was probably the most sadistic man I’d ever met." Home media The film was released on VHS in 1996, as part of the Universal Cinema Classics series. In 2003 it was released on DVD in widescreen format, and later re-released as part of the DVD set Marlon Brando: The Franchise Collection. It is now on Blu-ray. Reception The film received largely negative reviews, though it has a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The New York Times review for 17 March 1967 stated: "...if an old fan of Mr. Chaplin's movies could have his charitable way, he would draw the curtain fast on this embarrassment and pretend it never occurred". Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1995 gave it one-and-a-half stars, stating it was "badly shot, badly timed, badly scored". TV Guide gave the movie one star, with the comment "a dismal, uninviting comedy". Radio Times gave the film two stars, stating that "it's all too staid and too stagey". Tim Hunter writing in The Harvard Crimson for 25 April 1967 gave it a fairly good review, stating: "Take the new Chaplin film on its own terms; contrary to all those patronizing critics, the old man hasn't really lost his touch, and Countess is a glorious romance". Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com gave it three stars, stating, however: "...the repetitive story (with Loren repeatedly running to hide in Brando's bathroom when there's a knock on the door) gets tiresome". Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance, writing in 2003, maintains: "A Countess from Hong Kong is less interesting than any of Chaplin's previous sound films because it contains neither political nor satirical elements" (although there is a scene where an old lady renounces a stuffed animal's "red" tongue). Vance believes some of Chaplin's own comic vision and optimism is infused in Sophia Loren's role. A dance-hall girl, Loren's character of Natascha—a prostitute—"perpetuates Chaplin's lifelong fascination with fallen women as heroines. In many ways, Natascha is the proxy for the Tramp in the film, searching for a better life, while always understanding that both happiness and beauty are fleeting. The Tramp's philosophy is expressed by Natascha's dialogue, 'Don't be sad. That's too easy. Be like me. At this moment, I'm very happy...That's all we can ask for—this moment.' This statement can be applied to the film as well: while it is easy to lament its many failures, particularly because it is Chaplin's last film, it is