A King in New York (1957)
(On Cable TV, August 2020) Film historians widely recognize A King of New York for being Charlie Chaplin’s response to being exiled from the United States at the height of McCarthyism—a way for him to talk about his exile while flipping the situation over, by playing a European king exiled to New York. As such, there’s a poignancy to the comedy here—wrestling with fame, isolation, money problems and a good old identity crisis. As our protagonist comes home, his money is absconded, leading him to increasingly uncomfortable dealings with New York City society and, in particular, the demands of the advertising industry. Along the way, this becomes an occasion for Chaplin to lampoon the trends of the age—rock and roll, widescreen movies, and once again the encroaching influence of TV and advertisements. In doing so, however, we sense Chaplin as an aging outsider railing against what he may not understand and certainly does not enjoy—Modern Times made mundane. There are very useful comparison to be made with the satire of the contemporary comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and the cynicism of A Face in the Crowd, both of which were released the same year as A King in New York. It does, in doing so, become an essential part of Chaplin’s filmography, especially in illustrating his later-career trajectory. It’s funny, but there’s a poignancy underneath the surface that’s hard to ignore if you know the slightest bit about Chaplin’s life in the 1950s. It’s worth noting that the film didn’t play in the US until 1972…