One of the most influential and talented comedians ever to grace the silver screen, Chaplin also created one of the most enduring images in the history of cinema, that of the famous Tramp, with ill-fitting suit, floppy shoes, little moustache, bowler hat and cane, and that famous wobbly walk.  He was the first major star of the movies and became an international icon, his silent films translating into any language and people the world over relating easily to his downtrodden character.

            Chaplin used his popularity to secure total control over his productions, involving himself in producing, acting, directing, choreographing and scoring the music for many films, and in doing so became the cinema’s first (perhaps only?) auteur.

            He also helped found United Artists, along with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, as an independent production and distribution company for their own and other filmmakers’ movies, a company which despite a few ups and downs was still making successful pictures right into the seventies, until the disaster of Heaven’s Gate forced a merger with MGM.

            Chaplin’s tendency to over-sentimentalise in his later films wasn’t to everyone’s taste, and opinions were divided over where his talents lay.  French director François Truffault said, “Chaplin means more to me than the idea of God”, whereas Warren Beatty said, “Great comedian, great actor, bad director.”  Halliwell gave this dedication in the Filmgoer’s Companion:

‘For combining precision of comedy technique with a sentimental view of the common man, which pleased the millions of oppressed, and disarmed sophisticated criticism.’