Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Monday, June 04, 2018

When Writer/Director Chaplin Came Back


Charlie Does 1967 His Way

Another from 60's-kept scrapbooks, this ad for Winston-Salem open of A Countess From Hong Kong caught my eye at the time for its F-R-E-E give of doughnuts and coffee to those attending a Tuesday morning "Sneak Preview." I didn't know at age 13 what a "Continental Breakfast" was, a meal you'd eat on another continent perhaps? Clearly I wasn't the right audience for A Countess From Hong Kong, being more congenially occupied with Rasputin, The Mad Monk around that time. As with Love Has Many Faces and others aimed at distaff market, Countess saw much of attendance derive from women stopping in singly or with friends to watch. Much word-of-mouth would travel over ambient noise of hair dryers or whatever cacophony beauty salons might generate. Do I belittle women moviegoers of the day? Not at all, at least intentionally. They were, next to youth, a most loyal audience and among few left as 60's theatres fell like wheat before the scythe. Matinees were a convenience thanks to kids secured at school and husbands presumably at toil. Homemakers, happy or otherwise, saw films as break from routine, assuming topic was one that intrigued them. Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren in a frothy and perhaps naughty shipboard romance might well have filled at least half of seats that June 27 morn, and who knows but what bulk of watchers, good will warmed by cups of Joe and sinkers, had plentiful good time.




Critics cursed (still do) A Countess From Hong Kong. Would that have mattered in slightest to a Winston-Salem lady attending with members of her bridge club? (P.P.S., says the ad, Invite a friend --- make it a party!) For this sort of showgoing, good company was the pleasure, and mirth was contagious. What's your guess A Countess From Hong Kong got laughs in a crowded enough house? Yes, it laid dead as a dog for me when NBC had primetime premiere on 9-20-69, but how was that fair way to watch? I had known A Countess From Hong Kong since arrival of a LIFE magazine the week of April 1, 1966, months from when the film would be released in early 1967. The cover had writer-director Charlie Chaplin gazing upon Sophia Loren from behind, and above, her. Chaplin was above every aspect of A Countess From Hong Kong. The project was all about him so far as advance publicity went, and there was ocean of that over seasons' run-up. I looked at LIFE photos of the Little Tramp and couldn't believe that someone who made movies in 1914 was making another one now. Chaplin for me was a creature of mostly still images and a clip or so on TV. His early shorts were tentative-used in a few of Robert Youngson fun-fests (CC still a political controversy in late 50/early 60's), while features were withheld by the comic legend and certainly not shown where I was.




A Countess From Hong Kong accomplished a lot by making Chaplin a name again, hopefully a relevant and even commercial one, assuming the movie clicked. Novelty of his turning 77 as Countess was made got ink for itself, credit due such a venerable artist seeing any major project through. Chaplin had enough bounce in his step and coals in fire to make age an irrelevance. There had been an autobiography a few years before, well-received and popular. Chaplin even dribbled out a few of his treasures to urban situations, and they made a hit (especially Monsieur Verdoux in New York). So what then, if A Countess From Hong Kong flopped? It would, if nothing else, enhance awareness of, and value to, Chaplin's backlog, and that would ripen to a million $ deal when he leased the lot to an independent promoter. Taking most of lumps for A Countess From Hong Kong was, I suspect, Universal, and we could wonder what executive walked the plank for having given this a go.




There is a DVD of A Countess From Hong Kong from Universal, and it is lovely, disappointment to then- supporters  tempered by fifty years accepting Countess as flawed result it was. Searching out the good is a high hill to climb, but better casting for a start might have helped. Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren fascinate for their utter wrongness here, it well known that Chaplin directed both by playing their parts and having them ape him close as possible. Tension was observed and spread thanks to so much press on the set. Lots said that Charlie was funnier than his stars could hope to be. A Countess From Hong Kong would certainly have been a better comedy if they had simply photographed Chaplin directing it. He'd not permit a production short (too bad), but a seeming thousand stills were taken. Universal issued many of these to US media. I doubt any director in the company's history had so much promotion focused on him. Brando and Loren were allegedly the biggest names going when Chaplin got them, but hardly at a peak of respective careers. Changing times being what they were, A Countess From Hong Kong might still have failed even if it had been a better picture.

8 Comments:

Blogger Mike Cline said...

Odd that the movie ad does not mention WHICH theatre was hosting the Continental Breakfast party of ACFHK.

7:05 AM  
Blogger radiotelefonia said...

Actually, there is some footage on the set celebrating his 77th birthday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2erntOTHko

8:06 AM  
Blogger stinky fitzwizzle said...

Saw this years ago, and it made two impressions: Sophia Loren was a delightful comic actress, and the movie seemed hopelessly old-fashioned. How many decades old was the script Chaplin dusted off?

11:38 AM  
Blogger brickadoodle said...

Brando, Loren, Chaplin? I can’t think of a weirder combination of talent. RASPUTIN was, by far, a lesser waste of celluloid than A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG.

1:06 PM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

I seem to recall that Chaplin wrote the script circa 1937 with the idea of casting Paulette Goddard in the lead. Scripts laying around 30 years don't age very well. Plus, the idea of Marlon "Method" Brando going along with Chaplin's direction step by step is ludicrous. But it makes me wonder what future cineastes will think of Woody Allen's 21st-century movies.

5:20 PM  
Blogger Jerry Kovar said...

John,

You may have a problem with your Blogger site. I notice little to no responses to your posts, which seems unusual, and I know that I sent one in for RIO BRAVO. Jerry

6:29 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Turns out there was a Blogger problem, as in me not receiving e-mails from the service when there was a new comment to pass through. Plenty were there all along and I just needed to locate them, a Blogger switch not shared with ones of us that maintain sites. I should have had presence of mind to figure this out sooner. The accumulated comments for Rio Bravo, She Had To Say Yes, and A Countess from Hong Kong are now up, many fine observations among them. As always, Greenbriar welcomes more.

1:20 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

NBC first aired COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG as the season premiere for its "Saturday Night at the Movies" franchise on Sept. 20, 1969. It may have been part of a syndication package as of 1971.

2:59 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024
  • April 2024
  • May 2024
  • June 2024
  • July 2024
  • August 2024
  • September 2024
  • October 2024