City Lights (1931)

Years after the "official death" of the silent film mega-movie star Charlie Chaplin would bring back the silent film for one last moment of glory as the Tramp once again grace the silver screen as one of cinema's greatest notable characters. The story of City Lights is not just another one of lovable character know as the Tramp, but of Charlie Chaplin the filmmaker who painstakingly worked to bring perfection to the screen and provide timeless entertainment for all that enjoyed the movies. Three years of pondering, production, and headaches would produce one of cinema's all-time greatest films that would personify a man who truly loved the art he created.

The plot of City Lights reunited us with the lovable Tramp portrayed by the man that did it all, director/writer/producer/editor/composer/actor Charlie Chaplin. We find our hero once again a poor, homeless, happy-go-lucky man that makes audiences laugh with the many situations he finds himself in. In this case he befriends a drunk millionaire while rescuing him from committing suicide. The millionaire so in turn takes care of the Tramp with everything from money to parties, that is until he sobers up and forgets who that poor man is. At this time the Tramp falls in love with a poor, blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) who sells flowers on a street corner who happens to mistaken him as being a true millionaire. The Tramp does everything to help provide for this poor, blind girl, either with the help from the millionaire (while he is drunk) or with odd jobs as a street cleaner or as a failed boxer. While his friend is drunk one evening the Tramp is given $1000 to help his lovely girl, that is until the millionaire sobers up and has him arrested, but not before giving all he has to help provide the money the girl would need to cure her blindness. The next time we see the Tramp is after he served his long sentence and he goes in search of his love who is not on her usual corner. Rather she has had her sight restored and is doing well owning her own flower shop pining that one day her hero "millionaire" would return to her. When the Tramp discovers her he is too stricken to manifest that he is in fact he, the man wearing only tattered clothes, is her long lost hero. When the girl reaches out to him in pity to present him a flower as a gift thinking he is only a poor man she recognizes the feel of his loving hands and they share one of films greatest moments as they together are reunited and for the first time can see the love in each others eyes.

The ending of the picture is one of film's greatest scenes. It would be one of Chaplin's favorite moments he ever produced. He called it a sort of out of body experience to make. The shared looks of love is so genuine between the two characters. It melts the soul turning this rather goofy comedy into one of the most heartwarming romances of all time. The scene is praised by numerous filmmakers through generations and that can be said just for that scene.

The picture was a work of love on behalf of Charlie Chaplin. He had began production on the picture in 1928, about the time with talkies came into vogue in the American cinema. The future was in sound pictures, but the Tramp had never spoken before and Chaplin didn't quite know what to do. He was pressured to make his picture a talkie, but the character was a pantomime and to change that with him opening his mouth could ruin the Tramp. So Chaplin took what seemed to be a gamble and made the production a silent picture and presenting it in the title cards as a "comedy romance in pantomime." However there would be a synchronized soundtrack composed by Chaplin himself (which he loved doing) with sound effects to match a couple of scenes with noises in place of character voices. (Which is quite humorous. Very Peanuts-esque.) There would be no other way to present the Tramp. He was born a silent character and would be forever a silent character, for making him speak would only make him less interesting.

Now Chaplin the filmmaker was a perfectionist. The reason the production took three years was because Chaplin wanted only to produce the film that he saw in his head and nothing else would do. In that three year span there were 180 shooting days, that would be because of the multiple stops and restarts of production called on by Chaplin tot correct scenes and shots he wanted in order to perfect the film. He would redo shots dozens, if not hundreds of times to get the perfect shot made. It is said that this film produced the greatest ratio of film stock shot to actually shown on screen that had ever been produced. (or at least for that time. But come on, 180 days of shooting for only 87 minutes of film? Wow!) This is manifested in most of his comedic scenes as that play so well that it is almost like a dance, especially when you watch the scene where the Tramp is boxing, or rather avoid boxing. But the scenes he would work the hardest on was the romantic ones. It is said that there were over 300 takes of the first meeting between the Tramp and the blind girl, because Chaplin wanted to perfectly convey to the audience that the Tramp understood the girl's blindness and the girl mistook him as a millionaire.

Chaplin would work his actors hard, and that is most noted with leading lady Virginia Cherrill. Unlike Chaplin's other leading ladies, he had no real life romantic interest with Cherrill. In fact the two did not get along, but Chaplin believed her acting as a blind woman worked the best. That is until Cherrill was late for work one day and Chaplin fired her replacing her with Georgia Hale, know for her role along Chaplin in The Gold Rush. After re-shooting some scenes with Hale it appeared that the production would be too troublesome and costly with completely redoing the movie, so Cherrill would be hired back on and at twice her original rate. Despite her great acting she would not work with Chaplin again after this production.

The picture would have its premiere in Hollywood with great fanfare, including Albert Einstein in the audience. It was an immediate hit. Moviegoers loved it and have not stopped loving it since. Orson Welles calls it his favorite film, and it would adorn the favorite film lists by the likes of Stanley Kubrick and Woody Allen. Dispite not being nominated for any Oscars the picture has many honors. It can possibly be seen as the American Film Instatutes most honored film. It was on the Top 100 all-time list in 1997 (#76) and did better on the list in 2007 (#11). It is listed in the top comedies (#38), top romances (#10), and top inspiring pictures (#33), but most of all it is considered the top romantic comedy of all time.

Despite the change in Hollywood Chaplin stood his ground with what he knew in his heart worked and it paid him handsomely with what is considered the film he is most remembered for. At that time no filmmaker can be seen as more of a genius blending the genres of romance and comedy so perfectly. Through an entire film where you are made to laugh Chaplin makes you shed a tear of happiness and simply stand and applaud with one of cinema's greatest endings. The man knew how to tug on all of the right heartstrings and completely entertain us all.