Shoulder Arms

by Charles Chaplin
Music composed by Charles Chaplin in 1959, Music Arranged by Eric James and Eric Spear.
Scores restored and adapted for live performance by Timothy Brock

Synopsis

Charlie is recruited to the “awkward squad”. Posted to the front line in France, he encounters all the privations of trench life – snipers, flood, food rations, solitude, lice and other vermin. He meets a French girl, whom he subsequently rescues from the German troops. After assuming a series of disguises, he manages to hijack the German Kaiser along with the Crown Prince and General von Hindenburg … but then wakes up, still in the “awkward squad”.

Technical Specifications

• Screening time: 45 minutes
• Projection speed: 18 frames per second
• Projection format: 1:1.33 Full aperture/frame
• No sound effects, mute
• 35 mm and digital formats available

Instrumentation

• 2 Flutes (II dbl. picc.)
• Oboe (dbl. e. horn)
• 2 Clarinets

• Bassoon

• 2 Horns
• 3 Trumpets
• 2 Trombones

• Tuba

• Percussion (2 players)
• Harp

• Piano (dbl. Celesta)

• Strings: 8.6.6.4.2 (min: 6.4.4.2.1)
• List of Percussion: Timpani, Snare drum, Bass drum, Tom-tom, Wood Block, Temple Blocks, Castanets, Slide Whistle, Large cymbal, Suspended cymbal, Choke cymbal, Triangle, Tam-tam, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Vibraphone

Instrumentation for small orchestra (12 players)

Available for very small venues and/or local cultural organisations with low funding. Not available for venues seating more than 700

• Piccolo (dbl. flute)
• Clarinet in B-flat
• Bassoon
• Trumpet in B-flat
• Trombone
• Percussion (one player): tenor snare, bass drum, low tom-tom, choke cymb, crash cymb, temple blks, wood blk, slide whistle
• Piano
• Violin I
• Violin II
• Viola
• Violoncello
• Contrabass

Trailer of Shoulder Arms

---

Listen to the Music

List of Films

• How To Make Movies
• A Dog's Life
• Shoulder Arms
• Sunnyside
• A Day's Pleasure
• The Kid
• The Idle Class
• Pay Day
• The Pilgrim
• A Woman Of Paris
• The Gold Rush
• The Circus
• City Lights
• Modern Times
• The Great Dictator
• With A Smile