Charlie Chaplin Vs. America Review: The Detailed Chronicle Of A Real-Life Hollywood Rise And Fall
Author Scott Eyman is the foremost chronicler of Hollywood’s first century, with 16 nonfiction books to his name. His previous book, “20th Century-Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio,” was a “biography” of the titular studio. With his latest, Eyman narrows his focus again to a particular star – one of Hollywood’s first, in fact: Charlie Chaplin.
“Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided,” published on October 31, 2023, is titled as such because it was that collision that got Chaplin exiled from his adopted homeland. His enemies, who included the FBI, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and Tinseltown columnist Hedda Hopper, branded him a communist (he was not), Anti-American (also false), and a sexual deviant (on that one … they had a point). An English immigrant who’d never bother becoming a citizen of America, his U.S. re-entry permit was stripped in 1952 and he and his family lived out his remaining 25 years in Switzerland.
Eyman’s experience chronicling Hollywood is an asset in providing a cumulative view of this story. “Chaplin vs. America” offers an extensively researched inside look at these events and Chaplin’s soul. Eyman makes it clear his position is pro-Chaplin (he closes his prologue with the sentence, “It’s time to see Charlie clear”), but he writes as a journalist, not an evangelist.
Woven in through Eyman’s writing and framing are countless quotes from people who knew Chaplin offering their thoughts on the man (the concise ninth chapter is largely an unflinching summation of Chaplin by his friend Tim Durant) — not to mention from the man himself. This gives the book a personal touch and objective framing; the reader can absorb first-hand accounts from people within their proper context and draw their own conclusions about Mr. Chaplin from them.