A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
Country: GB/US
Technical: Technicolor 120m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill
Synopsis:
An American diplomat puts in at Hong Kong on the long voyage home from Saudi Arabia, and meets a White Russian countess who proceeds to stow away in his cabin.
Review:
Chaplin's last film (Did he really think it his best?) is a frothy comedy with a pleasant air of bonhomie about it, appropriately enough since it features most of his family in some guise or other. The film was made entirely at Pinewood, which does adequate service for Hong Kong and Hawaii, and is remarkable for its slipshod editing: one or two mismatched shots is one thing, but the director seems to have forgotten how to break down a sequence into close-up, shot-reverse shot and master shot without resulting in howling lapses in continuity. Perhaps the problem lay in his reluctance to delegate such tasks to the continuity girl! Otherwise, Brando looks ill at ease in a role tailor made for Cary Grant, but Loren is totally at home and a delight. The film has some classic silent era focuses of comic business, which time and taste had erased in the interim, including belching after alka seltzer, turning the radio up to cover bathroom noises, and being made nauseous by a cigar stub in an ashtray.
Country: GB/US
Technical: Technicolor 120m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill
Synopsis:
An American diplomat puts in at Hong Kong on the long voyage home from Saudi Arabia, and meets a White Russian countess who proceeds to stow away in his cabin.
Review:
Chaplin's last film (Did he really think it his best?) is a frothy comedy with a pleasant air of bonhomie about it, appropriately enough since it features most of his family in some guise or other. The film was made entirely at Pinewood, which does adequate service for Hong Kong and Hawaii, and is remarkable for its slipshod editing: one or two mismatched shots is one thing, but the director seems to have forgotten how to break down a sequence into close-up, shot-reverse shot and master shot without resulting in howling lapses in continuity. Perhaps the problem lay in his reluctance to delegate such tasks to the continuity girl! Otherwise, Brando looks ill at ease in a role tailor made for Cary Grant, but Loren is totally at home and a delight. The film has some classic silent era focuses of comic business, which time and taste had erased in the interim, including belching after alka seltzer, turning the radio up to cover bathroom noises, and being made nauseous by a cigar stub in an ashtray.
Country: GB/US
Technical: Technicolor 120m
Director: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill
Synopsis:
An American diplomat puts in at Hong Kong on the long voyage home from Saudi Arabia, and meets a White Russian countess who proceeds to stow away in his cabin.
Review:
Chaplin's last film (Did he really think it his best?) is a frothy comedy with a pleasant air of bonhomie about it, appropriately enough since it features most of his family in some guise or other. The film was made entirely at Pinewood, which does adequate service for Hong Kong and Hawaii, and is remarkable for its slipshod editing: one or two mismatched shots is one thing, but the director seems to have forgotten how to break down a sequence into close-up, shot-reverse shot and master shot without resulting in howling lapses in continuity. Perhaps the problem lay in his reluctance to delegate such tasks to the continuity girl! Otherwise, Brando looks ill at ease in a role tailor made for Cary Grant, but Loren is totally at home and a delight. The film has some classic silent era focuses of comic business, which time and taste had erased in the interim, including belching after alka seltzer, turning the radio up to cover bathroom noises, and being made nauseous by a cigar stub in an ashtray.