Chaplin is a 1992 American biographical film about the life of English comedian Charlie Chaplin. It was produced and directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Robert Downey, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Kevin Kline, and Anthony Hopkins. It also features Geraldine Chaplin in the role of her own paternal grandmother, Hannah Chaplin.

The film was adapted by Diana Hawkins, William Boyd, Bryan Forbes and William Goldman from the books My Autobiography by Chaplin and Chaplin: His Life and Art by film critic David Robinson. The original music score was composed by John Barry.

Plot[link]

The film is structured around lengthy flashbacks as the elderly Chaplin recollects moments from his life during a conversation with fictional character George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins), the editor of his autobiography. Chaplin's recollections begin with his childhood of extreme poverty, from which he escapes by immersing himself in the world of the London music halls, after which he relocates to the United States.

There are references to some of his many romantic episodes (including Hetty Kelly, Mildred Harris, Georgia Hale, Marion Davies, Edna Purviance, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, Joan Barry and Oona O'Neill), his professional collaboration with Mack Sennett and friendship with Douglas Fairbanks.

Cast[link]

• Robert Downey, Jr. as Charlie Chaplin
• Geraldine Chaplin as Hannah Chaplin, Charlie's mother
• Paul Rhys as Sydney Chaplin, Charlie's brother
• John Thaw as Fred Karno, British music-hall impresario
• Moira Kelly as Hetty Kelly / Oona O'Neill, Charlie's final wife
• Anthony Hopkins as George Hayden, Charlie's biography editor
• Dan Aykroyd as Mack Sennett, an early Hollywood film producer
• Marisa Tomei as Mabel Normand, a young Hollywood actress
• Penelope Ann Miller as Edna Purviance, a young Hollywood actress
• Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, a leading man in early Hollywood movies
• Matthew Cottle as Stan Laurel, a Hollywood comedian
• Maria Pitillo as Mary Pickford, a leading lady in early Hollywood movies
• Milla Jovovich as Mildred Harris, a young Hollywood actress and Charlie's first wife
• Kevin Dunn as J. Edgar Hoover, head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Deborah Moore as Lita Grey, a young Hollywood actress and Charlie's second wife
• Diane Lane as Paulette Goddard, a young Hollywood actress and Charlie's third wife
• Nancy Travis as Joan Barry, a young Hollywood actress
• James Woods as Joseph Scott, a California attorney
• David Duchovny as Roland Totheroh, Chaplin's long time cameraman

Critical reception[link]

Although the film was criticized for taking dramatic licence with some aspects of Chaplin's life, Downey's performance as Chaplin won almost universal acclaim. Attenborough was sufficiently confident in Downey's performance to include historical footage of Chaplin himself at the end of the film.

The film was lauded for its high production values, but many critics dismissed it as an overly glossy biopic.^[1] One critic wrote that the screenplay "endeavors to cover too much ground. The life of Charlie Chaplin was so vast and varied that a film is far too restrictive a format to give it justice."^[2]

Awards[link]

Home media[link]

The film was released on DVD in 1997. A fifteenth-anniversary edition was released by Lions Gate Entertainment (who obtained the distribution rights to the film in the interim under license from the copyright holder, StudioCanal) in 2008. The anniversary edition contained extensive interviews with the producers, and included several minutes of home-movie footage shot on Chaplin's yacht. The box for this DVD mistakenly lists the film's running time as 135 minutes (it is 144 minutes, the same as the original theater release).^[3]

The 15th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray of Chaplin was released on February 15, 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chaplin at the Internet Movie Database
• Chaplin at the TCM Movie Database
• Chaplin at AllRovi
• Chaplin at Box Office Mojo
• Chaplin at Rotten Tomatoes