Customer Reviews

Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Along with Bengtson's previous SILENT ECHOES (Buster Keaton) this is absolutely amazing stuff!!! I've been fascinated by this before & after photography since purchasing several Dover books (NEW YORK THEN AND NOW; WASHINGTON...etc)in the 1970's (still available at amazon) & Frassanito's series of Civil War books (GETTYSBURG...ANTIETAM, ETC...1980's) that show modern views of battlefield sites (also still avail...). But Bengtson clearly is the undisputed master of such "STUFF". The detective work involved in locating the actual sites where Chaplin (& Keaton) filmed their masterpieces is nothing less than astounding! Why isn't this guy working for our government on some top-secret spy project? I was & am simply blown away by Bengtson's books! I've revisited Chaplin's & Keaton's films & have enjoyed them even more (if that can possibly be) thanks to Bengtson. What's next...Lloyd?...Sennett& Keystone?...Fatty?
AN ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE FOR FANS OF CHAPLIN, KEATON & SILENT SCREEN COMEDY!!! BUY AT ALL COSTS.

In 1999, I posted a 4-star Amazon review of John Bengtson's "Silent Echoes--The Films of Buster Keaton." While I praised the book as a masterpiece of urban archaeology, I think...at the time...I ultimately considered it to be an accomplished curiosity. It's not and, if I had it to do over, I'd opt for a 5+ rating. "Silent Echoes," and now "Silent Traces," are ingenious works of film scholarship that use environment and architecture to map the unique genius of their respectives subjects. At the time of the "Silent Echoes" publication, I lived in California and made a number of trips to LA armed with my now dog-eared copy of the book. (The related website was an equally dazzling revelation in unearthing long-lost LA.) The more I used the book to guide me through the landscape of Keaton's filmography, the more it became apparent that Bengtson was, in fact, charting the manner in which Keaton spun comic genius from the world around him. He constructed a unique world view from the pieces of the real world...a now quaint and unrecognizable LA of a past age more akin to the gentleness of spirit that imbued his work. If nothing else, the book was worth it for its view into the now faded glories of Venice Beach. I'm now on the East Coast, so I'll have less opportunity to trace Chaplin's journey through old LA, but that doesn't make the book any less rewarding. Now, we can only hope that, six or seven years down the road, Mr. Bengtson does the same service to Harold Lloyd, thus completing a study of the Holy Trinity of silent comedy. The rating for the Keaton and Chaplin books: Not enough stars in the heavens!

This book is the result of amazing detective work by author John Bengston, who says he hopes to "use Chaplin's films as a portal to the past" by identifying the locations where Chaplin shot his films. Mr. Bengston fully succeeds in achieving his goals in this lavishly illustrated book, which often juxtaposes pictures from spaces in present Hollywood and the surrounding area with photographs and movie stills from Chaplin's era showing those same spaces.

I also appreciated the excellent chapter on the Chaplin Studio, now owned by the Jim Henson Company and adorned at the original entrance by a statue of Kermit the Frog holding a cane and tipping a Chaplinesque derby.

Thanks to Mr. Bengston for his history of the cultural geography of Chaplin and Hollywood.

This is a FUN new book for Chaplin fanatics to own (and I am one of them!) I have purchased, for my personal library, almost every book on Charlie that's been printed over the last 30 years, and I feel that this is a VERY worthy volume - in fact, it's already one of my favorites. It's one of those books that you just know you will be looking at again and again. It has a nice "look" to it inside - alot of nice pictures from Charlie's films, arranged chronologically (the Keystones, then Essanays, then the Mutuals, the First Nationals, and then Chaplin's United Artists and later films). Bengtson examines them, film by film, with alot of pictorial clues (aerial views, maps, etc.) as to exactly where the various shots were done, and "then and now" photos - all laid out in an easy to follow format. My only complaint (and this is a quibble) is that for such a nice book, I wish the publishers had released it in hardback! Oh well. Anyway, this is a very evocative book, and really makes me want to get to L.A. to make a pilgrimage to some of these Chaplin locales myself! I would of course HIGHLY recommend it as a "must own" book to any fellow Charlie-lover, and also to people who like silent films, and classic films, in general.

