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"Talkie Revolution" and Chaplin’s acting
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The sound era in the history of film traditionally begins in 1927, the year of Jazz Singer. The talkie revolution changed practically everything in the art of filmmaking. When filmmakers started using sound, they discovered that they were dealing with a new dimension in art. The coming of sound changed the way movies were written, produced, directed and edited. It also had a huge impact on acting in films. Actors that experienced the biggest impact were those who worked in silent comedies which are the most memorable films of that period. Charlie Chaplin is a great example of an actor/filmmaker who's acting lost a lot of it's charm with the coming of sound.
Chaplin as a silent film comedian managed to charm millions of people around the world. He was the first true Hollywood star. No other actor before Chaplin’s times was that widely recognized. Considering that Chaplin gained his popularity before the television era, I think that no other person surpassed his achievement yet. Simply put: Chaplin is the biggest superstar ever. But what it is that makes people love him so much? I believe that the secret of his films lays in Chaplin’s acting.
Chaplin took acting to another level. He wasn’t just reproducing movements or gestures. He also saw acting as a tool that helped him "compose" his films. Just like a writer brainstorms ideas, Chaplin would act them out in front of the running camera. He, as a director, had a total control over his own performance and he used it wisely. He created a character that virtually everyone fell in love with. This character was Tramp – Chaplin’s genius invention, soon to be destroyed by the sound era.
One could write a lot about characteristics of the Tramp character. I would like to point out the elements that had to be most reevaluated when Chaplin started making talking pictures.
When people watched The Vagabond, The Kid or Gold Rush they saw a character that was purposely unrealistic. Tramp had to deal with harsh reality but his unrealistically unpractical approach was often a base for humor. He doesn’t seem to think about future. He doesn’t worry about savings. In fact he doesn’t worry about money at all. He seems to think that food will appear in front of him somehow anyway and, in fact, it does. Not only his approach is unrealistic. Also other elements of Chaplin’s silent films have little to do with every day life. There are no ordinary events. Many shots consist of a great number of activities that happens at once. Probably the best example would be the chaos of roller-skating party in The Rink. Also, every moment is intensified and every action accelerated. Almost nothing happens at the natural pace.
The specific unrealism of Chaplin’s characters made many people notice surrealistic qualities of his films. We can see an example of that in "1am" where Chaplin’s character is fighting awkwardly placed stuffed animals, avoids being hit by a giant clock and eventually is defeated by an enormous bed.
Chaplin’s films also resemble poetry. We often see the naïve Tramp with a thoughtful look in his eyes holding a flower almost as he was aware of the depth that he creates with that action. Probably the most poetic moment comes when the girl in City Lights discovers that it was the Tramp she owes her sight to. This is one of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema because of it’s poetic qualities. And again, it is Chaplin’s acting that makes that scene so intense.
Pantomime is probably the most obvious element used by Charlie Chaplin. His performance is based on movement. It is a sequence of shifts and transformations that have nothing to do with naturalistic acting. Chaplin created a character whose comic motion was beyond reach of words. He didn’t need sound to express feelings and emotions. He could act it all out using the pantomime only. In order to do that he had to be an acrobat, dancer, clown and the mime at the same time. Pantomime was essential for the most characteristic behaviors of Tramp. When he was hit for example, he would "straighten up stiff as plank and fall over backward in such a way that his whole length slaped the floor at the same time. He might look vague, smile like an angel, roll up his eyes, lace his fingers, thrust his hands palms downward as far as they would go, hunch his shoulders, rise on tiptoe, prance ecstatically in narrowing circles until, with tallow knees, he sank down the vortex of his dizziness to the floor, and there signified nirvana by kicking his heels twice, like a swimming frog. He showed his helplessness by drawing his shoulders, drooping his lip pathetically and looking frightened." (Flom, p.116) It was all a part of pantomime. The fact that he was doing so well as a pantomimist has a lot to do with his background in comic acting for the stage, in which he developed his sense of rhythm and timing.
