Advertisement

screen

A good opportunity to see two sides of Charlie Chaplin: The Gold Rush (1925) at the Orson Welles, M. Verdoux (1947) at Central Square. I think The Gold Rush is his funniest movie--and it may even be more insightful than the more serious Verdoux. Verdoux represents a Chaplin embittered by the depression and the war. Chaplin was eager to strike at the hypocrisy of the governments of the world for crimes which, as he explains at the end of Verdoux, hurt far more people than did the unscrupulous lady killer of the title. M. Verdoux is a subtle and unsettling masterpiece, and the unscrupulous character Chaplin plays has more than his share of ambivalences. A real-life Verdoux inspired the film: a Frenchman named Landru married and killed eleven women in the 20s.

W.C. Fields pervaded Cambridge this week. Five of his films are showing around town. Do you know what the W.C. stands for? (Answer below.) Do you know who said, "I tell you folks, all politics is applesauce"? (It wasn't Fields.)

Jan Lindqvist made his film about the Tupamaros with the cooperation of the revolutionaries themselves. Since they usually try to keep details of their operation secret, the film about them may be very informative.

Juliet of the Spirits (1965) is a fantasy by Fellini that doesn't look like a Fellini film. Fellini made this film about a crumbling marriage because, he said, marriage "has been made into a myth, told in an inexact and treacherous manner."

Angelic films at Quincy House. Was it these cyclists Balzac foretold: "Those sweetly smiling angels with pensive looks, innocent faces, and cashboxes for hearts."

Advertisement

William Claude.

Advertisement