Charlie Chaplin
The year was 1919, and Charles Chaplin, along with Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford, formed the distribution company United Artists. Four years later, made with his own money and on his own schedule, Chaplin released his first film … Continue reading A WOMAN OF PARIS
Politics and entertainment have always been entangled. Sometimes, it’s mockery with a message (Charlie Chaplin clowning on Adolph Hitler in The Great Dictator). Other times, it’s an attempt to expose a local cause to a larger public (the striking miners … Continue reading Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time
I guess you could say the low point arrived on March 27, 2022, with the broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards. No, the “slap heard ’round the world” wasn’t it—though that cast a pall over the proceedings, didn’t it?—but the … Continue reading Cinema 101
He’s just this strange figure who was sort of prodigiously talented at something that he never chose to do,” Dana Stevens says. “And then continued to invent new ways of exploring that.” Continue reading Dana Stevens on CAMERA MAN
Every August TCM breaks from its regularly scheduled programming to honor the faces that make the great mechanical art form so enchanting. It’s Summer Under the Stars, 24 hours with a dozen or so movies from a single actor, 31 … Continue reading TCM’s Summer Under the Stars
Made in 1925, Charlie Chaplin’s greatest comedy is also his most recognizable. From the Little Tramp (Chaplin) woefully underdressed in the Klondike to hunger so intense he envisions his cabin-mate as a large roast chicken. But it’s the dance of … Continue reading THE GOLD RUSH
It’s mid-June, which means we ought to be full swing into Chautauqua’s Summer of Silents—the annual celebration of cinema sans dialogue. And whether they’re accompanied by the incomparable Hank Troy or the impressive Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, spending a … Continue reading Home Viewing: Silent Clowns
Another summer is upon us, and that means it’s time for another season of silent film at Chautauqua. For those unfamiliar with the silent era, a quick primer: Movies didn’t always talk. True, we now call them silent movies, but … Continue reading Send in the Clowns: Chautauqua Silent Film Series (2017)
Like it or not, artists change. Though we wish to preserve them in amber, those we hold near and dear grow into individuals that we may not necessarily want, but certainly may need. That was the case with Charlie Chaplin, … Continue reading THE KID
Michael J. Cinema 
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