All mentioned elements that made Chaplin’s films so memorable have one important thing in common. They do not need sound in order to be effective. In fact – they are more effective when sound is not present. Let’s take the lack of realism for example. The absence of dialogue, street noises, footsteps, door slamming etc. makes the scene even more unrealistic. And unrealism is the strength of Chaplin’s film. The same applies to surrealism in his films and poetic elements that were largely based on pantomime. There is no better way to take audience’s attention away from pantomime than adding dialogue and bunch of sound effects.
Charlie Chaplin managed to use the lack of sound to his advantage. We do not feel the absence of speech in his films. Richard Dyer MacCann talks about Chaplin’s pantomime in the book, The Silent Comedians: "Charlie’s silence is not imposed on him by limited technology; it is his natural state. Unlike the pantomime of most silent screen actors, who were forced to render complex adult responses in gestures that were often reductive and oversimplified. Charlie’s mime is perfectly suited to express his true nature and experience. It continues an original, proverbial language" (MacCann, p.134).
Chaplin knew that the absence of sound works for, not against him. When the first sound films appeared he was sure that sound is just an experiment and wouldn't last long. "I give the talkies maximum two years". he said once. His pessimism about the new invention had couple reasons. First and the most important was Chaplin’s philosophy of what filmmaking is. For him it was all about moving pictures. Essentially film was an art of communicating without words. If you add dialogue, the whole idea no longer applies. He didn’t realize however that other filmmakers have different ideas on what films should be like. He also underestimated the effect that a synchronized dialogue and sound effects can make on a viewer.
Another reason Chaplin was far from enthusiastic was the quality of sound in early pictures. When the new medium was introduced engineers were not yet able to deliver a reliable recording and reproducing equipment. There were also not many people who knew how to go about generating a convincing soundtrack. As the result, Chaplin remembered, "a simple family dinner sounded like the rush hour in a cheap restaurant , and the pouring of water into a glass made a peculiar tone that ran up the scale to high C. I came away from the theatre believing the days of sound were numbered" (Chaplin, p.321)
Chaplin was so confident that sound experiment wouldn’t last that he decided to make an open joke about talkies at the very beginning of City Lights. The film starts with a big gathering where a big statue is about to be presented. There are a number of important dignitaries and when two of them start their speeches all we can hear is a funny and slightly annoying noise. In fact those speeches were rendered by jabbering saxophone and were supposed to caricature the metallic tones of first sound films. This is the only dialogue Chaplin used in City Lights. As soon as the dignitaries are done talking the Tramp character appears and the film comes back to the traditional silent way of storytelling. Chaplin felt extremely confident about his position at that time. This is what he commented about his decision to keep his films silent: "Movement is near to nature - as a bird flying - and it is the spoken word which is embarrassing. The voice is so revealing, it becomes an artificial thing, reducing everybody to certain glibness. " (Flom, p.140). It is ironic that it is City Lights that is now remembered as the first step Chaplin made in his transition to sound films.
City Lights became a commercial success as well as an artistic triumph. Seemingly Chaplin proved he was right. The film industry, however, didn’t seem to even consider abandoning the sound. Now Chaplin himself started having doubts. It had to be a very confusing period of his career. This is how Robinson describes Chaplin’s uncertainty in "Chaplin:His Life and Art": "Early in 1931 he made several statements to the press: "I give the talkies six months more. At the most a year. Then they are done" Three months later, in May 1931, he had modified his opinion slightly: ‘Dialogue may or may not have a place in comedy… What I merely said was that dialogue does not have a place in the sort of comedies I make …For myself I know that I cannot use dialogue (Robinson, p.465)’
By this time, after Broadway melody, All Quiet on the Western Front, Hallelujah!, Sous les Toits de Paris and The Blue Angel, the silent cinema was almost an anachronism. Chaplin remembered that time with a note of bitterness: "Hollywood was going through a change of life. Most of the silent screen stars had disappeared,- only a few of us were left. Now that the talkies had taken hold, the charm and insouciance of Hollywood were gone" (Chaplin, p.374)
Chaplin still believed that the true film art lays in silent pictures. But what he also had to worry about was whether or not people will go to see his next film. He was forced to quickly put City Lights behind and start working on the new project. He found himself forced to make a decision whether his next picture should be with or without a dialogue. The arguments for a talking picture were pretty convincing:
"Although City Lights was a great triumph, ... I felt that to make another silent film would be giving myself a handicap - also I was obsessed by a depressing fear of being old-fashioned. Although a good silent film was more artistic, I had to admit that sound made characters more present" (Flom, p.95).
