Chapter 19 Chaplin Film Elements (1)

(January 20, 2003) 1. Image. In 1914, in his fourth film, Chaplin created the most eternal tramp image in film history.The image goes like this: a bowler hat, two heavily smudged eye circles, a moustache, slightly curly hair (which sometimes changes), and what's it called?suit?There are three buttons from top to bottom, and only the middle one is fastened; fat pants, big leather shoes, the more famous ones are big leather shoes, after all, he has enjoyed the taste of these things (in "The Gold Rush", he ate leather shoes), in fact He also had a short-sleeved shirt inside his jacket, which he would take off to reveal when he was working.

2. Demeanor.The transformation of demeanor is a very important issue, which is related to the study of Chaplin himself, because the early tramp image is based on Chaplin's imitation, sympathy and mutation of the tramp he was familiar with as a child.But in the late 1920s, with the deepening of his thinking and the different satirical issues in the film, he used to be just funny or sympathetic to the little people, mocking the hypocritical big people; Movements and expressions began to change, which was also related to his living environment, status and the life of the lower class people began to separate.The tramp starts acting like a gentleman!Whenever he finished a fight and was taunted, he dusted off the dust like a gentleman and looked at the people around him with disgust, as if he was superior to the people around him, and the tramp was no longer a vulgar troublemaker Ghosts, but philosophers!With his noble gestures and his faintly melancholy and helpless gaze after a burst of laughter, he made the audience think deeply about the world. 3. Music.Chaplin's late film music is nice, which can show his musical talent.He is said to play the violin very well!It's a pity that I can only appreciate his movements from his silent films, but I appreciate the piano. There are two pieces of his piano solo in "The Great Dictator", but it's a pity that he didn't play them open. The time is short, adding up to only a few tens of seconds. What a pity.In the reissued "Children", when the child was taken away by the orphanage and the homeless man chased after him desperately, accompanied by sad music, people's hearts were torn apart here. Every time I heard This music makes me cry, this music is really good!Later, I found that this music was very similar to Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique", so I did a lot of research, and finally heard the music of the original "Children" in a documentary about Chaplin, which is actually the music of "Pathetique". , Maybe it was changed during the revision, anyway, the later music is better than Tchaikovsky's, and Tchaikovsky's music did not give people such a strong shock at the climax.

4. Heroine.Chaplin has several long-term actresses, such as Mabel, who has collaborated with him in dozens of films.There is also his third wife --- Pauline Goddard, she is suitable for playing a lively and unrestrained girl, "The Great Dictator" is obviously tailor-made for her.Chaplin had a great feeling for actresses, and he placed a lot of things in them.His first girlfriend was only 16 years old when he dated him. Since Chaplin went to the United States, although the two have exchanged letters, they have never seen each other again. In 1921, when they went to England to promote "Children", She had already died of the flu at the age of 22.Chaplin blamed himself for this all his life. The heroines he chose in his films before the 1930s can be said to be a replica of the "dead angel".The heroines in Chaplin's movies basically became his lovers, like the heroine in "The Gold Rush", whenever she appeared, her name and a rose would appear on the screen... When filming "The Gold Rush", Chaplin dealt with four women in a row, and ended up losing 300,000 yuan, half of his reputation, a wife and a clear mind.Chaplin suffered the first mental illness and was forced to go to a manor to recuperate.As for the heroines, it can be said that they play an important role in Chaplin's movies, they are the embodiment of good things.The only time it's different is in M. Verdoux, where the women change from one woman to another, and it doesn't end well. 5. Sound.If you associate this word with Chaplin, people who know a little bit about movies will smile knowingly. Naturally, people will also understand the disaster that sound brought to this silent film master.It can be said that the arrival of sound films destroyed everything before 1927, and the ending of every star was extremely miserable, either starving to death or freezing to death.Like Griffith, who directed the famous film "The Birth of a Nation" and was good at making epic films, only 4 people attended his funeral when he died, and Hollywood didn't pay him a penny; Two years later, when he returned to Hollywood to receive the commemorative trophy, no one knew him; the most pitiful thing was the producer, when he was kicked out by the hotel owner, his eyes showed that he was puzzled by fate Doubtful, tired and helpless, he was tired after having had enough of the clown.Eyewitnesses testified that he looked up at the sky, sighed, fell down, and never got up again. His clothes were thrown on the street, and poor people didn't bother to take them. Only a few children kicked them as balls. He died penniless.Chaplin, Griffith, Pickford and Fairbanks were the "Four Giants" at that time. They once founded United Artists Film Company together. After the sound era came, everything changed. , with racial discrimination, and the cost of making epic films is too high, so no production company is willing to cast his films; Fairbanks specializes in playing knights, like Zorro, Robin Hood, and D'Artagnan, but now he is old In addition to the divorce with Pickford, he was very distressed, so he drank his sorrows and died in depression.Pickford, who played the innocent girl, left the film industry in obscurity after the sound films came out, because of his accent problem and his age. He died in 1976 at the age of 86.Whenever I think about this period of history, I always feel very sad. The first people who create new things are the greatest people, but they are often the worst. What happened to them?How could this be?Hollywood really loves the new and hates the old.In the latest list of the 100 giants who contributed the most to the history of world film, Chaplin ranked No. 3, Pickford No. 4, Griffith No. 7, and the poor "action star" Fairbanks Still not on the list.Chaplin was naturally also greatly impacted at the time. To make matters worse, he was the leading figure in "Against the Voice". Unbelievable!He then started shooting a new silent film "City Lights", for which he did a lot of work, and his hair turned white overnight!Many main actors were changed in the middle, and the filming time reached 27 hours. He was afraid that the audience would not understand the meaning of the film, so he changed it again and again.A week before the premiere, Chaplin couldn't sleep at night, walked back and forth very restlessly, and his eyes became red, swollen, and bloodshot.Before the premiere, there was a small internal preview meeting. Chaplin and Einstein went to watch it. During the viewing process, Einstein was moved to tears, and Chaplin also cried excitedly.The worst thing was the audience's reaction. At that time, Chaplin had been hiding in the hotel and dared not come out. In order to make this movie well, he had paid too much.It is worth noting that Chaplin also inserted two indistinct sounding parts in the movie, one is just at the beginning, at the unveiling ceremony, a fat man fluently made a "birdsong" speech, and Chaplin whistled Swallow it into the stomach, and always make a weird whistle because of hiccups.When Chaplin learned that his film had been so popular that ticket buyers lined up in the street to buy tickets, Chaplin fell to the floor and cried bitterly.In the next silent film that flopped at the box office, Chaplin made the voices of the factory bosses sound.After all, Chaplin still couldn't resist the criticism of public opinion and the audience's incomprehensible complaints. His first sound film --- "The Great Dictator", which will go down in history forever, came out. The funny part of this film is mainly in action performances.Chaplin performed another miracle: a great speech at the end declaring peace and goodness, which completely surpassed "General Patton" in its splendor!