Charlie Chaplin Speaks (rare!) Eerily beautiful speech

[Sky Masterson]

Run time: 03:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR98TQVnCQc   Posted on YouTube: October 20, 2008 By YouTube Member: trancesynaptic Views on YouTube: 18938   Posted on DU: May 11, 2010 By DU Member: Sky Masterson Views on DU: 2601

 
Just wow.

[fasttense]

1. I wonder if we will ever hear from the little girls he raped, I mean slept with? n/t

[Sky Masterson]

3. That is a discussion for a different day.

and a different thread

[Judi Lynn]

4. Here's a D.U. thread which said he married a 17 year old and stayed with her 34 years.

I had to google because, as long as I've ever heard of the man, I've NEVER heard him labeled a child molester. This was one of the very first links.

Here's the D.U. thread:

In 1943, Chaplin, then 56 years old married the 17 year old daughter of Eugene O'Neill. They met when she was 16.

Oona O'Neill Chaplin remained inseparably devoted to her husband, bearing 8 children by him. She remained a devoted wife until his death in 1977, having been married to him for 34 years.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2001500

Clearly he was almost old enough to be her grandfather when they met, but as for a despicable assault on a child, that really doesn't seem to be part of the story.

Here are two photos of them:
http://kittypackard.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/07/oona_charlie.jpg

http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk.nyud.net:8090/images/720/bfi-00n-h7z.jpg

[Sky Masterson]

6. Thank you for this.

Looks like he did an Elvis/Jerry Lee Lewis thingie.
I was a bit too tired to google. :P

[fasttense]

10. You need to do some better googling.

"film actor Charlie Chaplin was prosecuted in 1944 by Federal authorities for Mann Act charges related to his involvement with actress Joan Barry. The uproar contributed to his departure for Switzerland in the early 1950s."

"The White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825; codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 2421–2424), better known as the Mann Act after Congressman James Robert Mann, is a United States law which prohibits white slavery and the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”. Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking."

Marring a 17 year old when you are 56 is really skirting the line between sleeping with a girl or woman. By the way he was married 4 times and had a total of 11 children. You make it sound as if he was just a good old boy.

[timtom]

16. So, then, you disagree with the speech on the youtube video?

Our attention was directed to the words and their power. THAT what is meaningful to us today.

[phleshdef]

31. What a bunch of horse shit that completely ignores the social norms of the time period.

[booley]

36. Marrying a 17 year old is legal

"Marring a 17 year old when you are 56 is really skirting the line between sleeping with a girl or woman."

No it's quite legal. 17 is the age of consent in Missouri.

Though I admit, deciding some special age when a child becomes an adult seems arbitrary. However it does not make Chaplin a child molester.

[BrklynLiberal]

29. In the biography of Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin, one of the children of that marriage, played her own

grandmother.
Robert Downey Jr was incredible in that movie. He won the Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Chaplin


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103939/

The Trailer
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4214030361/


I walked out of the theater overwhelmed, by the story and by Downey's performance. I saw it on Chaplin's Birthday, April 16, in 1992..a coincidence.

[RetroLounge]

19. I wonder if you'll apologize for your false information

and general asshattedness?

:shrug:

RL

[fasttense]

2. I wonder if we will ever hear from the little girls he raped, I mean slept with? n/t

[stlsaxman]

9. it says in your profile "writer" is your hobby- "writers" do what is called "research"- DO some.

:eyes:

[mrcheerful]

11. Joan Barry (1920–1996):

In 1942, Chaplin had a brief affair with Barry, whom he was considering for a starring role in a proposed film, but the relationship ended when she began harassing him and displaying signs of severe mental illness (not unlike his mother). Chaplin's brief involvement with Barry proved to be a nightmare for him. After having a child, she filed a paternity suit against him in 1943. Although blood tests proved Chaplin was not the father of Barry's child, Barry's attorney, Joseph Scott, convinced the court that the tests were inadmissible as evidence, and Chaplin was ordered to support the child.

The injustice of the ruling later led to a change in California law to allow blood tests as evidence. Federal prosecutors also brought Mann Act charges against Chaplin related to Barry in 1944, of which he was acquitted. Chaplin's public image in America was gravely damaged by these sensational trials. Barry was institutionalised in 1953 after she was found walking the streets barefoot, carrying a pair of baby sandals and a child's ring, and murmuring: "This is magic".

