Synopsis
A look at the life and work of Charlie Chaplin in his own words featuring an in-depth interview he gave to Life magazine in 1966.
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Cast
- Pearl MackieNarrator (voice)
- Jeff RawleCharlie Chaplin 1966
- Matthew WolfRichard Meryman
- Dickie BeauRoddy McDowall
- Anne RosenfeldEffie Wisdom
- Dominic MarshKevin Brownlow
- Paul LeonardSpokeperson
- Eben YoungFirst Journalist
- Haley FlahertyThird Journalist
- Charlie ChaplinSelf (archive footage)
Recommendations
- 80
Los Angeles Times
Despite its omissions, the film proves a rich and satisfying meal and should be embraced by Chaplin fans and completists. - 80
Wall Street Journal
Middleton and Spinney are all about the medium’s first megawatt celebrity, who is a slippery enough subject all by himself, one treated here with affection, intelligence and an unadoring tone that’s intriguing all by itself. - 80
Time Out
That’s a lot of years to wrangle into one biography – even before you take in the rags-to-riches, zero-to-hero-to-popular-villain arc of his life – but this snappy and searching doc makes a very solid fist of it. - 80
The Guardian
This film may not have all that much new material but it piercingly asks the right questions about Chaplin’s elusive reality. - 75
IndieWire
Clocking under two hours, The Real Charlie Chaplin is less concerned with being an exhaustive biography than trying to pinpoint what Chaplin’s life means to film history and how we might think of him today. It’s an approach that, while not entirely successful here, could help introduce newcomers to classic film rather than preach to the already converted. - 67
The Film Stage
The pace is never stagnant and the final moments are pointedly effective. Ultimately, The Real Charlie Chaplin is an imperfect film about an imperfect filmmaker. - 60
Screen Daily
This meticulous documentary can’t quite overcome the inevitability of its rise-and-fall trajectory, the familiarity of its sad-clown hypothesis. - 60
The Independent
The conclusion that Chaplin remains inscrutable feels neither new nor substantial.
