Friday, April 15, 2011

Now I Get It

Charlie Chaplin would have been 122 today. Google celebrated by making their own sort-of homage, a video header for their search page.

In the comments, someone complained about about it, asking "Why didn't they show him..." --But telling that would spoil the surprise. See for yourself:

Okay, now I see why they call him a genius. The usual sappy clips don't do the guy justice. Not even close.

J. Edgar Hoover loathed him; his politics tilted left and he had a dire weakness for young women. But all that died with him. What's left is is work. Look upon it, ye mighty, and enjoy! Beats a couple of trunkless stone legs and a shattered visage in the sand, no?

(The full depth of the drop may be trompe l'oiel l'oeil. That's still some darn fancy skatin'!)

8 comments:

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  2. X, am I right that Buster Keaton's "The General" would be another of your favorite silent classics?

    He's known for his stunts, but he was a great actor as well. If you like trains, you'll get an eyeful. And it's just a beautiful film, perfectly shot.

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  3. Trompe l'oeil or not, that was stomach-clenching in a way I've never quite seen before. You're right; "genius" is exactly what he was.

    And of course I LOL'd at the end when he saw it and freaked out.

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  4. Joanna: well played, wasn't it? :)

    Wayne: I've never seen "The General," only excerpts; but I really, really like Keaton.

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  5. Chaplin was indeed a genius. I have always thought they should have preserved the set, and cast Chaplin in another depression era classic filmed in the same set. Thorne Smith's "Rain in the Doorway," with its corrosive take on "modern" life would have been a natural. In many ways, Smith seems hilariously prescient.

    Stranger

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  6. That was all done with computers.



    Them vacuum tubes and such.

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  7. All that and Paulette Goddard! Amazing.

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