Now that the super-hype of the Academy Awards is over, there isn't much to see on big screens around town.
With one huge exception.
The Webster University Film Series, under the leadership of James Harrison, is devoting March to a great collection of movies, all eight feature films of Charlie Chaplin. A consummate writer, director and performer, Chaplin knew exactly how narrow the line between comedy and tragedy, and it shows in these sensitive, superb examples of the motion picture.
All begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Winifred Moore Auditorium, 470 East Lockwood Rd.
Tonight, March 4 — "City Lights," 1931, a silent comedy-romance in which Chaplin takes pantomime to new heights.
Tomorrow, March 5 — "Modern Times," 1936, the final film for Chaplin's little tramp character, but a brilliant look at the arriving world of the production line and the industrial society. The beautiful Paulette Goddard co-stars.
Sunday, March 6 — "The Great Dictator," 1940, Chaplin's first talkie, and a vicious attack on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Chaplin plays both the Hitler character, known as Adenoid Hynkel, and a gentle Jewish barber.
Friday, March 11 — "The Gold Rush," 1925, no one ever forgets the dance of the dinner rolls and the sequence of Chaplin cooking his shoe in what may be his best-remembered movie. Also with Paulette Goddard.
Saturday, March 12 — "The Kid," 1921, was his first feature, with Jackie Coogan as the child he befriends. Shows with a short, "Idle Class" (1921), in which Chaplin plays two characters opposite Edna Purviance.
Sunday, March 13 — "The Circus," 1928, another slapstick comedy featuring the little tramp in an accidental appearance in the Big Top.
Sunday, March 20 — "Monsieur Verdoux," 1947, kind of a reverse "Arsenic and Old Lace, as Chaplin portrays an out-of-work bank clerk who woos, weds and murders wealthy, elderly women. Tragedy, horror and humor.
Sunday, March 27 — "Limelight," 1952, was Chaplin's final film, and the only time he appeared with Buster Keaton, the only other movie comedian to be mentioned in the same sentence. Once again, he befriends a despondent young woman, played by Claire Bloom who, 58 years later, portrayed Queen Mary in "The King's Speech."
Truly a great way to spend a month.
—Joe