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was the first (and the Russians have followed his example) to construct a film with a theme and variations-in short, with the element of composition-and that all this stands in complete opposition to films based on action and suspense. This explains why Soupault has argued more forcefully than anyone else that the pinnacle of Chaplin's work is to be seen in A Woman of Paris. This is the film in which, as is well known, he does not even appear and which was shown in Germany under the idiotic title Die Nachte einer schonen Frau [Nights of a Beautiful Woman]. (The Kamera Theater ought to show it every six months. [t is a foundation document of the art of film.) When we learn that 125,000 meters ofBlm were shot for this 3,000meter work, we get some idea of the capital that this man requires, and that is at least as necessary to him as to a Nansen or an Amundsen if he is to make his voyages of discovery to the poles of the art of ÂŁ1lm. 3 We must share Soupault's concern that Chaplin's productivity may be paralyzed by the dangerous financial claims of his second wife, as well as by the ruthless competition of the American trusts. It is said that Chaplin is planning both a Napoleon-film and a Christ-film. Shouldn't we fear that such projects are no more than giant screens behind which the great artist conceals his exhaustion? It is good and useful that at the moment old age begins to show itself in Chaplin's features, Soupault should remind us of Chaplin's youth and of the territorial origins of his art. Needless to say, these lie in the metropolis of London. In his endless walks through the London streets, with their black-and-red houses, Chaplin trained himself to observe. He himself has told us that the idea of creating his stock character-the fellow with the bowler hat, jerky walk, little toothbrush moustache, and walking stick-first occurred to him on seeing office workers walking along the Strand. What he saw in their bearing and dress was the attitude of a person who takes some pride in himself. But the same can be said of the other characters that surround him in his films. They, too, originate in London: the shy, young, winsome girl; the burly lout who is always ready to use his fists and then to take to his heels when he sees that people aren't afraid of him; the arrogant gentleman who can be recognized by his top ha t.
Soupault appends to this portrait a comparison between Dickens and Chaplin that is worth reading and exploring further. With his art, Chaplin confirms the old insight that only an imaginative world that is firmly grounded in a society, a nation, and a place will suc-