Truly Dreadful Film

hyped garbage

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Door-slamming, buzzer-ringing boudoir farce aboard ship, balefully written, directed, co-produced and scored by Charles Chaplin, who also has a cameo. Unhappy concoction with miscast, mumbling Marlon Brando in the lead, playing wealthy future ambassador to Saudi Arabia who is matched with Russian countess and dance hall girl Sophia Loren when his ship docks in Hong Kong; she wants to go on to America despite having no papers, and stows away in Brando's cabin. Chaplin must have conceived this material at one time as a play; the right-to-left action on the main set is static and uninventive--and for laughs, everyone gets seasick and needs a place to vomit. Brando is far too serious and heavy-spirited for chasing-around-the-table comedy. Loren fakes her way through (when she says "I'll be glad when it's over", one can take the comment literally). Her beauty, however, is a compensation; also, Patrick Cargill as Brando's valet has a funny bit getting into bed, and Tippi Hedren is a nice surprise, popping up late in the film as Brando's haughty wife. *1/2 from ****

image4.jpeg The Countess from Hong Kong, 1967. Viewed in Bologna at Cinema Ritrovato Festival (festival of rediscovered films), July 2016. Chaplin's directorial swan song starring Marlon Brando at his most wooden and Sofia Loren at her most ridiculous. Arguably one of the worst big name films ever made but I loved watching this early study in High Camp and have to agree with Peter Von Bragh's dissenting opinion that CFHK is a masterpiece -- Yes, a masterpiece of corny Camp! Brando's stiffness as a wealthy diplomat is the crowning pit of his career. Tippi Hedren, the harried star of Hitchcock's BIRDS shines and steals the show with a brief appearance in the final act. This Shipboard bedroom farce with less than sexy Sofia Loren is truly farcical -- both stars seemto have been intimidated by Chaplin into giving their worst performances imaginable

There are some famous names, Charles Chaplin, Marlon Brando... Sophia Loren, yes, her! As usual playing a woman from slum who tries to blackmail a man of status, 120% cliché! But the cliché and predictability is not a major problem, I never expected Billy Wilder from Charles Chaplin. The problem is that the whole thing happens in room in a ship with essentially 2-3 characters. It could be a good play for theatre or even Broadway adding some songs but making a feature film based on a play so simple and lame? Sophia Loren would jump on it I bet but I really don't know what Chaplin persuaded Brando to play in it as the movie was so bad that it had the potential to single handedly end his career. May his soul rest in heaven but I guess it was time for Chaplin to just give up on cinema and enjoy his rest of the days.

Well, *I'm* certainly not going to pan a Charlie Chaplin film. Like all his films, it's certainly worth viewing. While it doesn't completely gel as a whole, it is an artistic film - that is to say it is an expression of the artist's vision of life at a certain point in his life - for Chaplin, the final years. There is dialog about politics, about death, sex, love, art. These comments often fly by at the speed of lighthearted comedy, but it is worth the time to watch the film a second time to catch them all.I found Brando's performance mesmerizing, though, again, did not gel with the film as a whole. Add to this the fact that he is acting with much inferior actors (Sophia Loren and Sydney Chaplin do not come to mind as great actors of Brando's caliber, as impressive as they may be).My chief regret is that the film was not as funny as I'd hoped. The glaring exception was the scene with the bedridden British dowager, played to hilarious perfection by Margaret Rutherford.