Two Classics

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means! MORE MOVIE REVIEWS! YEEHAW.

Today I have two movies from the Classic Hollywood Age, Charlie Chaplin's The Immigrant (1917) and D.W. Griffith's True Heart Susie (1919).

First up, The Immigrant! I would just like to start out by stressing how much of a cinematic genius Charlie Chaplin is. When it comes to the world of film, I hold him in very high regards and would LOVE to meet him and just talk about movies with him. First off, he's hilarious and he never even speaks in his movies. Second, he was so good that he was getting paid crazy salaries for the time. He just has this wonderful on-screen charisma that everyone can relate to, which is why people adored him so. In this movie, he plays a poor immigrant on his way to America. On the boat ride to the states, he wins a bunch of money playing poker, but gives it to this beautiful woman he meets who needs it more than him. After living in America sometime, we see that Chaplin is a poor, hungry man. He finds a silver dollar on the ground and decides to treat himself to some food, but that is literally all of the money he has. While getting food, he sees the woman once again and in the end tries to convince her to marry him, and we can see that even though they are both poor, they are happy. Needless to say, I loved it. (4 stars)

The second and final movie of the night was True Heart Susie. This movie, ultimately, was about love. The title character, Susie, is in love with the boy next door, William. William wants to go to college, but cannot afford it, so Susie secretly sells off her belongings and pays for William's tuition. William is your typical teenage boy; he cannot see what is right in front of him until it is too late. Susie is madly in love with him, but he has no clue. Not surprising, eh, ladies? So William goes off to college and comes back to become the minister of the town. While he was away, Susie was preparing herself to be the perfect mate for him. Of course, that doesn't happen, because this slut Bettina moves in and woos him for all the wrong reasons, so Betty and William get married. Little does he know (in fact, only Susie knows) that Bettina has been having extramarital affairs. Even after Betty dies from pneumonia, Susie never betrays William by letting him know. However, he finds out everything (including that Susie paid for his college) and realizes he loved her the whole time. Not going to lie, it was a pretty complicated storyline to keep up with, especially when there are no words to accompany it. Overall, I felt like I could connect with Susie, and I'm sure any girl in the world could. It's hard to watch the guy you like fall for "the wrong girl" let alone any girl at all. I gotta give Susie some props for keeping her cool. Other than that, the movie was painfully long (or at least felt that way) and I don't really plan on seeing it ever again. (2.5 stars)

More for y'all later!