These last few weeks I fell madly in love with Charlie Chaplin. Not to say I was never crazy over him before. Some of the first Silent related films I seen were "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator" which of course made me dub him brilliant. But now that I've seen most of his features I definitely have to give him the title "King of Comedy".
In the Silent Film community there's always some 'who's the best' argument. The vamps (Nita, Theda, Greta, Louise), The sweethearts (Mary, Lillian), and the Great Lovers (Valentino wins hands down but he competes with John Gilbert and Ramon Navarro). However nothing is more hotly contested than "The Greatest Silent Film Comedian". Mabel barely gets in there (nor Mary), Fatty seems left out, Laurel and Hardy weren't funny until talkies were on the horizon, Max Linder and Charley Chase were good, Larry Semon was boring, and even Ben Turpin can get a nod. But it always comes down to the Big 3: Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd.
In fairness its not a fair fight. Each had their own strengths and talents. By saying Charlie is King I'm not saying the other two weren't good at all. I've thoroughly enjoyed films by both Keaton and Lloyd. But when it comes to comedy, they aren't first.
Now 2 disclaimers: I'm mostly basing this on features (comedy shorts tend to be just meh), and I'm not a fan of Keystone slapstick...which permeates comedy to this day (look at Silents and Cartoons). A kick in the butt, a pie in the face, and a long drawn out chase can wear thin. Of course that's where Charlie became big...so I am aware.
I've seen a bunch of comedy shorts and so far the Chaplin ones are the only ones I've enjoyed. "One AM" is classic (he comes home drunk, proceeds to tear up his home accidentally). Everything else from the minors the majors is just too much slapstick for the most part.
When features came into play this problem persisted. Both Buster and Harold's strengths lie in their stunt abilities (The General, Safety Last!), not necessarily the comedy. Buster seems more dry wit in that area, Harold could put his gags but it was extremely...sassy. He always played the token 20s guy, the real go getter who when he did something funny seemed to be to sass. In fairness I guess 'Girl Shy' would be more because his character was nervous.
Charlie could do stunts (his main 'thing' in vaudeville was falling off a fake balcony without hurting himself) but he never made it as big a thing as both Harold and Buster did. Combine this stunt thing with a love of chases and that's where I feel the other 2 fail short. A movie like "The General" is an excellent film, but not really a comedy (that's why it failed on its original release). There's maybe 5 minutes of comedy (trying to sign up for the confederacy) which is good, 10 minutes of plot, and an hour or so of a long chase.
In Harold's case I feel his chases ruined his movies. People say that was his 'trademark' but personally it just spoiled it for me. A little chase or stunt would be fine, but he'd drag them on so damn long you'd be looking at your watch. A good example is "Girl Shy". Its an excellent plot, well acted, and the gags are funny. The ending involves a long....LOOOONG (10 minutes? 15?) chase trying to get from his town to the girl's wedding. He gets there, steals the bride, and runs out. A good ending but not worth the looooong loooong chase. Cut it in half, woulda saved the film.
Obviously a lot of Charlie's plots aren't just funny (some are downright sad). But when you take away the gags, and the chases, and the stunts hes the one who wins hands down. Harold made cute movies but they weren't...genius plot wise. Buster's could go that route but I think he just didn't devote enough time to that part. But if you take the gags out of a Chaplin movie...you still have a GOOD MOVIE. And just to add insult to injury when he has a chase or build up the gags flow seamlessly with it (the final millionaire scene in "City Lights" for example, or the mountain scene in "Gold Rush"). Buster and Harold just left the thrill and spectacle...your more concerned if they're gonna get out of it...there's nothing to laugh at usually.
I'm a huge fan of Pickford and Valentino but I can acknowledge Charlie pretty much blows every other star (silent and talkie) out of the water. Its almost not fair to compare Keaton and Lloyd to him. Or anyone for that matter. He'd come up with plots still funny in this day and age and while the made you laugh they also tugged at your heart strings. And even though he in his old age claimed 'clowns should be above politicians' he definitely had the balls to take on the establishments of his day. Even now such a move by any star would be risky...its just amazing how daring and witty he could be. When he made "The Great Dictator" America was still in an isolationist stance, and such a move was seen as a little commie leaning. The whole holocaust thing wasn't know yet...and we as a country were just gonna let Hitler alone. He took it on anyways, eventually being respected for the move.
After his 1952 exile Chaplin made "A King in New York" which was released as McCarthyism was still going on...a reason it didn't see US release until the 70s for the most part. In the film Chaplin plays a King exiled in America, and basically sticks it to his accusers left and right (having his son play a communist). It was an amazingly ballsy move...to think he was almost 70 when he made it (and still looked good just for the record)!!!
I guess enough gushing. But there is definitely good reason Charlie is one of the few Silent stars remembered today, I find it a shame he hasn't been more so.
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