A King in New York

King Shahdov, deposed at home, arrives in New York and learns his treasury has been stolen too. When the money runs out he starts appearing in television commercials. Then he meets a boy whose parents are being investigated as communists, and finds himself summoned before the committee. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, starred and composed. The situation behind the film is harsher than the fiction. After leaving America in 1952 Chaplin had his re-entry permit revoked; he made this in Europe, in England, and never made another film in America. The targets are plain: the McCarthy-era hearings, the pressure to name names, television turning everything into advertising. The fire hose scene flips the tone to slapstick in the middle of a committee session. It went unreleased in America for a long time, only becoming visible there in the seventies, more than fifteen years after it was shot. Chaplin's son Michael plays the investigated boy. Who it is for: viewers interested in late Chaplin and in cinema settling accounts with politics directly. Who it is not for: anyone expecting early silent comedy; this is talkative, angry and untidy.