Revealing the secrets of Charlie Chaplin

Four surprises, as brought to light by new documentary THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN

HE TAUGHT HIMSELF GREEK

The public face of Charlie Chaplin was one of pratfalls and poor luck as The Little Tramp, his famous silent-film character. But off-screen, he was a man of incredible self-discipline. “He taught himself Greek and yoga when he was touring America,” explains The Real Charlie Chaplin co-director James Spinney. “He had already taught himself to play the violin and the cello. Chaplin didn’t have much formal education. But he had, right from the start, incredible ambition and drive.”

HE WAS KNOWN AS ‘PROFESSOR ALCOHOL’ IN JAPAN

As arguably the first international megastar, many countries adopted regional names for Chaplin. “Professor Alcohol, Charlot, Charlee, Carlitos, Sidakwa...” lists Spinney. “It’s an interesting thing, when you think about silent film, having this capacity to transcend language, to transcend borders.” Part of his appeal, the film argues, is his universal ability for audiences to project their own feelings. “This nameless figure, the Tramp, who is from nowhere, going nowhere...” Spinney stops himself. “But you know, I’m in danger of intellectualising here — because we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that he’s just very funny.”

HE RECREATED A SOUTH LONDON STREET IN HOLLYWOOD

Despite becoming a huge star, Chaplin could never escape his humble upbringing — or rather, he never wanted to, painstakingly recreating several streets from his South London neighbourhood in his Hollywood studio. “That whole Lambeth neighbourhood is visible in the scenery of his Hollywood studio,” says Spinney. “It’s interesting that when he becomes this powerful figure who has this huge studio and armies of people at his command, he’s constantly using it to journey inwards.” His character and his films, the documentary argues, are all about exploring the poverty of his childhood. “You’re never far from gags about food and about hunger in a Chaplin film. Sigmund Freud watched his films and made that diagnosis — that Chaplin is always just replaying these same traumas, again and again, on screen.”

HE SPENT OVER TWO YEARS FILMING ONE SCENE

Chaplin’s methods veered close to madness at times; he almost never started filming with a formal script. “He didn’t really begin with much more than just the faintest of ideas — and just went at it and kept going until it became funny.” This came to a head with his 1931 feature City Lights, which was years in the making; the scene where he meets the blind ‘flower girl’ began filming in December 1928 and was only completed in the spring of 1930. “He’d drive everyone mad by pushing them to the edge,” Spinney says. “I think any other filmmaker would have either compromised or given up. But Chaplin just goes deeper and deeper into this maze. And the eventual result is truly one of the great masterpieces of cinema.” THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN IS IN CINEMAS FROM 18 FEBRUARY