During the 1920s and 1930s, he was perhaps the most famous man on Earth. The world’s moviegoers erupted into hysterical laughter as he ate his shoe, roller-skated blindfolded, experienced a nervous breakdown on an assembly line, and lampooned Hitler. His beloved Little Tramp—a scrawny, insatiably polite vagabond outfitted in bowler hat, baggy pants, and rattan cane—was instantly recognizable on cinemas across the globe.

He was Charles Chaplin, pantomimist, actor, dancer, filmmaking perfectionist, and undisputed king of Hollywood comedy. Chaplin’s remarkable 52-year career, however, was not without its fair share of personal and political traumas, and by the early 1950s, this British-born comic artist found himself literally banished from his adopted country as the Cold War ignited.

Film historian Max Alvarez examines the legend behind the Tramp character and the influence Chaplin’s 70-plus comic shorts and 11 feature films had on the emerging art form known as cinema. He was unique in his power to develop and create each film during its filming phases. This meticulous, costly, and highly demanding method of directing emerged during Chaplin’s 1910s two-reel Essanay and Mutual comedies and flourished once he graduated to feature-length films by the 1920s.

Since no major studio in burgeoning Hollywood would allow an actor in the roles of both director and star such control, in 1919 Chaplin joined Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith in creating the production and distribution company United Artists. Although his subsequent output as a combination of producer, director, writer, and star was meager, the feature masterworks of Chaplin’s UA years included The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, and Monsieur Verdoux. Enjoy the laughter and experience the heartbreak as Alvarez demonstrates why Charlie Chaplin remains one of the unsurpassed geniuses of 20th-century screen comedy.

General Information

• View Common FAQs and Policies about our Online Programs on Zoom.