Word: countess
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Jean Marshall's Countess was less successful. Her voice never blended with the other, and "Dove sono i beimomento," which must be the loveliest aria in the opera, came out nervous and constricted. She might have been singing in Martian for all the words I could make...
Though it resembles Chaplin's earlier films, Countess contains much of the bitterness of Limelight and A King in New York, giving the romance a darkly pessimistic overtone. The 70-year-old director's point of view has soured over the years, and certain feelings can be inferred from his new film. Chaplin can neither take comfort in the security of old age or have faith in youth. The society girl with whom Brando dances is self-centered and vapid, a Marxist parody of upper class Capitalism. Her continual references to the beliefs of her father imply that...
...disenchantment and made him slightly misanthropic, it hasn't erased his sentimental romantic spirit. He is obviously enchanted with mature women. Andrew Saris, writing in the Village voice, points out that Chaplin loves each dance hall girl in the opening sequence. And when Natascha is introduced with another Countess and a Baroness, she is presented second, not last, as she would be if she were the star attraction; Chaplin's camera lingers lovingly on all three...
...full shot of a room, with Brando in screen right and a door in screen left, we know instantly that someone will open the door within a few moments. This simplistic concept of film-making has made Chaplin unfashionable with technique-conscious students. But the film-making in A Countess from Hong Kong is highly sophisticated; the editing has great direction and force, each cut timed to convey degrees of humor, and establish patterns and rhythms to which he can subtly refer in later scenes. Frequently he win cut back to a camera set-up used in a previous scene...
Chaplin adhered to the philosophy of film-making he created, long after it had been abandoned by the mainstream. But this doesn't make his art old fashioned. A Countess From Hong Kong is modern cinema, though not, perhaps, what we have come to expect from modern cinema. Take the new Chaplin film on its own terms; contrary to all those patronizing critics, the old man hasn't really lost his touch, and Countess is a glorious romance...