Charlie Chaplin 33rd death anniversary

LOS ANGELES: Renowned comic actor of the silent movies Charlie Chaplin passed 33 years ago, as December 25, 1977 was the last day of his life.

Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, KBE, who was born on 16 April 1889, was an English comic actor and film director of the silent film era. He became one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War.

Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914.

From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing, and from 1918 composing the music. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.

Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent movie comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88.

His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin”s identification with the left ultimately forced him to resettle in Europe during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time. In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: “Chaplin was not just ”big”, he was gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it was tearing itself apart through World War I.

Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and the rise of Adolf Hitler, he stayed on the job. … It is doubtful any individual has ever given more entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most”. George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin “the only genius to come out of the movie industry”.

Ranbir Kapoor to put on weight for Barfee

Irony cannot get ironical than this! The Gen-Next heart throb Ranbir Kapoor is apparently all set to gain weight for Anurag Basu’s Barfee (which was earlier called as Silence).

Those in the know are aware of the fact that Ranbir’s character has been sketched on the lines of the legendary Charlie Chaplin. But, if the market buzz is to be believed, then, the latest addition is that Ranbir’s character will also flaunt Mr. Bean’s moves. News has it that, while Charlie Chaplin was Anurag’s idea, Bean was Ranbir’s brainwave. And in order to look the part, Ranbir is all set to gain weight.

One can only ‘weight’ and watch to see if Ranbir really lives up to the sweetness of Barfee.

‘Happi’ to release on Charlie Chaplin’s birth anniversary

Actor Pankaj Kapoor and director Bhavna Talwar’s first film together DHARM was a cinematic achievement. Naturally, their next project together, HAPPI, is looked forward by connoisseurs of cinema. The film was initially slated for release in December 2010, but the makers have decided to postpone the film to 15 April, 2011 for a valid reason.

Producer Sheetal Talwar explains, “We chose to postpone the release of HAPPI to coincide with the birth anniversary of Charlie Chaplin. HAPPI is told in a Chaplinesque manner and is a tribute to the cinema of Chaplin. Also, Pankaj Kapoor’s character in HAPPI is modelled on the lines of Charlie Chaplin; it’s a tribute to one of the best entertainers of the world. Hence, the postponement.”

Tees Maar Khan copy of Peter Sellers’ After The Fox?

How many of you have heard about the most famous Hollywood comedian (after Charlie Chaplin of course) Peter Sellers? If not, please watch his movie The Party. Anyway, the point to bring up a man of such repertoire is because his films are still inspiring a lot of filmmakers from Bollywood. Peter Sellers 1966 Italian film After The Fox (Caccia Alla Volpe) is one such example. Yes, you heard it.

But the word ‘inspiration’ is too cliche. It’s ‘similarities’ that count when our filmmakers get inspired. After a bit of research, we found out that one of the most anticipated films of this year, Tees Maar Khan, is a fully inspired version of the 1966 comedy, After The Fox starring Peter Sellers. And after watching the trailer, here are some of the ‘similarities’ evident between both the films:

Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), one of the greatest criminals of the world, and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends, and plans to retrieve the “gold of Cairo” a large shipment of gold, that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devices the perfect plan. Posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can’t even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the “gold of Cairo”.

1. After The Fox: Peter Sellers plays a master of disguises thief who makes an entire village a movie set to pull off a heist.
Tees Maar Khan: Akshay Kumar plays a master of disguises who makes an entire village into a movie set to pull off a heist.

2. ATF: Victor Mature plays a vain movie star acting in the “film within the film” and Sellers plays on his vanity.
TMK: Akshaye Khanna plays a vain movie star acting in the “film within the film” and Kumar plays on his vanity.

3. In both cases there is a bumbling police chief.

4. In both cases, the hero’s mother really thinks he’s a filmmaker.

5. In both cases there’s a femme fatale.

6. ATF: A ship is heisted.
TMK: A train is heisted.

In the past, we have seen many Bollywood filmmakers getting inspired by World cinema and Hollywood films and making their own desi versions of the films without realizing the consequences. Well, it’s time they do! In fact in the recent past, many Hollywood studios have taken Bollywood producers to court due to plagiarism and copyright infringement. Will Tees Maar Khan producers also face the music now? Well, this is something that only time will tell.

Michael Jackson Glove Sold For $350K

Michael Jackson Glove Sold For $350K, famous sequined white glove Michael Jackson wore during the world premiere of his famous Moonwalk in 1983 went for $350,000 at an auction at in New York City on Saturday.

The buyer was a Hong Kong businessman, Hoffman Ma, who told FOX News that he had come prepared to spend much more than that to own a piece of history.

“It was a fairly good discount,” said Ma, a 36-year-old lifelong Jackson fan who bought the pop-music treasure on behalf of the Ponte 16 Resort Hotel in Macau. Including taxes and fees, Ma will pay $420,000 for the rhinestone-studded, modified golf glove Jackson wore on his left hand for his infamous Moonwalk on the Motown’s 25th Anniversary TV special in 1983. Michael eventually gave the glove to Walter “Clyde” Orange, of soul group The Commodores.

The Moonwalk glove was the top-sellling item in a collection of Jackson memorabilia that went on the auction block at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square this weekend. Its pre-auction estimate was just $40,000 to $60,000. A jacket that Jackson wore on his 1989 “Bad” tour was the day’s second bestseller. It fetched $225,000 – 20 times its low estimate of $8,000.

Among the other MJ belongings that went on the hammer Saturday: a pair of sparkle-encrusted shoes, portraits of Charlie Chaplin drawn by the singing legend when he was just nine years old, a black shirt signed by Jackson, hats, a 1985 Mercedes, handwritten letters, a fedora, and travel souvenirs.

The King of Pop passed away of an overdose on June 25. Source popcrunch.com

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Michael Jackson Glove Sold For $350K was first posted on November 22, 2009 at 9:53 pm.