City Lights (B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
Charlie Chaplin's silent comedy from 1931, 'City Lights', is a classic that ably navigates both slapstick & sentimentality in equal measure. The story involves the Little Tramp (Chaplin) falling in love with a blind street flower girl (pretty Virginia Cherrill) & setting out to raise $$ for an operation to cure her. Said girl lives in poverty with her elderly grandma (Florence Lee) & is about to get evicted from her apartment when the Tramp comes to the rescue; though, through a few misunderstandings, the girl thinks he's a millionaire. Though completely blind, the gentle flower girl falls in love with the Tramp's gentle nature and, since her grandma never seems to be around when he visits, she doesn't know how he looks {not, perhaps, the dashing man that the girl might assume him to be}.
'City Lights' contains loads of funny, lovely or eye-opening moments. i.e., The tramp's escapades out on the town with a drunk, eccentric, suicidal millionaire (Harry Myers); a strange trip to the man's house {which is where he gets the necessary $$ for the girl's eye surgery}; a riotous boxing match with a brute; he even ends up in jail after being accused of stealing from his rich friend, etc.. But the film's greatest/most memorable scene is right at the end when the girl's eyesight is restored thanks to him, and she 'meets' him for the 1st time. Though initially disappointed by his less-than-debonair appearance and that her supposedly rich suitor is a homeless tramp, she grows affection for him anyway and accepts him as the loving, generous soul he is. Words can't really do justice to this final scene.
Though 'City Lights' teeter-totters on being an unabashed tearjerker, it doesn't fall into that trap due to the aforementioned humor and by the deft filmmaking skills by Charlie Chaplin. He produced it, directed it, wrote it, acted in it and scored it --unreal!!! He KNOWS people and, thusly, conveys the right amount of smarts, narrative clarity, humanity, pathos & multi-layered emotion into the proceedings. I mentioned the ending of the film, earlier. Many cinephiles describe it as one of the most perfect conclusions in film history. That's a tough call for me, but I get it. It's SO lovely. When she touches the Tramp's hand & realizes who he is, the fact that this silent film prevents words being spoken - only looks - makes this indelible exchange as subtly magical as it is. That's the power of silent film.
'City Lights' contains loads of funny, lovely or eye-opening moments. i.e., The tramp's escapades out on the town with a drunk, eccentric, suicidal millionaire (Harry Myers); a strange trip to the man's house {which is where he gets the necessary $$ for the girl's eye surgery}; a riotous boxing match with a brute; he even ends up in jail after being accused of stealing from his rich friend, etc.. But the film's greatest/most memorable scene is right at the end when the girl's eyesight is restored thanks to him, and she 'meets' him for the 1st time. Though initially disappointed by his less-than-debonair appearance and that her supposedly rich suitor is a homeless tramp, she grows affection for him anyway and accepts him as the loving, generous soul he is. Words can't really do justice to this final scene.
Though 'City Lights' teeter-totters on being an unabashed tearjerker, it doesn't fall into that trap due to the aforementioned humor and by the deft filmmaking skills by Charlie Chaplin. He produced it, directed it, wrote it, acted in it and scored it --unreal!!! He KNOWS people and, thusly, conveys the right amount of smarts, narrative clarity, humanity, pathos & multi-layered emotion into the proceedings. I mentioned the ending of the film, earlier. Many cinephiles describe it as one of the most perfect conclusions in film history. That's a tough call for me, but I get it. It's SO lovely. When she touches the Tramp's hand & realizes who he is, the fact that this silent film prevents words being spoken - only looks - makes this indelible exchange as subtly magical as it is. That's the power of silent film.