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Charlie Chaplin pokes

jun. at witch - hunters

essa Chaplin’s new pro-

duction, A King in New
York, is one of his greatest
films.

At one supreme moment he
is seen® physically turning a
fire hose on the members of
the Un-American Activities
Committee and throwing a
high-powered jet of cold water.
to clear soma very dirty faces.

It is the comic climax of a
film which is both one of his
funniest and most tragic. :

Chaplin as King Shahdov is
ushered into the Un-American
Activities Committee with his
fingers stuck in the nozzle of
a fire hose, and when he takes
the oath, he is ironically forced
to stand like the Statue of
Liberty with the nozzle look-
ing like a torch in his right
hand.

When firemen connect the
hose and turn on the hydrant,
it becomes a cleansing torch of
different'pattern. . y

This is the comedy climax
of the film. The tragic climax
follows ‘almost immediately.

It recalls with agonising
poignancy the bitter exper-
iences of the children of Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg, who
were publicly  pilloried! for
political purposes before their
parents’ execution as @lleged
atom. spies.

The small som (Michael
Chaplin) of two schoolteachers
persecuted by: the Un-Amer-
ican Committee is bullyragged
and brainwashed into betray-
ing his parents and naming
their Communist or suspected
Communist associatés .as the
price of their freedom.

The King, who is about to
dust off American commerciai-
ism and return to Europe, has
gone to see the boy before he
leaves.

You know exactly how he
feels for: the boy when he
hears the smug State Depart-
ment , official explain that
“everything is all right now
—the boy agreed-te cooperate.”

When the boy ‘enters, his
face, clouded and tear-stained
from weeping, tells its own
story. .

ses xt 53

This contrast between the
brutal reality of contemporary
American politics and Chap-
lin’s traditional comic genius
is the characteristic feature of
this film, which will be widely
popular among ordinary au-
diences, but it already being
denigrated, attacked and critic-
ised for being “propaganda.”

There isn’t any doubt that
Chaplin rams home a “mes-
sage” in this film.

He told me: “This isn’t poli-

_ tical propaganda, but it does

set out to show the struggle of
human beings with their own
souls.”

Chaplin denied that the ex-
ample of the Rosenberg chil-
dren had stimulated this film,
but when a persistent question-
er asked him whether he-had
any personal experience of

children being grilled in the
U.S., he recalled the case of
the Rosenberg children.

After the showing in Lon-
don Chaplin told me: “I do
not believe that the witch-
hunting atmosphere*has radi-
cally altered in the U.S. I do
not believe this film will do
any harm to the USS. It will
do a service and not‘a dis-
service.” ;

It is going to be fashion-
able to play down and decry
the merit of this film. Critics
who deny that they are ani-
mated by political bias already
claim that they are criticising
“the decline of a genius” while
others claim he has no right
to “preach.”

xt be t

In fact this is a film which
takes down the pants of free
enterprise. When the exiled
King discovers his prime min-
ister has absconded with his
assets, there is nothing left for
him to do but to live on his
wits.

“Better be a successful crook
than a destitute monarch,” he
tells his only faithful “servant
(Oliver Johnston).

The U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission appears disinter-
ested in his plans for the peace-
ful universal application of
atomic energy, and so he has
to rely on commercial tele-
vision, which is interested in
exploiting his personality
assets.

This he does in a Series: of
wickedly humorous » satirical
touches helped by a wonderful
television in his bathroom with
a windscreen wiper to keep
off the steam.

Chaplin manages to insert a
whole. series of wonderful,
silent miming sequences which
show that he hasn’t lost his
old talent for making people
laugh at actions without words.

The film takes its serious
twist after he visits a so-called
progressive school and is given
a political lecture by a young
man, Rupert “Maccadi, who
later runs away from the
school to avoid being pressured
about his parents.

Unfortunately the boy ‘is
logked after by the king and
this leads to a scandal, with
the ‘Royal Communist” being
subpoenaed before the Un-:
American Committee.

Chaplin allowed his. young
son Michael to play the part
of the boy. He has obviously
put into his mouth many of
the ideas and attitudes which
dominate his own political
philosophy. :

It was a courageous thing to
have done, just as it was cour-
ageous of Chaplin to refuse to

pull his punches over the film.-

A King in New York is a
brilliant work of art and no-
body who honestly’ observes
the U.S. can complain of the
use to which Chaplin has put
his ‘own personal bitter ex-
periences of it.