But Chaplin also remembered that the lack of sound always worked for his advantage: ‘For years I have specialized in one type of comedy – strictly pantomime. I have measured it, gauged it, studied. I have been able to establish exact principles to govern its reactions on audiences, It has a certain place and tempo. Dialogue, to my way of thinking always slows action, because action must wait upon words. (Robinson, p.465)
Finally Chaplin made a decision: His new film: Modern Times will use sound and dialogue but only in instances where sound supports the premise of his film. Modern Times, in fact, uses sound in more creative way than most of the films up to date. Almost every time we hear a human voice in Modern Times it is through some kind of a machine. We hear an inventor of the feeding machine as a prerecorded message, the president of the factory talks through a giant TV-like screens, and other human voices come from the radio at the police station. In those cases sound comments on how industrialization affects human relations. Even when we eventually get to hear the Tramp sing, it an impossible to understand song composed from many languages. This is an excellent way to compromise Tramp’s characteristic lack of realism with new standards in film industry.
Modern Times also became very successful but Chaplin knew that his use of sound in that film worked only because of the subject matter and he will not be able to do the same thing again. Despite his continued success and popularity, Chaplin was evidently uncomfortable the inevitability of dialogue.
At that point he had to make a decision weather or not have Tramp speak. It was very hard for him to even imagine Tramp speaking. How would he speak? What voice? What accent? Chaplin knew that there was no right answer to those questions. Chaplin didn’t want Tramp to be more present. Tramp was supposed to be unrealistic. Chaplin was convinced: "Some people suggested that the Tramp might talk. This was unthinkable, for the first word he ever uttered would transform him into another person" (Chaplin, p.360)
There was also another big dilemma. Speaking Tramp would lose the ability to appeal to the audience abroad. The pantomime became Chaplin’s international language. He proved that expressions and gestures were comprehensible to all people around the world.
Chaplin also knew that there was no room for silent films anymore. This is how he remembers that time: "I was faced with the depressing question: should I make another silent picture? I knew I’d be taking a great chance if I did. The whole Hollywood had deserted silent pictures and I was the only one left. I had been lucky so far but to continue with a feeling that the art of pantomime was gradually becoming absolete was a discouraging thought" (Robinson, p.465) Chaplin’s decision was this: he would make a talking picture but he would not make Tramp character talk. This was the only solution. Modern Times was the last Tramp picture.
Chaplin’s first talking picture was "The Great Dictator" where Chaplin played a dual role as both Jewish barber and grotesque caricature of Hitler. Even though Chaplin finally decided to make a talking picture, he again adapted the use of sound on his own terms. The most memorable sequences in The Great Dictator are all dependent upon Chaplin's pantomime: Hynkel's dance with the balloon globe and the scene where the barber is shaving to music. Ironically, Chaplin could have accomplished the same effect using the orchestra playing in the theater just as he did in his silent films. He didn’t need the sound recorded on the filmstrip. There are many examples of this kind of use of sound throughout the movie. Another characteristic scene is the one when men in the ghetto eat puddings designed to identify a "volunteer" for a heroic mission. This is a long scene with music accompaniment and no dialogue. Furthermore, even when Chaplin is using dialogue, as with Hynkel's confrontations with Napaloni it is primarily the pantomime that makes the viewer laugh. The good example of that is the scene where Hynkel and Napaloni are dueling in barber chairs. The dialogue in this case is just something that keeps the plot progressing while characters' pantomime creates the basis for humor.
The talking scenes in the movie are not as attractive as pantomime. It seems like Chaplin made a silent movie and added a couple of talking scenes just to prove that his film meets the new standards.
