Charlie -Chaplin
The Little Fellow. The Life and Work of Charles Spenc—er Chaplin. By Peter Cotes and Thelma Niklaus. .(Paul Elek.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN, who went on the stage before he was eight, was born in the same month of the same year as Hitler—a coincidence, which the authors of this book find meaningful. " Chaplin," they write, "having already conquered the world, destroyed, with the power of laughter (in The Great Dictator), the pretensions of the other Little Man (Hitler)." Unfortunately Hitler had armies, not pretensions ; The Great Dictator destroyed nothing ; and the man who ruined half Europe can hardly be called little. Nevertheless the film is wonderfully funny, and Mr. Cotes and Miss Niklaus are not the first people whose devotion to Chaplin has betrayed them into saying something silly. " What is the fame of Gandhi," asked Emil Ludwig, " compared with him who has shaken the world as only the figure of Christ has done before him ? " _After such an extravagant question, Mr.`Roger Manvell's opinion that Chaplin's philosophy is becoming " almost messianic " sounds like_ Anglo- Saxon understatement, and the claims of Mr. Cotes and Miss Niklaus that Chaplin, besides being a comic actor of genius, is a great poet, philosopher and satirist, and the representative of all mankind," will possibly pass as statements of fact.
The Little Fellow is a. short book in two parts, excellently illus- trated and written completely without humour. The second part, which analyses Chaplin's films, will appeal mainly to film enthusiasts. Here the authors talk of " pure film,— and develop their theory that Chaplin's work is an uncompromising and increasingly profound criticism of modern society. The first part of the book, which is ofmore general interest, opens with Chaplin's childhood in' South London, and then tells of his life in the music-halls under Fred Karoo. At 23 he went to America, where in Hollywood his career followed familiar lines ; he bought a large house, signed a contract worth a million dollars, and came close to being kidnapped by his female admirers. He has, however, refused to become an American citizen, giving as a reason his hatred of nationalism.
Like Bernard Shaw, also born poor, Chaplin from the st.trt• - handled money sensibly. When offered a thousand dollars a week.
he demanded a thousand and seventy-five, and when asked why he wanted such a strange sum, replied: " I need the extra 75 to live on." His understanding of finance is even said to have amazed a governor of the Bank of England. Politically, according to his biographers, he is a " natural anarchist " who " finds himself in substantial agree- ment with the ideals of the social programme of the Communist party in Russia ; but remote indeed from its practice." Periods of hard work and ebullience alternate with fits of melancholy ; he likes serious books, and his view of life is a sombre one. Another famous comedian described his own, similar temperament by saying: Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d'etre oblige den pleurer.
What most people probably want to discover from a book about Chaplin is why he has made only four films since 1928. Since his two most recent ones have been talkies, in both of which the original Charlie has been barely recognisable, it would seem that Chaplin finds it unnatural for Charlie to talk, yet does not much enjoy acting any other part. But because other Hollywood actors are vocal, it does not follow that he must be too. Silent films may have been dated in 1931 ; after twenty years of talkies they would be an agreeable novelty. For silent acting is not essentially more old-fashioned than ballet, and nothing would be added to Les Sylphides if the ballerinas talked. There may, however, be a simpler answer to the question. A total of 80 Charlie Chaplin films are listed by Mr. Cotes and Miss Niklaus in the appendix to their book, and their author may think he has made enough.
PHILIP TROWER.
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