FLICK PICKS: Chaplin classics on TCM

Michael Caine is first up, in such titles as Alfie (Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET, TCM) and Get Carter (Friday night at 2:30 a.m. ET, TCM), followed by perhaps the movies' quintessential megastar.

Saturday is devoted to Charlie Chaplin, likely the first man truly famous around the world, during his 19-teens and '20s heyday in silent films, an art that knew no language barriers. His iconic Little Tramp character -- derby hat, baggy suit pants, oversize shoes, and inimitably wiggly walk -- is still recognized globally today, nearly a century later. Try that, Tom Cruise!

Chaplin's entire career gets fine TCM treatment, from six early silent shorts (beginning with The Knockout, Saturday at 6 a.m. ET) through his first feature film, 1921's The Kid (Saturday at 9:15 a.m. ET), on to his ne plus ultra effort of 1925, The Gold Rush (Saturday at 1:45 p.m. ET). He held out against sound in the 1930s sound-effects features City Lights and Modern Times (Saturday at 4:15 and 8 p.m. ET, sandwiched around the 2003 profile Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin at 5:45 p.m. ET).

The Little Tramp's swan song made even more poignant the actor-writer-director's 1940 satiric takedown of his doppleganger, Hitler, in his first true speaking film, The Great Dictator (Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET, TCM). But its highlight is blissfully silent -- the great dictator's ballet dance with an enormous inflatable globe, one of the most movingly effective eviscerations you'll ever see.

TCM's web site lists all the titles/times for Chaplin and the month's other honorees in a gorgeously Flash-animated yet utterly usable minisite, which showcases the stars and titles in a retro chase-lights carnival arcade. Snazzy enough to seduce, while smart enough to inform us about each film's particular attributes. It's even got a downloadable August schedule for easy DVR planning. (Click on Full Schedule at home page's lower left.)

Some I know I'll be watching -- Greta Garbo on Aug. 7, James Garner on Aug. 8, Doris Day on Aug. 10, Peter Lorre on Aug. 13, Gene Kelly Aug. 17, Barbara Stanwyck Aug. 19, and Laurel & Hardy Aug. 23. Full lineup at TCM's Summer Under the Stars site.