That would have made Barry 22 not under age. Boy it took me a whole 30 seconds to find that. Btw, in 1943 the legal age of consent in all 49 states was 16 not 18, so a 16 year old marrying an older man was very common. To say Chapman was a child molester or rapist is pure freeper logic.

[Judi Lynn]

21. mrcheerful, thank you! No wonder I never heard he was a child molester! Wow.

I have heard he was hated and hounded because right-wing idiots didn't like his politics.

My, how things change, right? :eyes:

Your information was very worthwhile. Thanks, again.

[BrklynLiberal]

30. TYVM. Amazing what a little research can turn up

[Taverner]

25. So you are saying you disagree with this speech?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Never heard his voice before! Thank you. Didn't know he'd done a "talkie." n/t

[JoDog]

18. Give yourself a treat

and rent the movie this speech is from--"The Great Dictator". It was his first talkie, and he had total control over it as director. A hilarious and open mocking of Hitler, which no one else dared to do.

If you like that, check out his other 2 late talkies--"Monsieur Verdoux" one of the first true black comedies, and "Limelight", his love letter to the vaudville stage of his youth.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Great! I've heard of "The Great Dictator," didn't know it's a talkie,

and that he did THREE.

This leaves an interesting search for the 3 ahead. I do know "The Great Dictator" is very famous. No wonder he enjoyed making it, since it gave him a chance to make important commentary, which couldn't necessarily be done in pantomime!

Thank you, JoDog. :hi:

[Canuckistanian]

24. I have a DVD of "Limelight"

It's a long movie - and he does a LOT of talking. I wouldn't call a film clip of him talking "rare".

[stlsaxman]

7. Rare? This is the closing speech from "The Great Dictator". hardly "rare"...

It's probably his most famous movie.

[Sky Masterson]

8. When I post videos I always cut and paste the original header.

I haven't seen that movie.

[stlsaxman]

12. I thought that was the case shortly after i hit "post message"... pardon my snarky.

thanks for posting it- it always gives me goosebumps. Probably one of my favorite pieces of film ever shot.

[Sky Masterson]

13. It is never a problem when I learn something from the deal.

Thanks for your input. :)

[stlsaxman]

15. what struck me most about this was the dichotomy his espousing "freedom as individuals" and

then finishing it up with "LET US ALL UNITE!" and the look on his face at the end of "what the fuck did i just do?"

The parody in this clip runs so deep on so many levels it baffles...

[Sky Masterson]

35. I saw the same thing.

I also got the feeling that he understood that with great power comes great responsibility.
And I felt that his heart was in a very selfless place.
It would be as if Mahatma Gandhi had the power of Adolph Hitler.

[mucifer]

14. I think hitler was an especially personal issue with Chaplin who was very close to his half brother

who was half Jewish. He knows his brother would have been murdered if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[JoDog]

20. Chaplin was also an avowed leftist

with strong socialist leanings--which got the attention of the FBI in the 1950s. This lead to the US barring him from re-entry after a European trip in 1952.

His second talkie "Monsieur Verdoux" takes a very critical view on capitalism, especially the practice of profiting off war.

[Diclotican]

33. mucifer

mucifer

The story about Hitler, and Chaplin, specially after The Great Dictator first was aired for Hitler in 1940 was intersting... Mostly becouse before The Great Dictator Hitler was a great fan of Charlie Chaplin, who liked the wagabond he was playing... After all, Hitler was also some of a wagabond, who was not pleased by the governmance, and who was more than happy to sleep long into the day, doing some few hour of "work" and then out for some other, more fun stuff... And he was a devil to travel to many places, becouse he for some reason was not happy to stay one place. And he really Hate Berlin, who even after the Nazis was in controll of the government, not really was won over for the nazis. And even tho on the surface the berliners was nazis as few, in fact most of the lower classes was never really won over for the nazi party, and the democrats, communist and socialist for the most part had a large suport group in Berlin.. But when the parties was going, most of the power they represent was also goon...

