Carl Davies [sic] and the Mutuals

No so silent now, Charlie Mar 17 2006

Claire Hill, Western Mail


THERE'S a sound effect that renowned composer and conductor Carl Davies
[sic] loves to use.

Called a flexitone, Davies has turned the instrument into a truculent
and mischievous bed which begins a frustrating dance with a drunk and
weary Charlie Chaplin in the film The Aristocrat.

"I was looking for something to illustrate this funny pas de deux with
the bed and decided on a bed spring noise for the section, a boing.

"The drummers love it when you give them the flexitone and tell them to
use that."

Going crazy with sound effects has all been part of New Yorker Davies'
personal challenge to compose an accompanying musical score for a
series of 12 short reelers from Charlie Chaplin.

"It really is another side of my life, creating these scores to fit
around silent movies," says the composer who is currently working on a
ballet.

In the past Davies has been prolific in bringing the work of Buster
Keaton to life musically and writing the score for the epic Napoleon.

But it was The Mutuals, the all-encompassing name given for this
12-piece, that really captured Davies' imagination.

While the former compositions were produced with the backing of Channel
Four, the latter was organised independently as a side project to his
already busy schedule.

Davies says, "I just started on them off my own back.

"The films from that period were intensely interesting. Chaplin himself
said it was the happiest period of his life. He was young, only in his
late 20s, and he had this physical spryness that you don't normally see
in the later films. Also he hadn't frozen the tramp character, he'd
play a variety of characters.

"I fell in love with these in 1991 and just started composing."

By chance the music found its place when the British Film Institute
decided to release two DVDs of The Mutuals, featuring the best versions
in existence and accompanied by Davies' score.

But now he plans to take the films on the road, to be screened and
watched with the added bonus of a live orchestra. The first stop is
Cardiff's Wales Millennium Centre on Sunday in what will be a fitting
nod to the silent star's Swansea roots.

"This will be the launch of this concept. I had been using the short
films as curtain raisers to other pieces but now I want to use them as
the main show.

"It seemed a very, very unusual thing to do. One day I hope to work it
where all 12 films can be shown over two days.

"Some of these pieces are recognised masterpieces and they show a clear
development of Chaplin's skill."

After Sunday Davies will travel with the show, but for one night only
he is reviving a partnership with the Welsh National Opera's orchestra.

Something that he is very pleased about.

He says, "I'm thrilled to be back working with them again, we had a
wonderful time together last year."

"On Sunday night we are showing three of the films, Behind the Screen,
Easy Street and The Adventurer. I love them all like my children but I
chose films that are very contrasting."

In showing the films with live orchestral accompaniment Davies is
taking them back to the way they would have been first viewed. Silent
movies, may have featured no speaking roles, but it would be wrong to
say there was no sound.

He says, "If you've seen a silent film without music then it is a very
dry, academic experience. What the music does is draws the audience
into the film.

"The films were never made to be silent musically and later on in his
career, when he had bigger budget, Chaplin wrote his own musical
scores.

"I tried to keep them true to Chaplin when composing the music for The
Mutuals.

"For example Chaplin would never use a piano, because to him that
spelled poverty so he would always try to have as much of an orchestra
as he could.

"We have used different types of music in the film - there's ragtime,
hymns and at other times I've taken bits from Gilbert & Sullivan like A
Policeman's Lot because it fits."

But what strikes him most is the reaction of these films when shown to
a modern audience.

"They are incredibly funny," he says, "and the response is just
amazing. I can't get over it really because these are films from 1916
and people are still finding them funny."

The Mutuals is at the Wales Millennium Centre on Sunday. Tickets cost
£5-£22 call 08700 402 000

Richard Carnahan 7/23/06 10:37 PM

> But what strikes him most is the reaction of these films when shown to
> a modern audience.
>
> "They are incredibly funny," he says, "and the response is just
> amazing. I can't get over it really because these are films from 1916
> and people are still finding them funny."

This is the part of the article I like. I am always intrigued by modern
audience reaction to historically significant comedy films, especially those
so signficant as the Chaplin Mutuals.

JN