Ever the studio-hopper, in 1916 Chaplin signed yet another contract--this time with Mutual Films for $10,000 a week and a $150,000 bonus. One year later, he moved to First National Exhibitor's Circuit for $1,075,000 a year. Still young, still handsome, he was also a bachelor--and rich beyond his wildest dreams. At one point in the mid-1920s, Charlie Chaplin had outpriced himself--no one could afford to hire him. This led him to begin producing his own films. Ultimately, Chaplin joined with two other stars, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, and director D.W. Griffith, and they started their own studio--United Artists. They were now able to have complete control over the work they did, and Chaplin became known as a taskmaster on his set--demanding perfection from all of those around him.
Chaplin made many many films, but there are a few that stand out. Chaplin made several famous and (at the time) controversial films, including The Kid (1920), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940) and Limelight (1952). He was one of the few artists from silent films who was able to make the transition to "talkies," the first movies with sound. Chaplin was happy about his success. But felt that talkies distorted the art of pantomime and symbolism in film.
Chaplin's life, for all it's successes, also had many torments and trials. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Chaplin was accused of being a communist. He had been an American darling for 40 years, and his only answer to the allegations was to say that he had a constitutional right to believe whatever he wanted. But for Senator McCarthy, that wasn't a good answer. The FBI kept a profile on Chaplin that covered 50 years, believing that he was a Leftist. In other "scandalous" charges, Chaplin was accused of being Jewish, since his half-brother was three quarters Jewish. Charlie was frustrated by the negative attention from the FBI and McCarthy, stating that all he wanted to do was make movies to amuse people. Charlie eventually left the country and went back to England.
Despite having no evidence, the FBI put Charlie on alert and took steps to make sure he didn't come back to the country. They could not find one witness that could corroborate the FBI's story that Chaplin was a communist party member in any way. The FBI finally admitted to this, but by then it was too late--Anti-Chaplin sentiment ran rampant in J. Edgar Hoover's office. Attorney General McGranery announced that Chaplin's re-entry permit would not be honored--Chaplin couldn't come back to America. At this point he didn't want to come back, and he turned in his re-entry permit and made his permanent home in Switzerland.
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