And then the BOMBSHELL hit Hitler... When he first was looking at the new picture who was screned to him in a special session, where some of the closest allies also was... Hitler was quiet for the whole picture, never told a single word even tho some of the friends he had with him was knowing that something was brewing inside.... After the film was over, he walked out, and forbid the picture to ever been shown in Germany.... And in fact the Great Dictator was forbidden in Germany, to the 1980s, becouse that law for some reason was never rewoced even in the system who was caming after Hitler was shoot, and the 3 reich was no more...

But the story also told, that Hitler was screening the movie many times after he officially forbid the picture, and even amused himself, with the fact that Chapling have managed to "get" Hitler, Goering, Mussolini as a great length, and that the parody of them was greatly been doing... And it is proven by all the times Hitler had asked for the picture to be shown, that Hitler enjoyed the picture.. Even tho he forbid it to be shown to the germans... The parody was damaing beyound repair for Hitler, if shown to the germans I guess...

Diclotican

[LeftinOH]

17. Useless trivia: Chaplin and Hitler were exactly the same age (born 4 days apart),

Chaplin born on April 16 1889; Hitler born on April 20 1889.

[Diclotican]

34. LeftinOH

LeftinOH

Absolutely right.. And Hitler was a great admirer of everything Chaplin did, even the Great Dictator was a "hit" by Hitler.. Even tho he forbid it to be shown for the public, he was often seeing the picture - as the records, who for some reason survived the war...

Diclotican

[stuntcat]

23. Eerie's right

People really do not change. There are always some who want peace and love, & then some powerful monsters who ruin everything.

[HillWilliam]

26. Marking for later

Thanks to the Beer Party (need more beer!) for cross-posting.

[redirish28]

27. My wife loves this speech. She watched it several times during the Bush era.

According to rumors my wife heard. While the Great Dictator was being filmed Hitler was really peeved off at Chaplin and considered having him dealt with.


Regardless of his personal life this is one of the best fictional speeches of all time.--according to the wife.

[BrklynLiberal]

28. I am truly stunned at hearing him speak those words....I never knew he had it in him.

wikipedia:

The Great Dictator

Chaplin's first talking picture, The Great Dictator (1940), was an act of defiance against Nazism, filmed and released in the United States one year before the U.S. abandoned its policy of neutrality to enter World War II. Chaplin played the role of "Adenoid Hynkel",<20> Dictator of Tomania, modeled on German dictator Adolf Hitler. The film also showcased comedian Jack Oakie as "Benzino Napaloni", dictator of Bacteria, a jab at Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Paulette Goddard filmed with Chaplin again, depicting a woman in the ghetto. The film was seen as an act of courage in the political environment of the time, both for its ridicule of Nazism and for the portrayal of overt Jewish characters and the depiction of their persecution. In addition to Hynkel, Chaplin also played a look-alike Jewish barber persecuted by his regime, who physically resembled the Tramp character. At the conclusion, the two characters Chaplin portrayed swapped positions through a complex plot, and he dropped out of his comic character to address the audience directly in a speech.

He was nominated for Academy awards for Best Picture (producer), Best Original Screenplay (writer) and Best Actor in The Great Dictator.

Chaplin's political sympathies always lay with the left. His silent films made prior to the Great Depression typically did not contain overt political themes or messages, apart from the Tramp's plight in poverty and his run-ins with the law, but his 1930s films were more openly political. Modern Times depicts workers and poor people in dismal conditions. The final dramatic speech in The Great Dictator, which was critical of following patriotic nationalism without question, and his vocal public support for the opening of a second European front in 1942 to assist the Soviet Union in World War II were controversial.
Chaplin with Mahatma Gandhi in Canning Town, London, 1931.

Chaplin declined to support the war effort as he had done for the First World War which led to public anger, although his two sons saw service in the Army in Europe. For most of World War II he was fighting serious criminal and civil charges related to his involvement with actress Joan Barry (see below). After the war, his 1947 black comedy, Monsieur Verdoux showed a critical view of capitalism. Chaplin's final American film, Limelight, was less political and more autobiographical in nature. His following European-made film, A King in New York (1957), satirised the political persecution and paranoia that had forced him to leave the U.S. five years earlier.

[underpants]

32. That was outstanding and prophetic