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Modern Times Clippings 91/382

Motion Picture Herald, New York, July 7, 1934.

Charles Chaplin and Paulette Goddard stroll along the

boardwalk at Catalina Island, southern California

resort on August 18, 1934. They are vacationing on Chaplin‘s

yacht, the Panacea. AP Photo, Press-Telegram

& On Vacation Aboard Chaplin Yacht

      Charlie Chaplin of the movies and Paulette Goddard,

his leading woman, at Catalina Island, Cal., where they are

vacationing aboard Chaplin‘s yacht, the Panacea. 

(...) Associated Press Photo, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois,

Aug. 18, 1934

& CHAPLIN PLANNING

      NEW SILENT MOVIE

      Picture Will Use Sound Effects; to Have

      Industrial Background

      By The Associated Press

      HOLLYWOOD, June 30. – Charlie Chaplin, the great

„holdout“ against talking pictures, is about to launch his biggest

„silent“ production. He talked of it today.

      The picture, which will be non-talking but employ sound

effects, will have much to do with machinery. It will

have large sets, and big crowds will be used – much bigger than

in any previous Chaplin picture.

      Modern industry will be the background and there

probably will be a pathetic ending.

      To Start in Month

      Chapin said the script is practically completed. He expects

to start production within a month. Use of a script is

unusual for Chaplin. In the past, improvising as he went,

he has knocked off work for weeks waiting for the

proper inspiration. But the new picture, because of its crowd

scenes and elaborate sets, will be run off strictly

according to schedule.

      „I recognize the difficulties of competing with talking

pictures,“ Chaplin said, „and this picture must therefore be finer

and more significant than any which I have made.

      To Be No Dialogue

      „There will be no dialogue, but we expect to make

excellent use of sound effects. Much, indeed, can

be added to the picture through sound; it can greatly accent

the entire meaning of a scene, and that has splendid

comedy possibilities.“

      Paulette Goddard will be the leading lady. Carter

De Haven and Henry Bergman are aiding Chaplin in preparing

the story.

      Day after day they have been in Charlie‘s famous

„sweat room“ an old one-story house on the back of the studio

lot – hard at work on the continuity.

(...) AP, Springfield News-Leader, Springfield,

Missouri, July 1, 1934

„A cast-iron scenario“

Editorial content. „Chaplin Working to a Scenario

      Charlie Chaplin working to a cast-iron scenario is a miracle

in prospect, said Mr. Schenck.

      The United Artists executive said that in Hollywood

he had seen sets already built at the Chaplin studio

which he called among the most ambitious he has seen in any

studio.

      It is a fact that production is to be on a big scale

mechanically – huge factory sets implying the employment

of thousands of extras are scheduled – which has

induced, or rather compelled, Chaplin to abandon his usual

leisurely and temperamental style of production, said

Mr. Schenck.

      ,Charlie has a new method of presentation in view,‘

said he, ,and production is going to be a big job for him, and

entail enormous overheads. Therefore, he has for a year

past been getting the film down on paper and told me that he had

it all complete, down to the last gag.

      ,This is a big change from his usual method of shooting

his films in single scenes, perhaps at intervals of several months,

but then the whole thing is going to be on new lines.

      ,The subject? Well, all I can say is that it is going to

be a presentation, from a humorous angle, of some outstanding

facts of the present day world.

      ,Of course it will be silent. Charlie doesn‘t need to talk, and

he is not likely to let anyone else talk.‘“

Redaktioneller Inhalt

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