City Lights (1931) (2-Disc Set)

For my money, Chaplin's best film

By drbernabo  Aug 9, 2001

I still remember flipping around the television one afternoon and stumbling upon this film on AMC. Believe it or not, I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film. However, if you have indeed seen this classic film, you will not be surprised to know that ...when it was over I was completely in tears. Just THINKING about that final scene still chokes me up. Of course, now I have seen everything by Chaplin I could find, but "City Lights" remains my favorite Chaplin film. It might not be his best, but for me the ending is so overwhelming that my critical judgment is somewhat impaired. Certainly this is the Chaplin film in which the Tramp's pathos reaches its greatest heights. For me the catch in the throat comes early on when the flower drops to the ground, the Tramp discovers that the Flower Girl cannot see and he tips his hat to her. Of course the gestures is for our eyes, but then that is true of everything Chaplin does in this film. Even at the end, as we fade out on the uncharacteristic close-up of the Tramp's face, the music continues prolonging the emotion of the moment beyond that of the image on the screen. In a day when the lights come up in the theater as soon as the credits start to roll, it is certainly nice to see a filmmaker who's control of his art carriers through even when the screen is blank. But Chaplin's mastery of his craft was so complete that he was not only the star, the writer and the director, but he wrote the musical score as well. There are two intertwined plots in "City Lights." The Tramp encounters a Blind Girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers with whom he is hopelessly smitten. Because of a simple twist of fate she thinks that he is a rich man. In the other plot line the Tramp saves a Eccentric Millionaire (Harry Myers) from committing suicide. The twist here is that when the Millionaire is drunk the Tramp is his best friend in the world, companion in his revels and welcomed visitor in his home. But when the rich guy sobers up, he immediately has his butler throws Charlie out the door. When the Tramp learns that there is a doctor in Europe who's operation can restore the Blind Girl's sight, he tries a variety of schemes to raise the money she needs. This sets up the best comic sequence in the film of the Tramp in the boxing ring with Hank Mann as his opponent. Eventually everything comes together and the Tramp acquires the money she needs, but not without some serious complications that require him to "go away" for a while, leaving her to await his return. Even before the climatic encounter between the Tramp and the Flower Girl who is no longer blind, there is a piercing shot to the heart when she sees him, a pathetic vagabond wiping his nose with the bit of cloth he uses to cover up a hole in his trousers, and she and her mother laugh at him. The irony is painful, for she is laughing at the man who is responsible for having her sight, the man who is least deserving of her ridicule. But she is still a kind-hearted soul and takes pity on him. Chaplin's set up of this entire scene creates a most wonderful sense of anticipation and a payoff that is not surpassed in the history of films. The final close-up is on the Tramp, but there is also the look in her eyes when she finally understands the complete truth about the man she loves. In the original cut of the film the final title card was HER line, "Yes, I can see now." But Chaplin took it out because it was not necessary. You did not need to know how to read lips to know exactly what she was saying and everything that it meant. Read more Less