In The Manner Of Speaking.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 46, 24 February 1931, Page 6

In The Manner Of Speaking.

It Occurs To Me

QHARLIE CHAPLIN’S new film, “ City Lights,” which is to be screened in London before a select audience of celebrities, is a speechless film, that is to say, that it employs the devices of the talkies without the talk. There are sounds like footfalls, street noises and music, but no conversation. It is said that other stars who became famous in the silent films are watching the reception of “ City Lights,” and if it is successful they too will eschew the talkies. In making comparisons, a master production of this nature should not be considered beside a second-rate talkie, than which there is perhaps no greater horror, for to a cultured English audience the cheap American accent and phraseology of the talkies is anathema. But as pure speech is the ideal medium for conveying beautiful thoughts, drama cannot find perfect expression without it. Artificial substitutes, like sub-titles in a silent film, hinder the continuity of the action. Why, then, does Charlie Chaplin not exhibit his genius along the lines of the natural development of his art? Is there a nigger in the woodpile? Is he silent because he dare not speak ?.

B.E.S.