Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

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98 CELLULOID Roll in The Gold Rush. Yet another piece of detail of the thousand that comprise this fabric of laughter is his last gesture as he is clapped into gaol — a flip of his heel to send his cigarette-end spinning with gay abandon into the air, summing up in one action his whole attitude towards life. And so on throughout the picture, touch after touch of magnificent imagination. Perhaps it is the surety of his actions which compels our admiration. On the synchronized musical accompaniment to City Lights I have not much to comment. As a critic wrote at the time of its premiere, the music arranged by Chaplin fitted the picture like a glove, and I can imagine no better description (The Times, February 28th, 1931). It will suffice to say that it is never obtrusive and always has as its aim the emphasis of the mood of whatever scene it is accompanying. On the other hand, it must not be thought that this score is a definite indication of the sound film of the future, for it is far from that. Although in places the sound is employed with imagination, such as the satire of voices by musical instruments at the unveiling of the statue, City Lights is ostensibly a silent film with music and titles. And, in passing, I would suggest that at least half of the latter are badly written and the remainder superfluous, a fact which is rather surprising if the film received the production care which it is reputed to have done. I have remarked before on the tendency towards naturalness that has characterized the Chaplin pictures