Charlie Chaplin, context for Modern Times

2.  Born: 16th April, 1889, Walworth, London.
- Childhood one of poverty and hardship. Sent to the workhouse
twice before the age of 9. Incredibly close to brother, Sydney.
 Theatrical family:
-Father: Charles Chaplin Sr
 Alcoholic
 Music hall Performer
 Abandoned his family
 Died 9th May 1901
-Mother: Hannah Chaplin.
 Suffered from a mental illness most of her adult life.
 Unsuccessful music-hall performer
 When Chaplin was 14, she was committed to a mental Asylum.
 Did what she could for her sons; Chaplin dedicated to her.
 Remained one of Chaplin’s biggest influences.
 Died 28th August 1928

3.  Chaplin started to get involved in performing, with his
mother’s encouragement, between the work houses and
looking after his mother.
 Professional debut in 1898 with the ‘The Eight Lancashire
Lads’.
 Picked up new skills from every new production: from
music hall sketches he learned about character
development; from pantomime he learned clowning; from
circus he learned acrobatics.
 Growing success brought him the attention of Fred Karno,
which earned Chaplin a role in a production called ‘Jimmy
the Fearless’, in 1910. This was significant as it served as a
forerunner to ‘The Tramp’ and resulted in Chaplin
receiving an extent of press coverage.
 Under the employment of Karno, Chaplin travelled to the
USA, where he attracted the attention of Mack Sennett,
producer of the first slapstick comedies.

4.  Six months in to his second American tour, Chaplin was invited to join
Keystone Productions. Chaplin thought Sennett’s work was "a crude
mélange of rough and rumble“, but liked the idea of motion pictures.
Contracted on $150 a week.
 Chaplin’s first film appearance: ‘Making a living’. Chaplin disliked it, but
was noticed by critics.
 Tramp:
 First appeared in Chaplin’s third Keystone production: ‘Mabel’s strange
Predicament’
 Character found its roots in English music-hall traditions.
 1915- Chaplin-
 Developed his own on-screen persona, but never content until he
directed his own films.
 Nearly lost his contract with Keystone productions after severely
clashing with director, Mabel Normand.
 After making almost 40 films in his association with Sennett, Chaplin
had a brief contract with Essanay in Chicago, $1,250 a week with
signing bonus of $10,000, he moved to California to a new studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bagmkDtqOk

5.  1915-1923- Worked with Essanay, Mutual and
Associated First National- companies prior to
the formation of United Artist with Douglas
Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith.
 In eight years, he made seventy films, which
were also of good quality. Labelled as a
‘workaholic’.
 Relied heavily on improvisation, but had
extensive rehearsals and countless retakes to
achieve perfection.

6.  Tarnished image, especially in Britain, due to
Chaplin not enlisting during the war. This
wasn’t helped by his apparent interest in
girls of a much younger age.
 Mildred Harris- only 16 when her and Chaplin
married in 1918. Divorced in 1920. Married
due to false claim of pregnancy
 Death of their son in 1919 heavily influenced
Chaplin’s direction of ‘the Kid’, which was in
production for 9 months.

7.  ‘A woman of Paris’, 1922- first film for United Artists
where Chaplin had full control over all phases of
production. Only had a cameo an directed his cast to
have restrained performances to give a realistic feel.
This subtle appraoch was considered a new
innovation of film.
 All four creative co-founders could personally fund
and control their productions.
 Altered his filmmaking method to give greater
attention to shooting scripts rather than on-set
improvisation.
 Shift from quality to quantity with more time being
spent on productions.
 ‘The Gold Rush’ was made in response to
disappointed response to ‘A woman in Paris’ as it did
not feature Chaplin and wasn’t funny.

8.  THE GOLD RUSH:
 "an epic comedy out of grim subject matter.“- Geoffrey Macnab
 Almost $1 million budget.
 Took 15 months to film
 Opened in August, 1925 and made a profit of $5 million- one of
the highest profits of the silent era of film. Chaplin considered it
his film to that point.
 Chaplin deeply effected by a scandal concerning the divorce of
his second wife, Lita Grey, at the time of production, where she
accused him of infidelity, abuse and having ‘perverted sexual
desires’.
 ‘THE CIRCUS’:
 Trouble-ridden production
 Released in 1928 to a positive reception
 Omitted it from his auto-biography, however.
Both of the above involved the iconic ‘Tramp’ character.

9.  CITY LIGHTS:
 Released when ‘talkies’ were trending.
Chaplin feared using dialogue would limit his
international appeal. However, did utilise
sound in recording his own musical score.
 Production lasted 21 months.
 Success despite going against the power of
sound- eventually grossed $3 million.
 Chaplin’s personal favourite film.
 Started to partially delve into social issues,
but not to the extent of Modern Times.

10.  Last appearance of ‘the tramp’.
 Did not fair too well in the box office as some
were against the politicising of comedy and film.
 Release coincided with the Rural Electrification
Act- revolutionised rural America and brought it
into the modern world
 Chaplin pre-occupied with the social and
economic problems of the new age- highlighted
to him on his World tour, 1931-32. Witnessed the
rise of nationalism and the degrading social
effects of the Depression.
 Similar to the Tramp’s purpose in WW1, Chaplin
aimed to transform society’s anxieties into
comedy.

11.  “Unemployment is the vital question . . .
Machinery should benefit mankind. It should
not spell tragedy and throw it out of work.”
-1931
 Solution based on sharing out an equal
amount of wealth and work.
 Very similar to Communist ideals
 Reason why he was accused of being a
communist- especially during the RED scare
of the 1920’s

13.  Chaplin resisted the trend of dialogue in films.
 His comedy and its universal understanding
depended on silent pantomime.
 Only voices heard, apart from Chaplin’s, are
conditioned through a technological filter, which
suggests humanity has been usurped by
machinery.
 Considered one of Chaplin’s greatest today.
Relationship with Paulette Goddard developed
during this period. Another failed marriage was
the outcome

14.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNZo9lUdTvo
 Half-brother, Sydney, was a Jew.
 Chaplin exploits his physical resemblance to Hitler to
send a message in the film.
 Deeply disturbed by the surge in militaristic
nationalism- shown by Italy, Germany and Japan.
 Spent two years creating the script. Succumbed to
using dialogue as he felt he had no choice and it was
better at delivering a political message.
 Very controversial at the time, but Chaplin believed
he had to take the risk.
 Vast amount of publicity for its release in 1940 and
one of the highest grossing of its era.
 Ending was criticised, however.
 Received 5 academy awards.

15.  Continued scandalous affairs.
 Tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service.
 Edgar hounded him for apparent affiliations with
communist beliefs. Resulted in him being banned
from the USA in 1952
 Sordid Paternity suit initiated by Joan Barry added to
his political problems.
 Monsieur Verdoux and Limelight both highlighted
Chaplin’s decline as his political activism overtook his
artistic creativity.
 Married Oona O’neil and spent the rest of his life
with her.
 Lost the support of the public.
 Final films were neither financially or critically
successful.

16.  Kinghted by Queen Elizabeth and received
several film awards in the 1970s’.
 Late 1950’s and 1960’s only consisted of him
revisiting old productions.
 Died in his sleep on the 25th December 1977.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Pl-
qvA1X8