ROBERT KENNEDY

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

He told reporters in London
that he would never revive the
character of the little tramp.

BOOKS

,

MUSIC

Vancouver

plans Centennial tou

ANY provincial towns will

enjoy their first. ‘live”

orchestra appearances next

year.

The 75 - piece Vancouver

Symphony. Orchestra will take‘

its music to 15 ‘centres_on the
mainland in the Centennial
year program, sponsored by
the B.C. Centennial
mittee. “

Com-

Negotiations also are in

good progress for the Victoria
Symphony Orchestra to con-
duct a similar tour of Van-
couver Island, in addition to
the popular concerts staged at
Duncan by this group of musi-
cians under their conductor
Hans Gruber.

“This will be a wonderful
opportunity for people who
might not otherwise have the
chance to hear the symphony
orchestras - We want to
present the symphony to as
many people as possible dur-
ing our year of celebrations,”
says LJ. Wallace, chairman

of the B.C. Centennial Com-
mittee.

symphony

orches!"*

The Vancouver jour it

will make a two-week
early April of Oliver,
Cranbrook, Trail, vere
ticton, Kelowna, Ken
Quesnel and Prince Gears

Separate performances -%
be played at Mission, eed
wack, Abbotsford and “aay
Westminster, and @ ~ 0
excursion will be ma'
Powell River. :

f

Irwin Hoffman, conductot °
the orchestra, Sal
minute concerts 3
children will be held ae
afternoon at each centre, i
one two-hour concert tia
evening for adults. A pote 4
audience of 13,800 adults ;
27,600, children is expect
be reached, according 10
Dobbin, business manage!

f

“We feel the most import”

part of our job is to br ee
symphony to the chit
Dobbin said. “The net a
of our entire -effort show"

be gauged by pur euccey ic

that field . . . if good
is to live it must live thY
the children.” ‘

Simple story of sea trip appeals
to audience for books on B.C.

A PLEASURE cruise in shel-

tered British Columbia
waters is an idyllic way of
spending a vacation,. but the
circumnavigation of Vancou-
ver Island in a small troller
during the months
when Pacific storms crash un-
restrained along the west
coast, is not generally consid-

winter

ered a holiday. However, to

Margaret Sharcott of Kyuquot,
her fisherman husband, baby

and dog, a 600-mile trip such
as this could only be taken in
the winter months and it was
their first holiday in five years,

In telling her story, Troller’s
Holiday, young Mrs. Sharcott
vividly recounts their voyage
in 1954 through treacherous
straits and round rocky capes
while gales and fog beset them.
She gives an absorbing account
of thriving communities as
well as ghost settlements long
lost to weather and isolation,
now reclaimed by relentless
forest growth.

The story is simply told, yet
it is not a simple story, for
here is recounted not only the
past struggles of early explor-
ers and settlers, but also the
present struggles of the fish-
ermen to make a living.

The author gives a thorough-
ly enjoyable and informative
historical background for each
place as it is visited, not for-
getting the local anecdotes
whith give to each town its
character and flavor. Her brief
but revealing descriptions of
life in a cramped cabin with
her 13-month-old baby are
told with a nice sense of humor
and frankness.

There is a freshness to this
story, a prevading atmosphere
of delighted discovery, ap-
preciation of our country’s
heritage, and joy in accomp-
lishment which makes the
book a welcome addition to
our growing Canadiana.

Troller’s Holiday, published
by British Book Service (Can-

ada) is obtainable here 4 ee
ple’s Co-op Bookstores +i
West Pender Street, P
$3.75. -

SA Se

: Pr
I fas dust cover says thot
and Out, by John © {0
Powys tells “what happem th
the four survivors after jc
has destroyed itself in at©

warfare.”
. p-
But this is no Wellsian tit
tasy, but rather, as the ?,,
goes on, a “moral parable.

If you like word-spinnints
the light, Celtic, humo,

touch, allegory, a convers@ tat
piece between God and 54 f
on whether to re-create 4 B®
world where all is predesti?™,
and free will goes by the )04
you will enjoy this book.

Especially if you are a rabid
anti-vivisectionist — the ye
derlying theme of this of
book. If you are not part,
to any of this, you may fin”
it indigestible. 1G

September 20, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE &