City Lights

City Lights (1931)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Al Ernest Garcia

From: Charles Chaplin Productions

How had I never seen this before? Considering my having viewed some Chaplin in the past-there are even faint memories of viewing The Gold Rush on TV when I was a real little kid-there is no real excuse, especially given its legendary status. Chaplin’s 136th birthday being a few days ago was the ultimate motivation.

It was wild that in 1931, a big silent film was released when “The Talkies” were a thing for the preceding several years. Thankfully, this “pantomime” was a nice sendoff to the silents, at least in America. The Tramp first appears sleeping on a monument that is unveiled to a large congregation of people. This sets the mood that as always, the Tramp is a misfit who only finds companies with a suicidal millionaire drunk and a blind flower girl. Naturally there are standout slapstick sequences, none of which I dare spoil for those that were like me before last night… except that this features Tramp boxing. As the image of him in boxing gloves is on some of the movie’s posters… forget Rocky vs. Ivan Drago; this is the best boxing match ever committed to celluloid!

Alongside the comedic moments was plenty of pathos & melodrama. The relationships between Tramp, the blind girl, and the millionaire featured both laughs and drama, each featuring many subtleties that likely will become even more apparent upon future revisits. The laugh out loud moments are always appreciated by me but it was the drama-especially with Tramp and the blind girl (she’s never named, even in the credits) that made this a classic.

It's a shame that Harry Myers and Virginia Cherrill (as the other two leads) didn’t have much of a career outside of City Lights. The love story of City Lights and especially the all-timer of a conclusion along w/ several key components-including the score written for the film & the sound effects that augmented the experience, including some aural humor-made this movie a masterpiece.