Charlie Chaplin - First National (1918–1922)

First National (1918–1922)

Mutual were patient with Chaplin's decreased rate of output, and the contract ended amicably. The star's primary concern in finding a new distributor was independence; Sydney Chaplin, then his business manager, told the press, "Charlie be allowed all the time he needs and all the money for producing the way he wants ... It is quality, not quantity, we are after." In June 1917, Chaplin signed to complete eight films for First National Exhibitors' Circuit in return for $1 million. He chose to build a new studio, situated on five acres of land off Sunset Boulevard, with production facilities of the highest order. It was completed in January 1918, and Chaplin was given freedom over the making of his pictures.

A Dog's Life, released April 1918, was the first film under the new contract. Chaplin paid yet more concern to story construction, and began treating the Tramp as "a sort of Pierrot." Film scholar Simon Louvish writes that the film showed the character becoming more fragile and melancholy. A Dog's Life was described by Louis Delluc as "cinema's first total work of art." Following its completion, Chaplin embarked on the Third Liberty Bond campaign, touring the United States for one month to raise money for the Allies of World War One. He also produced a short propaganda film, donated to the government for fund-raising, called The Bond. Chaplin's next release was war-based, placing the Tramp in the trenches for Shoulder Arms. Associates warned him against making a comedy about the war, but he recalled, "Dangerous or not, the idea excited me." It took four months to produce, eventually released in October 1918 at 45 minutes long, and was highly successful.