Charlie Chaplin
Born April 16, 1889, Charles Chaplin is rightfully credited with being both a pioneer and innovative genius in the art of Cinema. Between 1914 and 1967, he scripted, produced, directed and acted in over 80 productions, even creating the musical score and choreography for some.
To many, he is considered to be the world's first truly international superstar due to the universality of his medium. However, his highly prolific and popular artistic output soon put him under the microscope resulting in both adulation and controversy.
His sympathy for the "little guy" and contempt of "big capitalism" led FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to keep extensive files on him in the hope of terminating his US residency. In the late '40s, he was threatened with a summons to appear before the House Un-American Activity Committee (HUAC) but the motion was dropped as sager members of congress were fearful of the bedlam he would unleash if given the floor.
Chaplin eventually left the USA in 1952 saying, "I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted."
His appearance in Bolsheviki - A Soldiers Tale is a tribute to his art and daring in his film Shoulder Arms (1918) as it reveals (perhaps unwittingly) the large degree of ignorance most people shared, and to some extent still do, of the senseless horror that was WWI.
Shoulder Arms was a benchmark for Chaplin, thematically pitting naiveté and innocence against greed and brutality - today the technique is described as Chaplinesque.Originally planned as a five-reel or feature-length, film under the title Camouflage, he finished a three-reel (40-minute) version in September 1918 and retitled it Shoulder Arms.
Released in October, shortly before the end of the war, it proved to be
a huge hit-particularly, Chaplin says, with soldiers who appreciated his
gentle mockery of heroic conventions of war. Moreover, when the war ended,
advertisements for the film could invite everyone to enjoy a respite from
wartime seriousness: "Shoulder Arms has come at the right time. People
can laugh at it without any guilt feelings now."
The film opens with Charlie in boot camp mocking the regimentation of
military formations and drills. Almost immediately, he finds himself overseas
in the mud, muck, and lice of the trenches. Feigning heroism, Charlie
prepares to go "over the top" (out of the trench and into the
line of fire), only to lose his nerve at the last minute. Another memorable
scene shows him reading a letter over the shoulder of another soldier
and perfectly mimicking his reactions of apprehension and relief.
In the film, Charlie heroically volunteers for a secret mission. Informed
that he "may never return," he vainly tries to volunteer someone
else. The secret mission turns out to be a trip "behind enemy lines,"
during which he walks around camouflaged as a tree. This brilliantly surreal
episode shows him defeating a group of German soldiers intent on turning
him into firewood. In the next sequence, he manages to evade capture by
having his papier-mâché camouflage blend into a forest.