For my money this is one of the weakest of Attenborough's catalogues.
It does however have a HUGE saving grace in Robert Downey Jr who as Chaplin the star is simply brilliant.
I personally disliked the plot device of Anthony Hopkins as Chaplin's biographer and found it quite irritating.
While all performances are solid, especially Kevin Kline if you see the Thief of Bagdad then watch this he really does capture something of Fairbanks charisma and energy, the film is strangely the same: another girl (Literally often) appears, disappears etc; it became almost formulaic after a while.
Great in its scope, and the sets, attention to detail etc; are good - just didn't me the first time I saw it or this time - perhaps tellingly the real Chaplin with the Kid at the end is magnificent.
Definitely worth watching for Downey's tip-top performance as the young Chaplin, but the rest is too linear and flat to make a great film.
It does however have a HUGE saving grace in Robert Downey Jr who as Chaplin the star is simply brilliant.
I personally disliked the plot device of Anthony Hopkins as Chaplin's biographer and found it quite irritating.
While all performances are solid, especially Kevin Kline if you see the Thief of Bagdad then watch this he really does capture something of Fairbanks charisma and energy, the film is strangely the same: another girl (Literally often) appears, disappears etc; it became almost formulaic after a while.
Great in its scope, and the sets, attention to detail etc; are good - just didn't me the first time I saw it or this time - perhaps tellingly the real Chaplin with the Kid at the end is magnificent.
Definitely worth watching for Downey's tip-top performance as the young Chaplin, but the rest is too linear and flat to make a great film.