CITY LIGHTS

US, 1931, 87 minutes, Black and white.
Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Alan Garcia, Hank Mann.
Directed by Charles Chaplin.

City Lights was placed on the National Registry of Films in 1991. It is considered a classic – as most of Chaplin’s films are.

This film was in production for three years, Chaplin’s first sound film – with the danger of giving a voice to the Tramp and thus taking away the icon of the silent tramp with his mime. Chaplin actually gave a subtitle to the film, A comedy romance in pantomime.

Chaplin is a tramp who is a millionaire, who encounters a blind girl played by Virginia Cherrill. By the end, she regains her sight and presents a flower to the tramp. This is considered one of the most emotional moments in films.

The film has all the Chaplinesque qualities, the characters, the pathos – and his attempt to deepen characters after the farces and pratfalls of his silent film classics including The Circus and The Gold Rush which he had made in the years preceding City Lights. In the 30s he was to go on to make another classic, Modern Times, as well as his parody of Hitler and Mussolini, The Great Dictator.

1. The film's reputation as one of the greatest American films over made? Its place in Chaplin's films? The technical aspects of the filming, Chaplin's comic style and its photography, comic themes? The importance of the sub-title as comedy-romance in pantomime?

2. The transition from the silent film to sound? Did Chaplin make much transition? Silent techniques, captions? The musical score and Chaplin's style of orchestration and giving a feeling to his film? Themes and melodies?

3. The significance of the title, the focus on the city itself, urban civilization, the glamour of city lights? The irony of blindness and the girl not being able to see the lights but then cured?

4. The effect of the opening with the tramp and the statue? Setting the tone for the comedy, irreverence, social critique? The introduction of the traditional tramp character of Chaplin? Audience response to the little fellow and his pathos? The victim of the city? Audience identification with him?

5. The transition to the blind girl? Audience pity for her, her attractiveness and charm? A typical Chaplin heroine? Her character in herself, her work, her response to the little fellow, her hopes as he told her about cures? The transition to her being cured and her reaction to the tramp and then the change?

6. The world of the millionaire as he came in drunk, wanting to kill himself, the little man helping the millionaire?

7. How well did the film blend the three worlds of the tramp, the blind girl, the millionaire? Three facets of the city? Their intertwining in plot via the tramp?

8. Comment on the humour of the comedy routines of the little fellow in the house, his arrival there, mixing with the guests? The boxing sequence?

9. The contrast of the pathos with the blind girl, bringing her food, reading to her, sympathy and devotional love?

10. The ironies of the plot especially as regards the money, robbery, the police, the little fellow in jail? The audience's emotional response to the little fellow in jail after all that he had tried to do?

11. The build-up to the climax with the pathetic figure of the tramp, the contrast with the girl and her sight, her laughing? The emotional impact of her feeling the familiar hand, the recognition?

12. The visual impact and emotional response to the final gesture with the tramp putting his finger to his lips, the blackout?

13. Qualities of humanity, sentiment, social comment Chaplin brought to his films?