This Chaplin's final film features Natascha (Sophia Loren) , an impoverished Russian countess, stows away on a luxury liner at Hong Kong, determined to seek a new life in America. Meanwhile, stuffy Ambassador Odgen (Marlon Brando) close to being assigned Saudi Arabian ambassador, and divorcing his wife Martha. Odgen and his friend Harvey (Sydney Chaplin)ar e invited by their old friend Clark (Oliver Johnston) to go to a nightclub with three aristocratic Russians (Sophia Loren, Angela Pringle, and Jenny Bridges) on their last night. Later on, Natasha hides in the cabin suite of millionaire diplomat Ogden Mears , which causes an endless stream of misunderstandings and complications, especially when his wife Martha (Tippi Hedren) joins the trip. The ship is is sailing from Hong Kong to Honolulu and Natasha has until then to persuade Odgen to help her. Fun at Sea! His Cabin, His PJs, Her Move!. It's a She Voyage that rocks the Boat!
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) is an enjoyable romantic comedy but inferior than other Chaplin films. Dealing with the adventures and misfortunes of an ambassador and a russian countess stowing away in the luxury liner asking him to assist her. A comedy of entanglements with nice performances, mistakes, romantic loves, role changes and anything else.
Duo of protagonists, Loren and Brando, give likable performances although Marlon Brando is really miscast. Marlon Brando was a real fan of Chaplin; however, the two cinema mytical figures did not get along during the shooting of this film. In fact, in Brando's autobiography he described Sir Charles Chaplin as a fearsomely cruel man and an egotistical tyrant. There are several members of the Chaplin family appearing in the film, such as: Sydney Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin, Josephine Chaplin, Victoria Chaplin and Sir Charles Chaplin himself in his final acting appearance is in a cameo as an old steward. And a good support cast with fine actors, mainly British, such as: Angela Scoular, Michael Medwin, Oliver Johnston, Margaret Rutherford, Bill Nagy and special mention for Patrick Cargill who steals the show as the faithful and embarrassed butler.
The motion picture was well directed and nothing special though. Being first film by Sir Charles Chaplin not only to be in widescreen, but also in technicolor and shot in spherical 1,85:1 hard matte format by cameraman Arthur Ibbetson providing a brilliant cinematography. In his beginnings Chaplin previously had directed 2 or 3 reel short movies, such as : ¨Our hero¨, ¨The fireman¨, ¨Night at the show¨, ¨The adventurer¨, ¨The floorwalker¨, ¨The cure¨, ¨The inmigrant¨, ¨The circus¨ , ¨Burlesque on Carmen¨, among others . After that , he made long feature films such as : ¨The gold Rush¨ , ¨The kid¨ , ¨City lights¨ , ¨The great dictator¨, ¨Modern Times¨, ¨Monseur Verdoux¨ , ¨Limelight¨, ¨A king of New York¨ and his last one : ¨A countess from Hong Kong¨. Rating 6/10 . Well worth watching for Chaplin completists. Essential and indispensable for Charlie Chaplin followers.
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) is an enjoyable romantic comedy but inferior than other Chaplin films. Dealing with the adventures and misfortunes of an ambassador and a russian countess stowing away in the luxury liner asking him to assist her. A comedy of entanglements with nice performances, mistakes, romantic loves, role changes and anything else.
Duo of protagonists, Loren and Brando, give likable performances although Marlon Brando is really miscast. Marlon Brando was a real fan of Chaplin; however, the two cinema mytical figures did not get along during the shooting of this film. In fact, in Brando's autobiography he described Sir Charles Chaplin as a fearsomely cruel man and an egotistical tyrant. There are several members of the Chaplin family appearing in the film, such as: Sydney Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin, Josephine Chaplin, Victoria Chaplin and Sir Charles Chaplin himself in his final acting appearance is in a cameo as an old steward. And a good support cast with fine actors, mainly British, such as: Angela Scoular, Michael Medwin, Oliver Johnston, Margaret Rutherford, Bill Nagy and special mention for Patrick Cargill who steals the show as the faithful and embarrassed butler.
The motion picture was well directed and nothing special though. Being first film by Sir Charles Chaplin not only to be in widescreen, but also in technicolor and shot in spherical 1,85:1 hard matte format by cameraman Arthur Ibbetson providing a brilliant cinematography. In his beginnings Chaplin previously had directed 2 or 3 reel short movies, such as : ¨Our hero¨, ¨The fireman¨, ¨Night at the show¨, ¨The adventurer¨, ¨The floorwalker¨, ¨The cure¨, ¨The inmigrant¨, ¨The circus¨ , ¨Burlesque on Carmen¨, among others . After that , he made long feature films such as : ¨The gold Rush¨ , ¨The kid¨ , ¨City lights¨ , ¨The great dictator¨, ¨Modern Times¨, ¨Monseur Verdoux¨ , ¨Limelight¨, ¨A king of New York¨ and his last one : ¨A countess from Hong Kong¨. Rating 6/10 . Well worth watching for Chaplin completists. Essential and indispensable for Charlie Chaplin followers.