Charlie Chaplin (1951)

cc 298 times he was impatient with or contemptuous of the technical end— the sound, the moving camera, the lighting, etc. But in his perfectionist way, once he got into his scene, he was never too tired for the endless retakes that he considered necessary. Unfortunately he never did the scenes twice in the same manner, which confused the script girl and later made cutting and matching difficult. Florey had a hard time getting authentic French atmosphere. He was forced to turn the ghetto set of "The Great Dictator" into a French town. He had a fight on his hands eliminating obsolete "apaches" and fin-de-siecle costuming of some of the extras. Chaplin was not too concerned over authenticity in atmosphere detail, feeling that the story he was telling was a universal one. A dynamo of energy, Chaplin was obstinate and arrogant during work. In relaxed moments between scenes he could be very gracious and charming, playing his violin or entertaining with one of his inimitable bits of mimicry. Florey considered the script on the macabre side, objected to some repetitious ideas, and advised that some of the dialogue be converted into cinematic action. Once Chaplin began to talk, he overdid it, even resorting to one or two soliloquies. Despite all this, Florey enjoyed the experience, observing that some day he would like to see "Charlie" once more on the screen. Many others concur in the wish. Lately Chaplin has begun to feel that the moviegoers may have been right to reject "Verdoux." He realizes that he did not rouse the sort of sympathy that has made his other pictures so successful. However, "Monsieur Verdoux" is one of those controversial pictures which will be discussed and revived for years to come. Time alone will tell whether its importance is innate or merely transitory agitation over a