A King in New York | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Audience Reviews

david f While uneven and at times dragging, when the satire here hits its mark, it hits it harder than anything else you'll ever see. Charlie Chaplin still had it in 1957, even in Europe, even in exile from a Red-Scared America, and that is his primary target here-America. He's got the deodorant jokes, the jazz jokes, and the marketing jokes that still hit close to home over 65 years later. The plot is silly but the jokes have a moral edge to them and they are funny as hell. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A minor Chaplin film for sure, but worth watching for some flashes of Chaplin brilliance. He is spot on with his lampooning of wide screen movies and how television can make virtually anyone an instant celebrity. But it gets a bit heavy handed at times when he befriends a young boy whose parents are accused of being Communists and then The King (Chaplin) gets called upon to testify in his own defense at The House Un-American Activities Committee. Uneven, but certainly worth watching and fascinating to see Chaplin navigate comically through the modern world of TV, rock and roll and plastic surgery. Chaplin also composed the music for the film, which is quite good. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review ashley h A King in New York is a terrific film. It is about a recently-deposed European monarch who seeks shelter in New York City. Charles Chaplin and Maxine Audley give fantastic performances. The script is good but a little slow in places. Charles Chaplin also did a great job directing this movie. I enjoyed this motion picture because of the humor and drama. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Chaplinâ(TM)s last starring vehicle (and penultimate directing effort) is a satirical swipe at the country that just kicked him out (for communist sympathies and moral transgressions). He plays a European king who has escaped a revolution by fleeing to New York City where he discovers that he is broke, having been fleeced by a member of his government. To make ends meet (staying in the Ritz Hotel), he starts endorsing products and starring in TV commercials (falling into this rather fortuitously). On one of his charitable visits to a boysâ(TM) school he meets a kid whose parents are communists (eventually sentenced to prison by HUAC); when he ends up looking after the boy (played by his real son Michael Chaplin) when heâ(TM)s run away from the school, he too is accused of being a communist (ironic since he is a royalist). These are the basic facts of the plot, but as usual with Chaplin the film is more or less a series of gags sewn together hanging on this loose structure. The Americans seen in the film are often gauche, obsessed with body hygiene (âyou are giving me a complex!â?), and, of course, insanely concerned about communism. Chaplinâ(TM)s script takes potshots at TV, widescreen films, plastic surgery, the atomic bomb, and more. Perhaps it isnâ(TM)t always funny and probably it doesnâ(TM)t always cohere â" but there is enough here to keep you interested and Chaplin is never less than charismatic. And, at the end, when you discover that the young boy has been forced to name names to get his parents out of prison, you feel that Chaplin has sadly hit the bullseye (and he looks directly at the camera to let you know he knows). That said, this film fails to scale the heights of Monsieur Verdoux (1947), his last great (and very dark) masterpiece. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Chaplin's A KING IN NEW YORK is the most honest and realistic depiction of America ever produced for the silver screen. It benefits from a brilliant screenplay and a Chaplin on his game. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member A King in New York (1957) ?? 1/2European monarch seeks shelter in New York City where he unexpectedly becomes celebrity and is wrongly accused of being a communist. Chaplin makes fun of American sensibilities, but the film is overindulgent and lacks focus. This has some great gags and ideas, but this is not, alas, a great film. Charlies' real life son Michael plays the main kid here. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews

A King in New York

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