequence was widely praised for its precision and timing.
The Pilgrim (1923), 47m, Charles Chaplin Productions / First National (4 reels). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin, Tom Murray, Mack Swain, Kitty Bradbury, Henry Bergman, Charles Reisner, Dean Riesner. Released 26 February 1923. Last of Chaplin’s First National films.
Souls for Sale (1923), runtime varies, Goldwyn Dir: Rupert Hughes. Chaplin appears briefly as himself on the set of A Woman of Paris. A cameo, not a performance. Film is partly lost.
Hollywood (1923), 80m, Paramount. Dir: James Cruze. Star-filled Hollywood self-portrait; Chaplin appears as himself. Film is largely lost.
A Woman of Paris (1923), 82m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Edna Purviance, Clarence Geldert, Adolphe Menjou, Carl Miller, Lydia Knott. Released 26 September 1923. Chaplin's first dedicated dramatic film and the only silent film in which he does not appear as a principal performer; he has a brief uncredited cameo as a railway porter. Written and directed by Chaplin as a star vehicle for Edna Purviance, the film's subtle 'oblique' style (showing effects rather than causes) was hugely influential on directors including Ernst Lubitsch. A commercial disappointment on first release; re-released with a Chaplin score in 1976.
The Gold Rush (1925), 95m (original silent version), Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Malcolm Waite, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin, John Rand. Released 26 June 1925. Among the most beloved of all silent films. Features the Oceana Roll (dancing dinner rolls) sequence and the 'eating the boot' sequence. Chaplin considered this his best film. Re-released in 1942 with a Chaplin narration and score, reducing the runtime to 72 minutes. Added to the US National Film Registry in 1992.
The Circus (1928), 72m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Merna Kennedy, Allan Garcia, Harry Crocker, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford, John Rand, Albert Austin. Released 6 January 1928. A troubled production: fires, floods, and the breakdown of Chaplin's marriage to Lita Grey caused years of delay. At the 1st Academy Awards (1929) Chaplin received a special honorary Oscar for the film. Academy Film Archive preserved The Circus in 2002.
Show People (1928), 82m, MGM. Dir: King Vidor. With Marion Davies, William Haines. Chaplin appears as himself in a brief cameo. Added to the US National Film Registry in 2003.
City Lights (1931), 87m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Florence Lee, Hank Mann, Allan Garcia, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin. Released 30 January 1931. Produced as a silent film when sound had made silent films commercially obsolete. The climactic reunion scene is frequently cited as one of the most perfect moments in cinema. Chaplin also composed the score. Added to the US National Film Registry in 1991.
Modern Times (1936), 87m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Chester Conklin, Tiny Sandford, Hank Mann. Released 5 February 1936. Chaplin's last film featuring the Tramp; a satire on industrialisation and the Depression-era assembly line. Also the last genuine silent film made by a major studio, though it incorporates some synchronised sound effects and the 'Titina' nonsense-lyric song sequence. Added to the US National Film Registry in 1989.
The Great Dictator (1940), 125m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert. Released 15 October 1940. Chaplin's first true sound film and most overtly political work. The film's closing speech — delivered directly to the camera — remains one of cinema's most famous monologues. Nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Lead Actor (Chaplin), Best Supporting Actor (Oakie), Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score. Added to the US National Film Registry in 1997.
Monsieur Verdoux (1947), 124m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Martha Raye, Isobel Elsom, Marilyn Nash, Robert Lewis. Released 11 April 1947. A black comedy based on an original idea by Orson Welles: Chaplin's most morally complex film; its satirical equation of mass murder with industrial capitalism was commercially and critically divisive on release, especially in the climate of post-war America. Nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Academy Award).
Limelight (1952), 137m, Charles Chaplin Productions / United Artists. Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce, Buster Keaton, Sydney Chaplin, Norman Lloyd. Released 23 October 1952. Highly autobiographical. Features Buster Keaton in an extended comic duet — his and Chaplin’s only appearance together in a sound film. Withdrawn from American release almost immediately after its premiere when Chaplin's re-entry permit to the United States was revoked. First became eligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1972 (via a Los Angeles premiere); it won in 1973.
A King in New York (1957), 105m, Attica Film Company / Archway Film Distributors (British). Dir: Charles Chaplin. With Maxine Audley, Jerry Desmonde, Oliver Johnston, Dawn Addams. Released 12 September 1957. Chaplin's last starring role. A pointed and sometimes bitter satire on American McCarthyism. Not released in the United States until 1972.
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), 107m, Universal Pictures. Dir: Charles Chaplin. Produced by Jerome Epstein. With Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill, Michael Medwin. Chaplin appears briefly in a cameo as an old ship's steward. Released 5 January 1967 (UK). Chaplin's final film as director; his only film in colour (Technicolor) and widescreen (Panavision). Based on an idea Chaplin had developed in the 1930s for Paulette Goddard. Commercially and critically unsuccessful on release, though reassessment has been more sympathetic.