Andrew Earle Simpson
Shoulder Arms (silent film music)
| Instrumentation |
piano |
| Duration |
46' |
| Film Date/Studio |
1918, First National Pictures |
| Director/Actors |
Charles Chaplin, dir./Charles Chaplin |
| Movements |
N/A |
| Premiere |
4/2/06, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
| Performers |
Andrew Simpson, pno |
| Commissioned by |
National Gallery of Art |
| Recording |
N/A |
| Publication |
Composer |
| Performance History |
|
|
mp3 sample |
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Film synopsis and musical notes
Chaplin's wartime film shows him as a foot soldier in the WW I trenches. After numerous misadventures, he is sent on a reconnaisance mission, captured, escapes, impersonates a tree, then a German officer, and ends by capturing the Kaiser. And then he wakes up.
Shoulder Arms is a delightful film, with poignant love interest included as well (Edna Purviance plays a French girl who assists Chaplin, the American soldier caught behind enemy lines).
The premiere of this score represented my National Gallery of Art debut in April 2006.
