City Lights (1931)

Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Starring Charlie Chaplin, Harry Myers, Virginia Cherrill, Al Ernest Garcia, Florence Lee, Hank Mann. [G]

Chaplin’s greatest and most timeless film does the best job of balancing humor and heart. Tells the fable-like story of his Tramp befriending a gregarious millionaire (Myers)—only when the man is drunk, that is—and becoming smitten with a blind flower girl (Cherrill). From slurping up a streamer like spaghetti to a walk-on from an elephant, the laughs rarely flag from start to finish, with the boxing scene being a gut-busting highlight. And yet it’s not enough for the writer/director/producer/actor to be frequently funny—he so often was, after all—so here he also delivers a sweetly innocent love story that’s so persuasive that it validates the affirmation of life. Anyone who goes unmoved by its famous final scene shouldn’t be accused of having a heart of stone (they more likely have no heart at all). Gives the impression of sneaky simplicity, but it’s the polish, unfussy presentation, and durable archetypes that mislead it as so. Chaplin’s first feature produced during the sound era, and his devotion to the silent filmmaking form was a bold (and triumphant) one, even though this isn’t a true “silent film”—sound effects are used sparingly, and Chaplin’s wonderful original score was composed specifically for the movie.

99/100