Steve Worth recently invited visitors to the ASIFA Hollywood Archive site to a get together at his house for a session on how Chaplin wrote his stories and gags. To get things started he showed the first part of a terrific DVD set called "The Unknown Chaplin." It was the part of the set that focused on outtakes from Chaplin's Mutual shorts. If you weren't there...
too bad!...you missed a great night!
Well, if you had to miss it, all's not lost. I'll talk about a couple of the points we covered here. The opinions expressed are my own.
Here's (above) a set that Chaplin made for a short called "The Floorwalker." He had this entire set built, including a real escalator, with no script and no idea about what gags he'd do (he never worked from a script when he did the shorts). He just had faith that everything would come together when the time came to film it. And it did. It was a funny film.
He was right about scripts. They're fine for drama, but too often inhibit comedy. Slapstick live-action film is all about you and your talented friends doing what you're enthusiastic about, and what you have a proven knack for. Comedy is fragile. It resists being made from blueprints that were hammered out by a committee.
Here's (above) an unused shot from another short: "The Cure." The set is a spa hotel where the guests drink restorative water from a fountain. There's a big open space for outdoor gags, and a revolving door for...revolving door gags. It's OK, but Charlie felt that something was lacking.
After some trial and error he figured out what was missing....a hole! Putting the water in a hole in the ground was more iconic, and had more opportunities for gags. What a brilliant idea! In the new version, anyone wanting to enter the hotel had to pass over the hole without falling in. The hole created an enormous amount of tension just by being there.
Back when the fountain was still there, Charlie played a bellhop. Here (above) he laboriously wheels in a big, Type-A, rich man played by Eric Campbell. He tries a few takes where he overshoots and slams Campbell into the wall and into the other guests. I thought the gags were fine, but Charlie thought they were just a rehash of Max Sennett, and this sequence was never used.
After the fountain was replaced by a hole, Charlie had a "Eureka" moment: the best way to maximize the hole was to have Charlie play a swaggering drunk who was always on the verge of falling into the hole. He was right! The bellhop was funny but the drunk was even funnier.
Now at last the main character was a perfect fit for the props. A bellboy can interact with a hole and a revolving door just like anybody else, but a
drunk...he has an
especially hard time with things like that!
Was it worth all the takes it took to figure this out? Yes! The bellboy made me smile, but the drunk made me laugh. That's a big difference. If you've ever seen good prints of Chaplin's Mutuals with an audience, then you know what it's like to be surrounded by howls of laughter for an entire film. Out loud laughter is the gold standard of comedy. It's worth the extra effort. It's worth staying flexible and making changes til you get it right.
16 comments:
Chaplin always amazes me. Hes a man who knows his way around.
Interesting, John K just put up a post where he said that it was better for him to figure out the character and then work the props around the character. Chaplain seems to have done the opposite here.
Very interesting too see how great comedians like Chaplin thought.
It's a clear logical progression to the funniest situation possible
Scawney: Interesting comment! I agreed with John's post 100%, and I don't think this contradicts it. Chaplin is still obviously being Chaplin here, he's just playing a different character. It's as if you saw a Daffy Duck cartoon where Daffy played a policeman and everybody referred to him as "Officer Duck." He's still Daffy, and can still plug in to what we expect Daffy to do.
I'm glad you took John seriously. That was actually one of his most important posts.
"It's worth the extra effort".
So, so true. Comedy that makes you smile or snigger leaves you room to wonder if you left the oven on, or if you shouldn't have sent that email. When you're laughing, you're all in.
Great stuff.
We'll be doing another evening on Chaplin soon. The next Creative League program will be on dance. I hope you can make it to that one, Eddie.
There is nothing quite like being surrounded by howls of laughter. You almost wish to be swallowed into this abyss of joy and never leave! I say this because the last two months here in Vancouver there has been a Chaplin film festival at the local theatre and the sound has become familiar to me.
Chaplin was legendary when it came to being tight with a buck. But the one thing he spent freely on was film stock. He would shoot miles of film in pursuit of the best way to put over the perfect gag. There was no other way that worked for him.
Of course, Mack Sennett and the other Keystone Kops would work without scripts before Chaplin came along as well. The only difference is, they would just hack it all out in one day, edit it all in one night and call it done. Chaplin would go to extremes (some of which you mentioned in this post) to make sure his films were perfect. He wasn't the most fun to work with, but you certainly can't argue with the results.
Charlie Chaplin is and will always be one of my many sources of inspiration. I deeply envy you and your opportunity to see these films, Ed.
Was it worth the extra takes? Of course it was - it just adds to the satisfaction when you finally get it right. Part of the fun of doing anything is the problem solving processing.
David: If you subcribe to Netflix you can get the Unknown Chaplin from them. If you're lucky your local library might even have it.
Chaplin was never tight with a buck when he thought it made a difference. It didn't matter if Mutual was paying for it or Charlie was paying for it. He kept on filming until he thought the film worked.
I'm glad he was in the position so long to do things his own way!
Eddie, just one quick question: Was this documentary narrated by Burgess Meredith?
David: Meredith? No, it was narrated by James Mason.
Great recommendation for a documentary - not only does it feature one of the best physical comedians of the 20th century (Chaplin), but it's narrated by one of the sexiest male voices of the 20th century (Mason).
Chaplin was good at drama, too. I really liked the movie Limelight.
Shoot! Why did I ever stop visiting ASIFA?!
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