City Lights (1931)

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Story: Charlie Chaplin
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill
Music: Charlie Chaplin
Time: 87 minutes
Bottom-line: An evergreen classic, and an unforgettable performance by the all-time great Chaplin

  Charlie Chaplin lays the foundations for all the future rom-coms in his 1931 classic City Lights. A moving love story, along with non-stop comedy, this film is a thorough entertainer, and it also shows us how love should be. Portraying one of the best heroes of Hollywood, the Tramp, Chaplin makes the viewers both laugh at almost every scene of the movie, but when it ends, he also makes some viewers cry.

The story begins with the tramp sleeping on a newly unveiled statue. As the people shoo him away, he runs into a flower girl (Cherrill). He discovers that she is blind when she cannot pick up a dropped flower. Just as the tramp leaves with the flower, a car goes by. The flower girl immediately thinks that the person is rich. That night, the tramp meets a millionaire, who is about to commit suicide. After convincing him to live, they both go to the millionaire’s house and have drinks. The tramp borrows the millionaire’s Rolls-Royce and takes the flower girl for a ride in it. She goes to her home and tells her grandmother about this wealthy man. Meanwhile, the millionaire gets sober, and does not remember the tramp. He asks the butler to get him out of the house. This happens a couple of times repeatedly. Soon, the tramp finds that the girl needs money to pay the house rent, else she will be evicted. The girl also needs money to get new eyes so that she can see. Determined to make her happy, the tramp undertakes various jobs and does various things to earn the money. What he does to get the money forms the rest of the film.

The Tramp meeting the flower girl

This was released at a time when the era of sound films had just begun (source Wikipedia). Yet, Chaplin decided to go with a silent film, and indeed, in this film, he proves that terrific acting and just 20-30 lines of dialogues can create a beautiful film. The dialogues are shown on the screen; most of the unspoken dialogues can be understood with the help of the scene taking place. You don’t really need to follow lip movement to understand the lines.

The story is a simple one, but as I said, it laid the foundations for almost all the other romantic-comedies that followed. It is basically a love story, with lots of slapstick comedy in between. The ending, or the last couple of minutes, is said to be the most beautiful ending in English cinema. Again, only two dialogues are spoken in the last 5 minutes or so, but the acting and the emotions displayed convey a clear and loud message of love. This is one ending that will remain in your hearts for a long time.

A still from the ending of the film. .

The comic incidents are very funny. Chaplin brings all the film’s comedy from his (and rarely from others) own foolish actions. His facial expression also makes the viewers laugh sometimes. In my opinion, until the ending, this film contains mostly comedy and comparatively less romantic content. It is the ending that makes the film a great love story. Anyway, I felt that there was only one drawback in this film. When you watch the film for the first time, you cannot stop laughing at the slapstick comedy. But on second or third viewings, the comedy becomes a touch boring. I mean, laughing at a man fall down once or twice is funny, but watching him fall 10-15 times is boring.

However, despite this drawback, Chaplin also brings out a message, which is actually a saying in English: “All humour comes from someone else’s fall.” this is very true, though we do not realize it ourselves. Fall does not only physically falling, but also falling in other aspects. Someone else gets a scolding, someone gets caught for something he didn’t do, or for something you did… in all these scenarios, one very rarely feels sorry for the other person; he only laughs. Similarly, when you see Chaplin fall or suffer, he makes the viewers laugh, and we do. But only later do you realize the pain he must have felt and feel sorry for him (though you can call it ‘acting’). As Chaplin once said, “I like to walk in the rain so that others don’t see me crying.”

Cherrill has also acted extremely well. Her facial expression during the ending, along with Chaplin’s acting, moves each and every viewer. Harry Myers, who plays the rich man, has a comparatively small role, but has acted well. Other then acting, the score is excellent. Chaplin also shows how versatile he is: he directed, produced, wrote and acted in the film, and also composed the score. Now that is true talent. Yet, Chaplin was not nominated for any Oscar.

To conclude, City Lights is one of the best all time Hollywood films, and it deserves every word of praise it can get. Watch for terrific acting, a good story and a very moving climax. If you like comedies or love stories, watch this film that is the ‘mother’ of all such films. While many people think that actors who deserve Oscars don’t get them, then this film will spark some angry remarks, as Chaplin was not even nominated for this role. Frankly, any fan of Hollywood should see this film.

My Rating: 5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98%