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The success of the film when it was released was balm to the wounding of his pride and his prestige, and financially helped to cover the vast amount he had paid out to Lita Grey. Chaplin himself did not find the film very good; he did not enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that The Gold Rush had given him.
His own dissatisfaction with The Circus led him to plunge into another film less than a month after its completion, a rare thing for Chaplin, who tended to brood over his themes for increasingly long intervals. It is possible that his personal unhappiness found relief in creative work, in activity. Maybe the total absorption in his work that he always experienced was a panacea to the wounds from which he was still smarting.
Whatever the daemon possessing him, this time Chaplin had plunged into his next film before The Circus was released.
t©^ The Coming of Talkies
FOR HIS NEXT FILM — "CITY LIGHTS'" — CHAPLIN WORKED FOR
months with four collaborators, Henry Clive, Crocker, Henry Bergman, and his secretary and press agent, Carl Robinson. At least twenty scripts were drawn up, written and rejected by Chaplin, who was still working like a man possessed. Eventually a script more to his liking than those so far presented made him decide to begin the film, and re-shape the scenario if need be as he worked.
It was at this moment that panic struck Hollywood, and the world of cinema was shaken by revolution. Since 1923, the well-known Warners Brothers' studio had been experimenting with sound synchronization with increasing success. In 1927, with their release of The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, the crisis was reached. By the end of 1929, Warner Brothers had brought about so comprehensive a revolution in film technique that the motion picture industry as a whole was forced to accept the innovation or go out of business. The "talkies" were launched. With their advent, many stars of the silent films were plunged into ruin, and forced to find some other means of livelihood. Others took lessons in voice production, elocution, or singing, to fit themselves for the new demands made upon them. Only Chaplin resolutely refused to have anything to do with the innovation.
As early as 1921, on his visit to Europe, Chaplin had discussed the possibility of synchronizing voice with movement. He had met St. John Ervine, while he was spending a week-end with H. G. Wells, and they had talked together at some length, since St. John Ervine was very much interested in the idea. But Chaplin, who was first of all a mime, and sincerely believed that mime was infinitely superior to