A Countess from Hong Kong is a 1967 comedy film and the last film directed by Charles Chaplin. It was one of only two films Chaplin directed in which he did not play a major role (the other was 1923's A Woman of Paris), and his only color film. Chaplin's brief cameo marked his final on-screen appearance. The movie starred Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, Tippi Hedren, and Sydney Earle Chaplin, Chaplin's second son.

It was a financial and critical failure. However, the theme music, written by Chaplin, became the hit song This Is My Song for Petula Clark and made back the cost of the film.

Plot summary

Ambassador-designate to Saudi Arabia Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando) sails back to America after touring the world. He meets a Russian countess (Sophia Loren) in Hong Kong after she sneaks aboard to escape being forced into prostitution.

Cast

Production

Chaplin was distraught by the film's failure, and the difficulties in its production. His on-set conflicts with Brando stemming from ego clashes and their radically different approaches to acting are legendary.

This is Tippi Hedren's first feature film after her break with director Alfred Hitchcock. She had high hopes for the film, until she received the script. When she realized that she had a small part as Brando's estranged wife, she asked Chaplin to expand her role. Although Chaplin tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was a pleasure working for Chaplin.

It was filmed entirely at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, just outside London in 1966. The film was the second of Universal's European unit, following Fahrenheit 451.

External links

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