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StephenPSmith
Reviews
City Lights (1931)
A top, top film
If you are unsure about the silent era do watch this film. It's pure genius and ties so much with Chaplin's childhood on the streets of Lambeth.
I cover the film extensively in my book "The Charlie Chaplin Walk" (Stephen P. Smith). The blind flower seller, who he attempts to rescue, represents Chaplin's mother who he failed to rescue from her madness. And the drunk represents his father, sometimes dismissive, sometimes pleased to see him and Chaplin plays the child in that dynamic.
Importantly, and I've never seen this pointed out anywhere, the drunk and the flower girl never meet in the film; they are two distinct stories joined by the presence of Chaplin (The Tramp) which mirrors Chaplin's own childhood where he never was in the presence of his mother and father at the same time. His mother was the poor woman who needed rescuing and his father the unreliable drunk.
Last Holiday (1950)
I love this film
This is the film that I have watched the most times. It if full of social comment for the late 1940s and early 1950s. The richness of character and the subplots centred around a group of hotel guests, bring to life what otherwise might be a predictable plot. I never tire of it.
Sid James gets a chance to shine through as the great character actor he was and in no way stands in the shadow of, the distinguished, Alec Guinness.
Not only is social comment explored but the post-war class system. When the lower class Guinness arrives at the hotel an upper class type describes him as a 'counter jumper who took a lucky dip in a football pool'. It's a throw away comment yet superb. That of dismissive attitude, knowing your place and that new money has no entitlement with old.
The hotel manager bridges the gap across the class of his guests while the working class Sid James is not phased by his 'fish out of the water environment' - unlike Guinness who is dogged by feelings of not belonging. Guinness makes friends with all the guests, irrespective of their backgrounds, they build him up, smash him down and then are smashed down themselves.
It's well worth watching. I love it. And watch out for the mention of cousins - most of the hotel guests appear to have one or two they make reference to.
The Likely Lads (1976)
A good film adaptation of a sitcom
It's always tough job to make a half hour show into feature film length and this title loses something of the TV series where there is audience laughter to keep the mood jolly c.f. slipping into the actual mood of the characters.
Any sexually frustrated young man will emphasise with the plot and as a viewer I did feel a twinge of sadness as opposed to the out and out humour of the original TV series. The 'send up' of the characters of the TV series became empathy with the characters themselves.
In places the plot feels a little like a series of subplots that the writers then weaved a story through. Some great lines though.
A good film adaptation of a sitcom.