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Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times, L. A., Cal., July 1, 1934.

MAKE WAY FOR U. A.

      WITH ITS BIG PARADE OF HITS

      LINE UP for 1934-35 (...)

      Get in (and on the) line

      with UNITED ARTISTS

      22 FEATURES!

      18 WALT DISNEY! PRODUCTIONS

      Contact and Book Now

      for 1934-35

      TEN from 20th CENTURY (...)

      Presented by JOSEPH M. SCHENCK (...)

      DARRYL F. ZANUCK PRODUCTIONS

(...) Cartoon Ad, Motion Picture Daily, July 26, 1934

& Remember when these outstanding celebrities

organized the United Artists? Left to right: Doug Fairbanks,

Oscar A. Price (Association president), Mary Pickford,

Griffith, Chaplin

(...) The Star-Maker Whose Dreams Turned to Dust. What

price has Griffith got for so much glory? He denies

he is „broke“. By Mildred Mastin, Photo, Photoplay, May 1934

& U. A. Notables in from Europe

      Photo. Darryl F. Zanuck, vice-president and production

chief of 20th Century; Joseph M. Schenck,

president of 20th Century and United Artists, and Douglas

Fairbanks, star of The Private Life of Don Juan,

a London Films production released through U. A., upon

their return from abroad on the Rex yesterday.

(...) Motion Picture Daily, Aug. 16, 1934

& Charlie Chaplin‘s Film.

      The London „Daily Telegraph“ states Charlie Chaplin was

to begin shooting his new film last month. It is to be

a silent film, following the technique of City Lights, and

produced – this time from a scenario, instead

of the director (Chaplin) relying on day-to-day improvisation

– „shooting off the cuff“, as they call it in the studios.

At one time Chaplin thought of playing an immigrant whose

speech nobody in America understood, and the other

characters were to talk. But now Chaplin will adhere to the

silent art of pantomime, which he believes to be his

strength. „I shall be pretty much the same character I‘ve been

in other films,“ Mr. Chaplin explained. „Pauline

Goddard, my leading lady, will be a sort of gamine type,

and Henry Bergman will be in the cast.“

(...) THEATRE and SCREEN, Age, Melbourne,

Australia, Aug. 8, 1934

„We ran into a stone wall at the end of the fourth reel“

Editorial content. „New Chaplin Comedy

      Finally Ready to Film

      For First Time in Life Charlie Using Scenario and Working

      Right on Schedule on ,Best Silent of Them All‘

      By EDWIN SCHALLERT

      Charlie Chaplin is about to defy the Philistines. He is going

out with a great big silent sling to bowl over the talkie

Goliath. And this time he will not only be armed but also

accoutered. It‘s the first occasion during his long

experience in the movies that Chaplin has reinforced himself

with a scenario. I believe there was one exception

when he made the short film, The Idle Class, but that is not

important.

      Charlie says he has the script in the bag – the main portion

of it. His expectation is to begin work in a month, and

this time it looks likely that he will. Paulette Goddard will be

the leading woman opposite the star, and Carter

De Haven and Henry Bergman constitute with Charlie the

production triumvirate. They are the ones who have

assisted him on 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 – battling with the continuity

of the comedy, which will be better (it will have to

be) than any picture he has ever made, declares Charlie.

      And has the comedian been elusive during

that time! Virtually hiding out. When he hasn‘t been at the

studio, he has been out on his yacht. Occasionally,

only, has he been glimpsed at a premiere or seen lunching

or dining in public, except that he sometimes finds

a retreat in Hollywood where he my go regularly for a while

for conversation and food. But he changes even

this without notice.

      Everybody is wondering what the story of Chaplin‘s new

comedy will be like, and Charlie divulges nothing

in the way of details in advance. Nor does the fact that there

is a scenario cause any exception to be made to this

particular rule.

      However, this revelation is very pertinent. The picture

will have much to do with machinery, and will have

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

than in any previous Chaplin picture. Modern industry

will be the background, and there will probably be a pathetic

close. The film will not be a sequel to City Lights,

made three years ago, as rumored, but something quite

independent. The machinery and industrial phases

of the plot will be treated very lightly.

      The reason for the unusually extensive advance

preparations is that the picture is to be done on

a bigger scale than any which Chaplin has previously made.

He declares that on this occasion if inspiration bursts

forth on the set it is not going to interfere with the steady progress

of the filming.

      The inspiration is having its fling in advance. Huge mobs

of people can‘t be held up while it is developing, and

the cameras wait. Hence Chaplin expects also to finish the film

in record time.

      A DEVOTEE OF ROUTINE

      In the past he has often knocked off work for weeks and even

months while waiting for the right mood to continue.

But now he has become a devotee of routine. De Haven and

Bergman both swear to that. ,Charlie has been with

us each morning at 9; and we‘ve worked without ceasing all day,

and often late into the night,‘ Charlie himself avers that

he is all tired out at the present time, but exceedingly happy

over the outlook for the picture.

      ,We ran into a stone wall at the end of the fourth reel

in preparing the story,‘ he said. ,It seemed an insurmountable

wall for a time, and that was what baffled and delayed

us. But we have found the way out now. The last four reels

of the picture are now completed in scenario form.

There only remain some of the details to be worked out, and

that is not difficult. We are going to have a full shooting

script for the actors, and a full shooting script for the cameraman.

Everything is to be mapped out thoroughly. When we go

into the picture we will be prepared to carry it directly through

to completion.

      ,It is absolutely essential that in this case we have

everything ready and right in advance. I have

never made any previous important production in this manner.

But this film is going to have spectacular scenes

with large sets, and crowds of extras, and we cannot risk any

indefiniteness.

      SOUND EFFECTS

      ,I recognize the difficulties of competing with talking

pictures, and this picture must therefore be  finer

and more significant than any which I have made. 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 in the abstract. It can greatly accent

the entire meaning of a scene, and has splendid comedy

possibilities.‘

      Until now nothing has been authentically told of the scope

and character of Chaplin‘s comedy, and this is the first

word of importance on the subject, coming from the star himself.

As Chaplin himself averred, it will be a picture that is a

human document rather than one dealing with a sociological

condition. The main issue that caused difficulty when

the end of the fourth reel was reached was owing to the danger

of entering too much into a sociological sphere, but

that was neatly avoided.

      The picture will doubtless have great significance

in Charlie‘s own life, for it is pretty judiciously

surmised that when it is completed, the marriage of Charlie

and Miss Goddard will also take place. It is certainly

not going to eventuate before the film is completed, according

to the best beliefs, else how would the aura of romance

about the two characters in the film be preserved?“

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