The Music of Modern Times
by Phil Posner ©2001
In the
wake of the many live orchestra performances of Chaplin's films that have
occurred over the past few years, much has been written about Chaplin's talents
as a composer. However, few writers have
attempted to go into detail about what makes Chaplin scores work so well with
his films. This writer has already
written a more generalized article on Chaplin as composer, but in this piece I
intend to explore the music of arguably his best score, that of MODERN TIMES.
It may have been MODERN TIMES that prompted W.C.
Fields to make that well known comment on Chaplin’s dancing abilities (although
it’s just as likely to be THE GREAT DICTATOR).
Indeed parts of the film give the impression of being danced, performed
to the score, rather than having the score composed and conducted to match the
action, which is in fact how it was done.
In an interview which appears on the current DVD version of the film,
David Raksin, Chaplin’s musical assistant and arranger for the film, credits
conductor Alfred Newman with the perfect synchronization, but credit must also
be given to the composer of the score, Chaplin himself. Raksin and others have attested to the fact
that Chaplin was involved in all stages of the composing/arranging/recording
process and nothing went into the soundtrack without his approval.
The score is typical of the style Chaplin was developing (this was only his second attempt at composing a complete score) featuring leit-motifs (reoccurring musical phrases that represent certain characters or ideas), music hall and jazz style tunes and the occasional reference or use of other composer’s themes. There is one hit tune in its inchoate form, the classic “Smile” and also the momentous performance of “Titina” in which Chaplin’s voice is heard on screen for the first time.
The
opening scene
presents us with the first major theme, the discordant, somewhat Gershwinesque
fanfare that proclaims the portrayal of the industrial age with its theme of
authority, industry and hardship. This
theme recurs throughout the film, in varying
moods, as a leitmotif for struggle or the intervention of fate.
The factory sequence provides Chaplin
the opportunity to score directly to his balletic motions. I must suggest here that at least some of the
themes, or at least the rhythm and flow of the score must have been in
Chaplin’s mind as he shot much of this segment.
In particular, the second factory segment, in which Charlie has his
breakdown, is scored so closely that it appears to have been performed to the
music.
At Bench 5 of the Electro Steel Corp., Charlie
tightens his nuts to the beat of the music, which clanks crazily to the sounds
of industry. The chromatically moving
strings represent the bee that distracts
him. In the washroom, an elegant waltz characterizes Charlie’s short-lived
leisure.
When the workers break for lunch, the music follows
Charlie’s movements as he jerks involuntarily to the muscle memory his job has
created, then Chaplin gives us a comic, plodding European melody that is called
‘At the Picture’ in the soundtrack album
which supports by juxtaposition Chaplin’s attempts to eat his lunch
The playful music that seems to symbolize the
feeding machine is increasingly drowned out as the contraption
malfunctions. Chaplin had to deal with
sound effects much more than he had to in CITY LIGHTS and he shows his command
of the medium by letting the effect take over when necessary.
Charlie Goes Crazy with Tiny Sanford
and Heinie
Conklin (aka Charlie Lynn)
The second factory
sequence is the most ballet like in the film. Chaplin’s breakdown begins as the speed of
his conveyer belt (and that of the music) increases to a point where he cannot
keep up and the machine swallows him whole to the accompaniment of a charming,
mechanical, music box like moment in the otherwise frenetic theme. He’s spat out again as the music seems to
reverse itself, and exits the chute as a dancer, performing a mad ballet using
his wrenches to tighten everything in sight, actions followed closely by
musical hits or stingers. His chases of
the blonde secretary through the factory and of the buxom woman outside are
both accompanied by music that seems to represent those characters. His chase back into the factory continues the
ballet at an increasingly mad pace. A
variation of the ‘fate’ theme first heard in the titles, heralds his capture
and his parting shots from the oilcan are underlined and enhanced by the music.
Charlie’s release from the hospital is made
foreboding by the reuse of the fate theme
which segues into “Hallelujah, I’m A Bum’, an IWW worker’s rights song from
1908 with lyrics by Harry McClintock that had been written to the melody of a
popular hymn from 1863, “Revive Us Again”.
The tune seems particularly right for the Tramp character, as he wanders
the streets. It grows into a military
march as Charlie accidentally becomes the leader of the protest and becomes
almost an alarm upon the arrival of the police.
Paulette
Goddard as the Gamin
The Gamin is introduced by a four-note fanfare that will announce her appearance
throughout the film. It is followed by a scurrying theme reminiscent of
Prokofiev that supports her banana stealing actions. We hear her next theme, the more sentimental
“The Gamin”, as she comes home with her
booty, which continues as she comforts her unemployed father. The theme
suggests the irony of the father’s situation juxtaposed against the Gamin’s
cheery spirit.
The music in the prison scene is based on the march
we hear at the beginning of the segment.
It transmogrifies into a jaunty European sounding two-step as Charlie
meets his cellmate and continues into the mess hall scene, in which Charlie
inadvertently gets dosed with cocaine.
It rarely “mickey-mouses” the action (a temptation succumbed to by many
composers who wrote for cartoons), but underscores Charlie’s reactions with
mood and feeling rather than musical shots.
The jailbreak scene is appropriately underscored with tense active
music. When Charlie foils the escapees,
there is a musical quote of the “Prisoner’s Song” (“If I had the wings of an
angel, over these prison walls I would fly”).
