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the need to express the subtlety of D FKDUDFWHU ³+LV ¿UVW IHDWXUH ¿OP 7KH .LG LQ ZDV RQH RI WKH ¿UVW ¿OPV WR FRPELQH FRPHG\ DQG SDWKRV DQG LQÀXHQFHG PDQ\ ¿OPPDNHUV RI WKH GD\ ´ VD\V 6WHLQ +DYHQ $IWHU comedies in which he had appeared in every scene, Chaplin directed his ¿UVW VHULRXV ¿OP ¶V $ :RPDQ RI 3DULV 3UDLVHG E\ FULWLFV DXGLHQFHV were not prepared to pay to see D ¿OP LQ ZKLFK WKHLU LGRO GLG QRW DSSHDU The introduction of sound in the late 1920s proved an even greater FKDOOHQJH )HDULQJ KLV JOREDO audience would shrink if the Little Tramp began to speak in English,
Chaplin refused to embrace the new WHFKQRORJ\ ³$OWKRXJK KH KDG PDQ\ people telling him it would be an easy transition, he was adamant he’d make more money if he stayed VLOHQW ´ VD\V 6WHLQ +DYHQ ,Q D EROG move, he went on to make two more VLOHQW ¿OPV &LW\ /LJKWV LQ DQG Modern Times in 1936, nearly 10 \HDUV DIWHU WKH ¿UVW µWDONLH¶ It was also during this period WKDW WKH VLOHQW ¿OP VWDU IRXQG KLV SROLWLFDO YRLFH ³'XULQJ D ZRUOG WRXU to promote City Lights he changed KLV ZKROH SKLORVRSK\ DERXW ¿OPV DQG VRFLDO LVVXHV +LV H\HV ZHUH opened to the devastation the Great Depression had caused outside of - 49 -
$PHULFD ´ VD\V 6WHLQ +DYHQ +LV QH[W ¿OP ± DQG ¿UVW WDONLH ± ZDV ¶V The Great Dictator, which poked fun DW $GROI +LWOHU ³:H QRZ FRQVLGHU WKRVH ¿OPV PDVWHUSLHFHV EHFDXVH of their messages as well as their DUWLVWLF TXDOLWLHV %XW DW WKH WLPH people weren’t happy to see Chaplin GRLQJ WKDW VRUW RI WKLQJ ´ VD\V 6WHLQ +DYHQ While personal scandals dogged Chaplin throughout his career, IURP WKH ³VODFNHU´ ODEHO KH DFTXLUHG during WWI for not enlisting in the British Army to his numerous marriages to much younger women, it wasn’t until the 1940s that his SRSXODULW\ UDSLGO\ GHFOLQHG ³7KH