Product Details

• Actors: Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill
• Directors: Charles Chaplin
• Writers: Charles Chaplin
• Producers: Charles Chaplin, Jerome Epstein
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303964818
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,833 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin's last film is the cinematic equivalent of Willie Mays staying too long in baseball--a sad farewell from someone who has clearly lost his touch. Marlon Brando (who famously did not get along with Chaplin and initiated, with this film, his curious habit of undermining his directors' best intentions) plays an American millionaire leaving Hong Kong to assume an ambassadorship. He discovers Sophia Loren--playing a daughter of Russian aristocrats and a former gangster moll--concealed in his closet onboard the outbound ship, hoping to gain passage to the States. Brando, looking none too pleased, agrees to help her, with not terribly comic or romantic results. Chaplin's one modestly clever touch is to have the camera rock gently and slowly back and forth, ostensibly emulating the movement of the luxury liner. The humor falls flat, Brando and Loren have no chemistry, and the story isn't terribly engaging. The former Little Tramp appears, mercifully briefly, as a seasick steward who opens and closes a door, swooning in between. Appropriately enough, in silence. --David Kronke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Under-rated, May 17, 2001

By 

T. Schoon "TS" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Countess From Hong Kong [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Countess" was Chaplin's final film and sadly I think it has been labelled as being awful. This is not the case. I feel that the main reason for people believing this to be a bad film is that they don't understand it. Chaplin always created fantastic stories out of simple ideas and this is not an exception. It is written and directed with such subtle elegance that some of the simpliest visual gags turn into the most hilarious situations. There are fantastic actors all round: Brando himself, Sophia Loren looking gorgeous, Sydney Chaplin showing that talent does run in the family and Patrick Cargill as the butler. Chaplin himself pulls a cameo and does a great job at not hogging his screen time, a mistake made by directors like Tarantino. The result is an amazingly gentle film that shows people from a fresh human perspective, a breath of fresh air by todays standards. You will be missed Charlie.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A badly underrated gem, June 1, 2000

By 

Think Kam™ (St. Simons Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Countess From Hong Kong [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film has been trashed mostly by people who are holding this up to Chaplin's earlier masterpiece films. It is easy to see this one isn't like his other movies and it wasn't meant to be. If you were to watch this film by itself you would find that it is a unique and well made if not classicly entertaining movie. Chaplin was working on 2 or 3 different film projects when he picked this one as it was probably the least time consuming. One of the other projects was Shadows and Substance, of which he had a completed draft of the script finished (it never was filmed but may yet see the screen as some interest has been shown recently by other filmmakers in completing this project). While among the weakest of Chaplin films, A Countess From Hong Kong is still above standard fare and especially if you are spoiled by the ho-hum films of modern day this one is a nice, witty 60s flick that will please those of us with an attention span greater than a jelly fish. A Countess From Hong Kong is a sure bet for fans of Chaplin, Marlon Brando or Sophia Loren.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a little old-fashioned for 1960s standards, May 8, 2003

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Countess From Hong Kong (DVD)

A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG was director/comedian Charlie Chaplin's final film. In this film he is the director, writer and composer.

The story concerns a beguiling Russian countess named Natascha (Sophia Loren - HOUSEBOAT), a young woman forced into prostitution in Hong Kong, when she happens to meet an American politician named Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, SUPERMAN). She stows away in his stateroom aboard a ship headed back to the States, where she belives she can escape her miserable life.

The usual battle-of-the-sexes ensues, when Natascha and Ogden are forced to spend the entire voyage together, bickering and fighting over their different opinions and tastes. But its soon evident that they are in love. Things become complicated when Ogden's icy wife (Tippi Hedren - THE BIRDS, MARNIE) joins the ship at Hawaii, while Natascha finds herself marrying Ogden's valet in order to gain an American passport!

This is a film that feels a little old-fashioned for the 1960s, but it is a rather charming and engaging romantic comedy. Perhaps the film is best-known for launching the hit single "(Love) This is My Song", made famous by Petula Clark. The movie also stars Sydney Chaplin, Patrick Cargill and Margaret Rutherford in a rather-clever cameo.

The DVD includes the trailer. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

This DVD is part of a new series of classic releases from Universal that also include "Pillow Talk", "Send Me No Flowers", "The Thrill of It All!" and a twofer of "Man's Favorite Sport?/Strange Bedfellows".