The fate theme introduces ‘Trouble with the Unemployed”, transforms
into a gentler variation when the Gamin appears, and follows the scene through
her discovery of her murdered father. A
mournful tune plays while the authorities deal with the Gamin’s younger
siblings, but the Gamin fanfare telegraphs her intention to escape.
The washroom waltz from the factory is reprised as
we learn that Charlie is to be released from prison. The starchy Minister and his wife are
introduced by a comedic theme based on the prison march, but most of the scene
is played without music to make room for all the stomach gurgles and dog barks
in the sound effects track.
The fate theme appears again as Charlie is about to
be released into the cruel world, this time in a tentative, hesitant mood. Charlie’s short-lived boat building work is
performed to the breezy “Charlie and the Warden” (as it is called on the
soundtrack album). It is one of the
nicer melodies in the score having a slightly eastern European feel. It segues into “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” after
Charlie makes his fatal mistake with the wedge.
The Gamin is introduced with her fanfare again,
which gives way to the beautiful pathos of “Alone and Hungry”. Her “hurry” theme is used again as she steals
the bread, and is interspersed with the previous poignant theme as Charlie
confesses to her crime. His efforts to
get himself arrested are underscored first by a new theme and then with a
reprise of the washroom waltz. In the
paddy wagon and during the escape we hear his prison theme, “Alone and Hungry”, the Gamin hurry theme
and the fate theme all repeated.
We get our first exposure to the wonderful “Smile”, with its hopeful and sentimental
mood underscoring the new couple as they sit by the side of the road. The dream sequence is backed by an
appropriately fantasy like theme.
Chaplin’s “In
the City”, a cheery tune with jazzy touches, a reworking of the boat-building theme,
supports Charlie’s new job in the department store. For the skating scene Chaplin goes against type
by not giving us a waltz theme until after the Gamin rescues him from the
precipice. Chaplin’s lovely “Valse” carries forward to accompany the
Gamin’s trying on the fur coat. The
Gamin music returns when Charlie puts her to bed.
The thieves’ introduction is well served by a
“sneak” theme, and when the action starts, a variation on the restaurant scene
music is used. The fate theme reappears
in a kind of drunken variant. When
Charlie is discovered under the cloth samples, there is a musical quotation of
“How Dry I Am”, and his arrest reprises the ‘Hallelujah” music again.
“Ten Days”
accompanies Charlie’s new home with Paulette.
Its graceful and cheery theme provides a contrast to the shabby
surroundings. The fate theme strongly
heralds the news of the factory reopening and the industrial theme of the
film’s opening plays as Charlie hurries to work.
A new march-like tune accompanies Charlie’s work
with Conklin and has a mechanical feel that well represents the machine in
motion. The lunch break is taken to the
tune of the European sounding “At the Picture” (whose title makes no sense
unless there was a movie theater scene cut from the original version for which
the theme was used). ‘Hallelujah…”
briefly reappears as Charlie and
One of the most charming melodies in the film
complements the Gamin’s street dance
to the calliope. It seems to be
something akin to what Chaplin would have heard as a boy in the
Charlie’s job
interview music is very clever as it mimics the dialog and characters in
the scene. The low strings and winds
represent Bergman’s manager and the high strings and flutes back the Gamin’s
lines as the oboe haltingly plays Charlie’s hesitant replies.
The nightclub segment is scored with the
klezmer-like tune called ‘Later That Night”
on the soundtrack album. Increasingly
frantic dance tunes play in the club as Charlie tries to deliver the duck to
his irate customer. The band plays a
varsity fight song when the football players make their entrance. The singing waiters introduce themselves in music
and begin their performance of ‘In the Evening by the Moonlight.”
Charlie’s performance of Leo Daniderff’s classic “Je
cherche après Titine” is so superbly pantomimed that, despite Chaplin’s
nonsense lyrics, one is totally aware of the story of the song. The lyrics, combining elements of French,
Italian and Russian are below, transliterated as best I can:
Titina (Je Cherche apres Titine)
Music
by Leo Daniderff. Nonsense lyrics by
Chaplin
Se
Bella ciu satore, je notre so cafore
Je
notre si cavore, je la tu, la ti, la tua
La spinach
o la busho, cigaretto porta
Ce
rakish spagaletto, si la tu, la ti, la tua
Senora
Pilasina, voulez vous le taximeter,
Le
zionta sous la sita, tu la tu, la tu, la wa
Se
muntya si la moora, la sontya so gravora
La zontya
(kiss) comme sora, (slap) Je la poose a ti la tua
Je
notre so la mina, je notre so cosina
Je le
se tro savita, je la tuss a vi la tua
Se
motra so la sonta, chi vossa la travonta
Les
zosha si katonta, (kiss) tra la la la, la la la
Les de,
le ce, pawnbroka, Lee de ce peu how mucha
Lee ze
contess e kroke, punka wa la, punka wa
The couple escapes from the authorities to another
European dance type tune, and at dawn decide to go it together to the final
version of “Smile”, which so well represents the dialog – “Buck up – never say
die. We’ll get along!” and likely gets
its name from Charlie’s mimed encouragement of the Gamin to smile.
The Modern Times soundtrack lp was released on the
United Artists label in 1959 to coincide with the film’s re-release in the
The Magical Ending