It's not often that Charlie Chaplin follows Buster Keaton and damn if I know why, but in this case neither Chaplin nor his fans should mind. John Bengtson succeeds brilliantly at the sort of detective work Sherlock Holmes might have chosen with Moriarty truly gone and Holmes' restless curiosity turned to silent film history. I've lived in Los Angeles all my life and it's fascinating to learn how often I have crossed paths with Chaplin in so many familiar places. The area around the Old Plaza and Olvera Street, now including the block of Ord Street leading down to Philippe the Original, has an expanded and sublime new meaning now that I know around which corner Chaplin and Keaton were each chased by police and just where the little tramp hugged Jackie Coogan.

John Bengston has done it again! I didn't think it could be possible for him to top the miracle of research he performed with SILENT ECHOES, but when I got a copy of SILENT TRACES I was both astounded and delighted to see that he had. What an amazing book! What I think is so enjoyable about this book is that you don't really have to know a lot about the films of Charlie Chaplin to find it interesting. There is an endless fascination in comparing the "then" with the "now" photos to see how much or how little has changed. I don't know how Mr. Bengston has managed to figure out all of this, but I am so glad he did. I can't wait to see what he could possibly do for an encore. I highly recommend this remarkable book!

All in all, this book represents a massive amount of research and contains a lot of great information. Now don't get me wrong... I do like the book, but for me though, the book fails on 2 levels: 1. the soft cover combined with the 300 pages and 11" depth makes it flop all over the place and subsequently I kept damaging the book. You have to set it on a table to read it. It's very inconvenient; but easily solvable with a hard cover. 2. The "now" pictures are in black & white. This is the most disappointing aspect of the book. The emphasis on change, and being made to feel like you are visiting the "now" location is lost in the myriad photos from different time periods. I almost felt sea sick
trying to separate the then and now pictures. I guess I was expecting the original pictures to be lined up the current pictures for a stunning contrast.
I suppose that both of these things decisions were made for cost of production reasons, which I can understand to some degree. In the end however, the feel of the book is more academic than entertaining. For a true Charlie fan, it is a treasure trove of information, but a little bit disappointing. Having never knocked a book for stuff like this before,I must have some sort of leg to stand on. So, overall, a great book with a wealth of information, poorly packaged.

I'm a big fan of Charlie Chaplin and have seen all his movies several times. But after reading John Bengston's remarkable "Silent Traces," I'm watching the movies again. With renewed interest. John's book provides the reader with a fascinating insight into the Hollywood (and L.A.) that was.. and still exists in Chaplin's films. I never thought a book this detailed and intelligent would be possible. I was wrong. Thanks to John and all his contributors, we now have greater appreciation and understanding for the genius known as Charlie Chaplin.

John Bengtson has made it possible for us, here in the present, to walk in the footsteps of the "Little Tramps's" past. "Silent Traces" is a detailed, pictorial, then and now, comparitive study of Chaplin's film locations in and around LA and Hollywood. Sadly, numerous sites or buildings have not been historically perserved or have fallen due to the everchanging "modern times" which makes this resource all the more important. I recommend this book to all Charlie Chaplin enthusiast and history buffs alike.

Bengston is insane. He's also a genius. Only crazy person would put as much work as he did into creating a masterpiece in an art and science that, until he came along, no one ever dreamed of.

Think "silent film archeology," but instead of digging into the earth. Bengston dug *above* ground in today's Hollywood to find remnants of the vanished world Charlie Chaplin used as a backdrop. And he found them - lots and lots of them.

Bengston is a man who deeply loves Chaplin's work, the world Chaplin worked in and the world we live in now and he's expressed that love in an entirely unique unprecedented way. This book is beyond great. It's a WONDER. Get it before it goes out of print. Bengston's similar work on Buster Keaton is selling at a massive premium as well it should.