Laughing Times (1981)

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A Chinese version of Charlie Chaplin (Dean Saki) lights up this "action comedy" from director and screenwriter John Woo. The story, set in the early 20th century, begins with a lowly orphan who finds himself the target of local criminals. The orphan is saved by the Charlie Chaplin character, who… More A Chinese version of Charlie Chaplin (Dean Saki) lights up this "action comedy" from director and screenwriter John Woo. The story, set in the early 20th century, begins with a lowly orphan who finds himself the target of local criminals. The orphan is saved by the Charlie Chaplin character, who later falls in love with a singer (Wong Sau-man) that he must eventually rescue from the clutches of the film's bad guys. All this saving and inevitable chasing is carried out with Chaplinesque gestures in Chaplin garb. Not only the main character himself, but the sight gags and general tenor of the film borrow from a Chaplin vocabulary. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi