City Lights

City Lights is simply put one of the best movies out there. Every scene is classic and had a huge impact on the history of film-making. Chaplin's last 'silent' film tells the story of a poor little man the tramp played by Chaplin who falls in love with a blind flower girl. He becomes friends with a wealthy man who constantly tries to commit suicide. The man only recognizes the tramp character when he is drunk. To impress the flower girl the tramp uses the man's wealth to make her fall in love with him. The only problem is that when the man is sober he doesn't recognize the tramp anymore. On top of this the flower girl has to pay 22 dollars of rent or she will be thrown out of her apartment. Now the tramp desperately seeks for jobs in the city to help his love. Out of this simple plot great comedy and heart breaking moments come forth.

The outcome of the movie is to almost all people known. It is regarded as one of the best endings ever taped on film. The movie itself still is masterpiece more than 70 years after it's release. I personally rate this as Chaplin's second best I have seen so far. My favorite remains The Gold Rush. Still this movie gets 5/5 stars from me.

Film has become a medium that is strongly influenced by nostalgia. Old films have become journeys to the past; ways to visit times and people that no longer are. Since film is an art that is based on the innovation of previous works, it has an element of nostalgia in its foundation. We look on the old to find what elements should make up the new. In City Lights, and other silent works of film, a passion emerges that is uniquely honest and sincere. While watching the film, I was impressed that Chaplin really did love the story, the sets, the crew; the whole project. While this may not have been the complete reality, it felt that way, and thus made the film more enjoyable. In silent films the audience is forced to be completely reliable on the visual elements of the film; there are no elaborate sound effects or dialogue to provoke an emotional response.

Since film is at its very core a visual medium, I find silent films to be the basic form of the medium. I don't use the word basic here in a demeaning sense, but I compare the beauty of silent films to the beauty of early European art, before the concept of perspective was developed in the Renaissance. Many books and tomes featured people as tall as the castles they stood in; these works of art were not technologically advanced, but they were, and are, beautiful. The same example is found when comparing early darreographs of wild animals to contemporary photographs found in National Geographic. There is a warmth found in City Lights, and other Chaplin films (The Kid, Modern Times) that would be lost in the sea of cinematic technology that floods films today. Maybe it's just that with simplicity comes honesty, and honesty is perhaps the most powerful emotion that can cross through the screen and be felt by the viewer.

Once again Chaplin plays his famous creation, the beloved Tramp… The noble Little Fellow meets and falls in love with a blind flower girl… She assumes he is wealthy man and offers him a flower, which he attentively accepts with his last penny…

One night by chance he rescues a drunken millionaire from drowning… The rich gentleman becomes a generous friend when drunk but doesn't recognize the tramp when sober… Chaplin takes the blind girl under his wing, and takes flight with the millionaire's money to cure her blindness…

"City Lights" engaged a true genius in a graceful and touching performance which arouses profound feelings and joy with great simplicity of style and tragic tale… Each scene was the result of hard-working detail and planning

As always the little tramp is fleeing the long arm of the law when he is mistaken for a wealthy man by a blind girl selling flowers by the roadside. While he longs to help her the tramp knows he cannot. However when he is at his lowest he stumbles upon a drunken man who he helps out who may be able to help him in turn – if the two of them can sober up long enough.

In response to seeing some modern trash posing as "comedies" recently (Little Man, Norbit, Pluto Nash – I'm looking at you) I decided to check out some comedies that have stood the test of time – a few Chaplin films being among them. City Lights is one of those film that you will think you have seen even when you have not. I knew I had never actually seen it but the wonderful opening scene on the statue and the scenario of the blind girl by the side of the road were very familiar to me and I was right into it from the start. As was often the case, this film has a thin narrative but one that allows for several scenarios for Chaplin to work his magic. And so he does with some classic sequences across the whole film.

The statue scene is memorable for how he makes so much out of so little but the brilliant choreography of the boxing match had me rolling with laughter as it moved so beautifully and imaginatively around the ring. Chaplin is a master and this is just one of many films that shows it as he creates a great little clown that we care about but can also laugh at. His support do no more than that – support him – but yet they are also roundly good. Cherrill provides attractive heart despite her simple character, while Myers, Garcia, Mann and a few others do good physical work alongside Chaplin.

City Lights is a really great film that is all the more impressive for still feeling fresh and funny more than seventy years after it was made. The simple narrative is the frame but it is the wonderful and frequent set-pieces that tickle and also stick in the mind. So tonight you might be looking at your film queue with lots of modern comedies but it is worth bumping this classic to the top of the list instead.

City Lights (1931)

**** (out of 4)

Charlie Chaplin returns as The Tramp and this time he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and sets out to help her. The Tramp eventually meets a suicidal drunk (Harry Myers) and their friendship leads to what might eventually help the girl he loves.

Chaplin made great films before and after CITY LIGHTS but for my money this here is his greatest film as well as one of the greatest films ever made. Not only is it one of the funniest movies ever made but I'd also argue that it's one of the greatest love stories, if not the greatest. It really says a lot when a movie can conqueror two genres at one time but CITY LIGHTS is simply one of the greatest movies ever made.

I think it says a lot that you get one classic scene after another and there's really not a weak spot to be found here. Being 1931 it took some real guts for Chaplin to deliver a silent film and I think he knew that he had to deliver something special because people had moved onto sound. He certainly delivered something special as this here was easily the funniest film he had made up to this point. The opening sequence with the introduction of The Tramp was priceless and we got one hilarious scene after another from that point.

The scenes with the drunk are downright hilarious as is another scene where The Tramp is trying to eat but without much success. The cigar sequence is a masterpiece as is the by the water. In fact, the story between The Tramp and the drunk would have made a terrific movie on its own. Just like the stuff with The Tramp and the blind girl would have made a perfect film. What's so special is that you get both stories wrapped up in one and it really delivers.

Chaplin played The Tramp countless times but he was never better than he is here. Just check out the timing in countless scenes including the boxing match and you can't help but be impressed with the actor. Myers also deserves a lot of credit as the drunk as his timing has to match that of Chaplin throughout and the two men do a wonderful job together. Then you've got Cherrill who wasn't a professional actor but the director makes her shine throughout.

CITY LIGHTS contains one great scene after another and all of the laughs lead up to one of the most powerful endings in film history. There's really not enough great things that can be said about this film as it continues to get better with each passing year.