City Lights (1931)

Written & Directed by Charlie Chaplin

1998 List Ranking: 76

2007 List Ranking: 11

To get right to the point, City Lights is the second of three Chaplin films on this list and, in my review for The Gold Rush, I mentioned that it got me excited for more of Chaplin’s exquisite work. I think, however, that the film set some high expectations that are hard to live up to because, while enjoyable, City Lights doesn’t quite measure up the brilliance of the previous film.

I think it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why this film misses the mark slightly. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the film, but I think knowing or, at least, being able to guess whatever the next sequence would be (and Chaplin’s reactions within it) took away some of the magic I felt during The Gold Rush. I also think The Gold Rush is just a better film, so that also has an impact, as well.

The Tramp meets the blind flower-girl (Virginia Cherrill)

City Lights finds our beloved Tramp in the city, falling in love with a blind flower-seller, as well as being caught up in the shenanigans of an oft-drunk millionaire. Hijinks ensue as the Tramp tries to get money for the girl to afford her rent (A WHOPPING $22) and to potentially travel to Austria for a cure for her blindness. I think that’s one of the faults of the film: the two primary plots feel wildly different from each other and there is almost a shoehorned-in quality between the two. The flow of the film just doesn’t feel quite natural and it left me feeling like I enjoyed the film but that it didn’t stay with me like other great films.

The Tramp meets the other plot, the sometimes-drunken millionaire (Harry Myers)

Chaplin, again, gives a great performance, particularly in his comedy. The physical comedy of his first appearance reminds me of Johnny Depp’s first entrance in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (in fact, I strangely see a lot of similarities between the Tramp and Captain Jack Sparrow), and there are a couple different physical comedy sequences peppered throughout the film. One of the first of these is the Tramp being taken to a swanky club by the drunken millionaire (played in a perfect balance between drunk and sober by Harry Myers, who replaced the original actor during production). It’s a funny little sequence involving a slippery floor and multiple cigars, but it also escapes memory by the time the film is over: I had to read a plot summary to be reminded of it.

The Tramp desperately tries to avoid his boxing opponent

The plot involving the blind flower-girl is much sweeter, and its primarily where Chaplin expresses the more tragic aspects of his character. There’s the obvious hurdle of the girl being blind, and it propels a major plot point of her mistaking him for a millionaire. This drives the Tramp’s desire to find money for her, which does lead to one of the film’s most memorable sequences, where the Tramp finds himself in a boxing match that he desperately does not want to be in. The comedy of the sequence emerges from Chaplin’s various methods of trying to avoid actual combat with his opponent (which he is unsuccessful at). The comedy in the lead-up to the fight is a perfect counterpoint to the comedy in the ring, and it’s probably the sequence I enjoyed the most.

Chaplin in the film’s final moments

The film concludes with the Tramp and the girl being reunited after months apart, with her vision restored. There’s been much written about the scene being one of the best in film history, and I will say that I enjoyed the more nuanced performances from both Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill; it’s a far cry from the usual melodramatic acting that is seen here at the time. However, it wasn’t jaw-droppingly amazing, so I was still a little underwhelmed.

There is an odd technical element that I want to touch on momentarily. Released four years after The Jazz Singer, City Lights is made at the time that sound films have proven they’re not a fad and silent films are definitely on their way out, yet Chaplin insisted that the film be silent. Part of that is the potential lost allure of the Tramp if he is able to talk, which I actually agree with, but another part is that Chaplin, much like George in The Artist, swears that silent films are better than talkies. Chaplin, however, does acquiesce to having a synchronized music and sound track, but also makes the strange decision at the beginning of the film to have the character’s voices replaced by a bizarre duck-like sound. It’s only in the first scene, but it is so odd that I kept waiting for it to pop up again throughout the film (which, luckily, it doesn’t).

City Lights, despite its flaws, still is an entertaining movie, and I still attribute that to Chaplin being such a magnetic performer. He really is a one-of-a-kind entertainer, and although there are some missteps here in this film, he still delivers a story that makes the viewers smile, laugh, and feel.

FINAL GRADE: B