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him into the fanatical blaze of his unleashed creative power, and his unbounded energy.
When, after exhausting and exhilarating repetitions, his exacting standards were as nearly satisfied as they could ever be, Chaplin the producer was transformed into Chaplin the director, who gave to the camera the same meticulous attention the other had given to rehearsing the scene. Sometimes, in those early days of improvisation, he would think of a new idea when the camera had finished shooting, rehearse and record it immediately, while inspiration was at fever heat within him.
Every morning, Chaplin began by seeing the previous day's work, noting the comparative merits of the variations on a single theme, so that later, as he built and cut his film, a spool the length of a whole comedy would be reduced to a minute's showing time .
Nor did his preoccupation with every aspect of his work end in the studio. He has described the way in which he finds himself continually observing people, and watching their reactions, relative to his films — "When I am watching one of my own films at a public performance, I keep one eye on the screen, and the other and my two ears on the spectators. I notice what makes them laugh and what does not. If, for example, at several performances the public does not laugh at some touch which I meant to be funny, I at once set to work to find what was wrong with the idea or its execution, or perhaps with the process of photographing it. And very often I notice a little laugh from some gesture which was not studied, and then I prick up my ears, and try to find out why this particular point has made them laugh. In a way, when I go to see one of my films I am like a tradesman watching what his customers are carrying or buying or doing. And just as I observe the public in a theatre to see what makes it laugh, so I observe it to find ideas for comic scenes."
Chaplin has taken into the complex machinery of modern filmmaking all his artist's integrity. Now and then, his collaborators find themselves back in the early days of film making, for Chaplin is autocratic in his work, and if it pleases him to introduce elements from the Keystone days into his latest films, or make use of outmoded technique, no one would care to oppose him. His anger is terrible when his decisions are questioned; but he is capable of sober reflection after an outburst, and of finally accepting a tentative suggestion, if he afterwards realizes that it is better than his own.
The colossal impetus of Chaplin's attack upon his work astounds the people who work with him. He demands everything from them, exhausts them, but himself works harder, and for longer hours, than even his most devoted henchman. While he is working on a film, his
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