Charlie Chaplin did much of his best work as an actor, director and even composer in films such as The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus and City Lights.
Playing the "Little Tramp" — dressed in an ill-fitting suit with a toothbrush mustache, cane and bowler hat — he was not only a brilliant physical comedian, but also conveyed a great sense of pathos with moments of loneliness, heartbreak and failure.
This Chaplin — who would have been 120 years old last month — is well worth remembering, and his films well worth discovering.
Chaplin also held socialist ideas and surrounded himself with a number of left-wing friends and acquaintances. Though he often held his tongue, after City Lights was released in 1931, Chaplin made a series of films with explicit political statements in them. This eventually found him hounded out of the country by the rise of McCarthyism.
Several years into the Great Depression, which left millions unemployed, Chaplin made his film Modern Times (1936) between the great labour upsurges of 1934 — which saw mass strikes in three cities — and the wave of sit-down strikes in 1937. Chaplin's Little Tramp, the most recognised impoverished character in all of US film, could not help but be affected by these events.
The movie begins with the Tramp slaving over a factory line, constantly struggling to keep up with the pace. The boss sits in a quiet office reading the comics in a newspaper. Chaplin's physical comedy is on full display as he works harder and faster to no end other than uncontrolled twitching due to a repetitive stress disorder.
He is eventually driven mad by the stress and finds himself accidentally leading a demonstration of Communist workers, who are beaten and imprisoned by the police.
Chaplin's wife at the time, Paulette Goddard, is his female co-star, playing a young woman in even worse poverty than the Tramp. The two meet and fall in love, spending the rest of the film searching for the American Dream.
Chaplin's next film was his most consistently and overtly political. After spending decades as the world's most popular silent comedian, in The Great Dictator (1940) Chaplin created one of the classic vocal impersonations of US cinema.
Chaplin stars in two roles, most notoriously as "The Phooey" Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania — based explicitly on Adolph Hitler. Hynkel's hate-spewing speeches in mock German are so full of vile epithets that they can't be "translated".
At times, he snorts and snarls his anger and desires, and, at other times, he performs a ballet with a beach ball-like globe that he tosses through the air, joyfully anticipating world domination.
But beyond the silliness, the story sharply examined some of Hitler's most despicable practices.
For example, while Hynkel openly discusses his desire to eliminate the entire Jewish race, his storm troopers engage in pogroms in the Jewish ghetto and paint "Jew" on their shop windows.
This portrayal was not only before the US had declared war against Germany — and still maintained diplomatic relations with the country — but also at a time when anti-Semitism was a regular part of US life.
Some of the residents of the ghetto express their desire to rebel against the fascist regime. Eventually they decide to organise a suicide mission to assassinate Hynkel.
This leads to one of the funniest moments in the movie. Chaplin, in his second role playing the Little Tramp as a Jewish barber, does everything he can to avoid being chosen for the mission.
The final scene — in which the Jewish barber is mistaken for Hynkel and gives a lengthy speech denouncing Nazism — is hotly contested among critics. Many consider it to be unnecessarily preachy, but that seems to be a tedious criticism considering what Hitler was doing at the time.
It took great courage for Chaplin to have the Little Tramp, the most recognised character in all the movies, give a rousing speech against the spreading Nazi menace in his final screen appearance.
In the speech, the Jewish barber articulates a progressive world view, denouncing the "greed" that "has poisoned men's souls ... has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed... Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want."
But all is not lost: "You the people have the power ... then in the name of democracy, let us use that power, let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world, that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age security... Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance!"
The two most famous gossip columnists at the time, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, both cooperated with the FBI to collect and distribute information that would be damaging to Chaplin.
Another fierce anti-communist, a pre-variety show Ed Sullivan, spread the rumour that Chaplin was on the verge of defecting to Russia.
Rather than back down, Chaplin continued to defend and support his friends. He gave his name to efforts to oppose the investigation of suspected communists in Hollywood and supported many who were forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
After being subpoenaed himself, Chaplin invited the committee to see his latest film, Monsieur Verdoux (1947). A suspenseful comedy about a man who marries and then kills several women for their money, Verdoux ends with a harsh denunciation of Western imperialism.
The title character, played by Chaplin, defends himself by saying, "As for being a mass murderer, does not the world encourage it? Is it not building weapons of destruction for the sole purpose of mass killing? Has it not blown unsuspecting women and children to pieces, and done it scientifically? As a mass murderer, I am an amateur by comparison."
He later comments, "One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify."
Inviting HUAC to hear this commentary was a shot across the bow and an announcement that he was fully prepared to defend himself. HUAC got the message, and his "invitation" to testify was quickly dropped. He later said that he was prepared to appear dressed as the Little Tramp and make a mockery of the proceedings.
For several years, he would continue to be watched by the FBI and hounded by the press. Often there was a spotlight on his numerous affairs, occasionally with women who were far too young, leaving him open to charges of "moral depravity".
Many asked aloud why the British-born Chaplin, who never expressed any interest in citizenship, should be allowed to remain a "guest" in the US.
Increasingly, right-wing veterans groups like the American Legion and Catholic War Veterans picketed showings of his films and sometimes succeeded in getting them cancelled.
In his next film, Limelight (1952), Chaplin starred as a washed up, aging stage comedian. This was not only one of his best films but also one of his least political.
Immediately after heading on a world tour to promote Limelight, his re-entry visa was revoked by [US President Harry] Truman's attorney general. After living in the US for most of his life, he would not be allowed to return for another two decades when the political atmosphere had cooled.
[Abridged from US Socialist Worker http://www.socialistworker.org]