Charlie Chaplin filmmaking methods, claiming such a thing would be tantamount to a magician spoiling his own illusion. Little was known about his working process throughout his lifetime, but research from film historians – particularly the findings of Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that were presented in the three-part documentary "Unknown Chaplin" (1983) – has since revealed his unique working method. Until he began making spoken dialogue films with "The Great Dictator", Chaplin never shot from a completed script. Many of his early films began with only a vague premise – for example "Charlie enters a health spa" or "Charlie works in
Charlie Chaplin with Chaplin describing to the composer(s) exactly what he wanted and singing or playing tunes he had improvised on the piano. These tunes were then developed further in a close collaboration among the composer(s) and Chaplin. According to film historian Jeffrey Vance, "although he relied upon associates to arrange varied and complex instrumentation, the musical imperative is his, and not a note in a Chaplin musical score was placed there without his assent." Chaplin's compositions produced three popular songs. "Smile", composed originally for "Modern Times" (1936) and later set to lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, was a hit