Charlie Chaplin’s Features, in Order

Charlie Chaplin made dozens of short comedies before he made a feature, and he kept making features long after the rest of Hollywood had moved on from silent film. His 11 features, spread across 46 years, are a compact way to see one of cinema’s founding careers from start to finish. Here they are in order, with the best place to start.

Before the features

Chaplin’s screen career began in 1914, and his archive, catalogued by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, lists his pictures from that year through to 1952. The early years ran through a series of studios: Keystone in 1914, Essanay in 1915, Mutual in 1916 and 1917, and First National from 1918, where the shorts grew longer and more ambitious. In 1919 he co-founded United Artists, which released his features from A Woman of Paris onward. The Tramp, with his bowler, cane and borrowed dignity, was in place long before The Kid.

Every Chaplin feature, in order

1. The Kid (1921). The Tramp adopts an abandoned baby, played as a boy by Jackie Coogan. Chaplin’s first feature, and still the most direct route to his mix of slapstick and sentiment.
2. A Woman of Paris (1923). A drama starring Edna Purviance that Chaplin wrote and directed but barely appears in. Worth seeing once you know his comedies, to see what he wanted to do outside them.
3. The Gold Rush (1925). The Tramp in the Klondike: the boiled-boot dinner, the dance of the rolls, the teetering cabin. Chaplin reissued it in 1942 with a new score and his own narration, and that is the version the Criterion Collection lists.
4. The Circus (1928). The Tramp accidentally becomes the star of a struggling circus.
5. City Lights (1931). Released after the arrival of sound but made with music and effects rather than dialogue. The Tramp falls for a blind flower seller.
6. Modern Times (1936). The Tramp against the factory line, and the last time the character appears. Chaplin’s voice is heard for the first time, singing a nonsense song.
7. The Great Dictator (1940). His first full talkie, a satire of Hitler with Chaplin in a dual role as a Jewish barber and the dictator Adenoid Hynkel.
8. Monsieur Verdoux (1947). A dark comedy about a man who marries and murders wealthy widows.
9. Limelight (1952). A faded music-hall clown in London, with a scene shared with Buster Keaton.
10. A King in New York (1957). Made in England after Chaplin left the United States, a satire of American politics and advertising.
11. A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). His last film as director, with Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, and Chaplin in a cameo.

Where to start

Start with The Kid. It runs about an hour, needs no warm-up and shows everything that made the Tramp famous. Follow it with The Gold Rush and City Lights, and you have the core of the silent work. Modern Times and The Great Dictator show how he handled the arrival of sound, on his own terms and late.

The later films suit viewers who want the whole arc. Limelight is the easiest of them to recommend, if only for the chance to see Chaplin and Keaton on screen together.

A note on versions

Chaplin re-edited and rescored several films himself, most famously The Gold Rush. If you want the 1925 cut, check which version a service or disc offers before you press play. The same applies to the silent features generally: the scores heard today on The Kid and The Circus were composed by Chaplin for later reissues, long after the films first played with live accompaniment in theatres.

Where to watch

The Criterion Collection publishes nine of the 11 features on disc in the US and Canada. Streaming availability changes by market and by month, so check your services for the title you want.

• The Kid, A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush (1942 version), The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight: Criterion Collection · US CA · Blu-ray
• A King in New York, A Countess from Hong Kong: not in Criterion’s Chaplin collection · check digital stores

Sources

• Charlie Chaplin Archive, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna: List of Charles Chaplin pictures 1914 to 1952
• Criterion Collection: Charles Chaplin