#45 City Lights

In Summary

Another classic Charlie Chaplin caper, this time focusing on the trials and travails of life in the city. It's City Lights.

City Lights shapes its comedic set-pieces around a tale of love and friendship for Chaplin's Little Tramp. The love is a romance with a blind flower seller. The friendship is with an alcoholic millionaire.

The narrative structure of City Lights is much looser than Modern Times, with it mainly used as a platform for Chaplin's brand of intricately-timed slapstick comedy. That said, the manner in which the two key story threads interweave with one another is reasonably intricate, leading to a number of farcical situations that wouldn't have happened independently.

Chaplin's Little Tramp is the ultimate underdog in this film, much as he is in his other film appearances. Clumsy, naive and unfortunate, the character's innate friendliness and goodwill somehow always seems to lead him into situations that just about benefit himself in the end.

This is no less apparent than in his first meeting with the alcoholic millionaire, who the Little Tramp just about saves from committing suicide due to his sheer kindness and despite his clumsiness leading to both falling into the water at various points.

There is a wonderful serendipitous feeling to City Lights, brief encounters lead to meaningful relationships. While there is a sense of social commentary about the desperation of city life, it is ultimately shown to be a place where anyone can meet anyone and find love and friendship.

A Memorable Quote

Tomorrow the birds will sing.

Things You May Not Know

• Charlie Chaplin considers this his favourite of the films he has made.
• Chaplin re-shot the scene where the Little Tramp buys a flower from the flower girl 342 times. This was because he couldn't find the best way to convey that the flower girl thought the Little Tramp was wealthy.
• Albert Einstein was invited to the film's premiere and teared up at the final scene. Chaplin later remarked that he hadn't realised Einstein was so sentimental. 

One of the Greatest of All Time?
City Lights feels a much looser collection of comic set-pieces than Modern Times, as such, it comes across as more comedic than satirical. That is not to say that the narrative structure of the film doesn't have a role to play in shaping the comedy, but that the film often seems to jump around from set-piece to set-piece rather than based on where the storyline is heading.

As an evocation of the what can be achieved through silent cinema, City Lights is a classic example. The amount of precision required to enact the number of comic set-pieces is mind-boggling, highlighting Chaplin's incredible attention to detail and commitment to his art form.