Thirty-three of us from all over Switzerland signed up for the BRA sell-out trip on 20 April to the internationally renowned Chaplin’s World at Vevey. It’s a place my wife and I had been talking about visiting for several years and when I read about the planned visit in the BRA Bulletin it was just the incentive we needed to go there. We were a little surprised to learn that many others in the party had visited a number of times – a good omen. The place has convenient parking which was free for us, thanks to arch negotiator Andrew Konecki – we have seen him in action and he gets his way!
We bumped into a few acquaintances and a good number of like-minded friends-to-be which made the excellent al fresco lunch a perfect beginning to the visit. We were free afterwards to stagger off at our own pace to wander around The Manoir, the ultra-modern Studio and the park. We made a beeline for the house which is full of fascinating family memorabilia. Prior to the visit I had downloaded the Chaplin’s World app to my mobile phone but I found much the same information posted at the entrance of each room in at least three languages. Everywhere in the house there were discreet screens showing extracts from his movies and wherever we turned there were his books, scripts, scores and photographs – so many photographs. There were also some unconvincing waxworks although we thought the one of Oona was well done. We wandered round at least part of the ten acre park to enjoy views over the lake to the Alps and the impressive trees, including a good sized flowering cherry tree.
In the studio cinema we enjoyed a comfortable seat and a fifteen minute video of extracts of various films. At the end we passed under the screen to wander around a labyrinth of fascinating mock-up film sets. For me that was probably the high point of the visit (discounting the convivial lunch) and even the wax works there were better. The range of props, decor, posters and the sheer variety of paraphernalia was excellent. From there we found ourselves in the inevitable shop with a range of tempting multimedia stuff, most of which we managed to resist.
Time passed too quickly and suddenly we were thanking the organizers, Joy Sandoz and Andrew Konecki. I’m sure we’ll go back there one day and in the meantime we have discovered another worthwhile, not-too-distant place to show visitors.
Brian Thomas