Chaplin’s acting is not as consistent as it used to be in his silent features. When he talks, he seems to be completely different person than he is during his silent gags. Therefore, we see Chaplin acting out two versions of barbers. There is a significant difference between a barber when he talks to his Jewish friends and during the "shaving to music" gag. During the silent gags he is very surreal. When he talks he seems to be very stiff because the sound makes the character more realistic and present.
"The Great Dictator" was a revolution in Chaplin’s working methods. It was to be his first dialogue films, and for the first time he had a completed script before he began shooting. The fact that it was a scripted film had a negative impact. There was no room for improvisation and freedom. This was a completely different method than what Chaplin was used to. He could no longer use acting in front of the camera as a brainstorming technique. This might be a reason why some of the scenes with a barber seem a little stiff.
"The Great Dictator" was not a success. Many Chaplin’s fans were disappointed with new form of the picture and new character. Chaplin seemed to abandon many characteristic elements that made his silent films so popular. "The Great Dictator" was at most part very realistic. Ironically the best/most memorable scenes of the movie are the silent ones.
Chaplin’s next film, Monsieur Verdoux was not a success either. Unfortunately Chaplin seemed to decrease on the characteristic elements of his silent films even more. "Monsieur Verdoux" uses even more dialogue than "The Great Dictator" but the humor, again, comes from the pantomime. This film clearly shows Chaplin’s struggle to find a place for himself in the sound era.
Chaplin finally found a form most suitable for his acting style in Limelight. He managed to find a way to incorporate pantomime and at the same time make the film realistic. Limelight is composed from realistic scenes and scenes that take place on the stage that is a perfect environment for pantomime.
He still uses many elements that were invented for the Tramp character. For example the way he moves: when turning on the stairs he jumps on one leg trying not to lose his balance. He shrugs his shoulders when he smiles.
Chaplin also uses every day objects, but the specific way he uses them creates a source of humor. In Limelight we see him iron his pants by placing them under the sheets.
When he does his imitation of a tree, rose and a rock we see him as somebody special – somebody who has unique qualities that make him extremely likeable. This moment works much like the potato dance from the dream sequence in "Gold Rush".
When Calvero is on stage it is almost as watching a silent Chaplin film. Even when he uses words, he does it more to accompany his pantomime than to communicate anything. The best example of that is when he sings "love, love, love, love" and practically dances to the rhythmical sound of his words.
Even though Chaplin uses sound, he still communicates a lot through pantomime. Probably the most memorable scene from Limelight - taking the make-up off by Calvero tells us more than any words ever could.
Chaplin improved the dialogue – it is funny and clever. Unlike the monologues from The Great Dictator or Monsieur Verdoux the use of dialogues is consistent throughout the whole movie and never unnatural or preachy. Taking his sound films, Limelight is the closest Chaplin ever came to his silent masterpieces.
The talkies made by Charles Chaplin were completely different from his most memorable comedies. Because of sound and new expectations Chaplin was forced to abandon The Tramp, his trademark character. Silence always worked in advantage of Chaplin’s silent films. The lack of sound supported all the characteristic elements that Chaplin used in his comedies. The use of sound made his characters too real and too present. His films became not as poetic and there was not much room for surreal elements. Pantomime suffered the most, simply because in a dialogue driven film, most screen time had to be assigned for dialogue.
Because of sound cinema lost a lot from it's artistic values. Chaplin is an example of an artist who had to stop making great silent movies because they did not meet the expectations of new standards. Ironically, the great new medium of sound limited Chaplin's potential.
Bibliography:
Bessy, Maurice. Charlie Chaplin New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. 1983
Bohn, Thomas. Light and Shadows. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company. 1987
Chaplin, Charles. My Autobiography. New York: First Plume Printing. 1992
Dyer MacCann. The Silent Comedians. Iowa City: Image & Idea, Inc. 1993
Ellis, Jack. A History of Film. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1995
Flom, Eric. Chaplin in the Sound Era. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. 1997
Kamin, Dan. Charlie Chaplin’s one-man show. London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1984
Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia New York: Harper Collins Publishers. 1998
Robinson. David. Chaplin. His Life and Art. New York: Da Capo Press. 1994
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