Week Nine: City Lights (1931)

Director: Charlie Chaplin

Producer: Charlie Chaplin

Writer: Charlie Chaplin

Music: Charlie Chaplin and Jose Padilla

Cinematography: Rollie Totheroh, Gordon Pollock, and Matt Marklatt

Starring: Charlie Chaplin (a tramp), Virginia Cherrill (a blind girl), Florence Lee (her grandmother), Harry Meyers (an eccentric millionaire), Allan Garcia (his butler), Hank Mann (a prizefighter)

You can watch City Lights for free on YouTube

Before You Watch the Movie
(First make sure you have read the introduction to this series)

Along with his contemporaries Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin is today considered to be one of the three best comedians of the silent era. During the twenties when all three were active, however, there was no comparison when it came to success and popularity. During his prime years, Chaplin’s signature Tramp was the most famous character in the world and the films that starred him were some of the most well-received, both critically and at the box office. Chaplin, who had a Dickensian childhood workhouse and parental tragedy, began in show business at age five, moving from the stage to vaudeville and eventually the movies in 1914. That same year the Tramp character was debuted and Chaplin never looked back, quickly becoming the most popular, and well compensated, star in the movies. Chaplin used his popularity to gain as much control over his films as possible, starting in 1916 he would produce, write, and direct all of his films, composing the music for the vast majority as well. Starting in 1921, Chaplin began transitioning from short, sub-hour comedy films to feature-length productions.

In 1927, sound came to pictures but Chaplin was dismissive of the trend while also fearing that his Tramp character wouldn’t be able to make the transition, should talkies be here to stay. Sound had been around for almost four years, and silent pictures nearly dead, when Chaplin released City Lights, yet the film is still silent. In fact, Chaplin would stubbornly refuse to fully make the transition until 1940, thirteen years after The Jazz Singer. Chaplin didn’t completely ignore sound however, and in the very opening moments of the movie mocks the talkie by having some puffed up characters make a speech where the sound is fuzzed out.

Chaplin opens the film by making fun of talking pictures.

It is arguable that of the three main silent comedies we have covered, Chaplin's is the least funny. Without a doubt what sets him apart, even from Keaton, is his ability as a filmmaker. Chaplin clearly had an obsessive need to get credit for all aspects of his films (see his dispute with Orson Welles over Monsieur Verdoux) but that should also not distract from the fact that the man, with a singular vision, made many of the best films ever to grace the screen. There can also be little doubt the influence he had on his productions, as he is the one constant between many pictures in which the same incredible level of craft appear time and again. Keaton’s films tend to focus on comedy above all else and his characters represent the irrepressible nature of the working class. Lloyd’s films are light romantic comedies filled with happy-go-lucky optimism and a go-getter mentality. Chaplin’s tramp, on the other hand, is definitively lower class, homeless and often hopeless, but with as much heart as any ten men even though he is the consummate underdog, completely devoid of advantages yet always keeping his dignity. 

Always the underdog, Chaplin never lets go of his dignity.

Chaplin’s films don’t just mix comedy and romance, but also tear-jerking moments of pathos. It is not expected that a comedy would make one cry, but Chaplin produces moments time and again that cause the eyes to tear up, if only a little. It is rare for a film to make you laugh uproariously for the majority of the runtime and yet still be able to conjure up emotional moments as well. A modern comparison would be many of the Pixar movies, of which there is a clear linage to Chaplin. City Lights may not be Chaplin’s funniest film, and many would argue it isn’t his very best, but it is the definitive mixture of side-splitting comedy and tear-jerking drama. Or, as the film itself puts in it’s opening title card “A Comedy Romance in Pantomime.”

You can watch City Lights for free on YouTube

After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)

After poking fun at talkies at the very beginning of the film, Chaplin gives himself a perfect introduction as the Tramp is revealed to be sleeping on the statue as it is unveiled. The introduction serves a number of purposes, in addition to being funny, it also establishes the Tramp as an outsider and an unwanted public nuisance. 
We also get a favorite subject of Chaplin, and many other comedians: the mocking of the pretentious and the prim-and-proper of society. In addition to shocking the onlookers, the Tramp manages to accidentally defile each and every statue on his way down. Later on, at the party held in his honor, the Tramp interrupts a singer's pompous performance with a pack of dogs attracted by his whistle cough.

The class of Chaplin as both a comedian and a director can be seen in every sequence in the film. Take the scene in the nightclub for example, in which one gag flows into another seamlessly, with absolutely no downtime.

Switching cigars leads to a burned bottom to switching chairs to eating streamers all without any let up.

We also get some classic joke formulas, such as the simple escalation of Chaplin’s day on the job as a street cleaner that quickly goes from bad, to worse, to catastrophic, at least relative to his profession.

Throughout the film, there are recurring jokes based on switching objects or characters: the rope around the Millionaire’s neck, the hat and cane in the nightclub, the cigars, the chairs, the spaghetti and the streamers, the dip and the man’s head at the party, the soap and the cheese, the boxing opponent, and even the hand the Tramp kisses.

Even the main characters make switches: the Millionaire, in a unique twist on informational asymmetry, switches from the Tramps friend to a complete stranger depending on if he is drunk or not. The misunderstanding and uncertainty between the two characters is not only played for laughs but is also an important driving force in the story, giving the Tramp a sometimes friend that can help him enough, but not too much, and most importantly is unable to save him from the crucial trip to prison.

From best friends...

...to "who's this guys?"

Misunderstanding also plays a key role in the relationship between the Blind Girl and the Tramp, as circumstances align for her to think he is rich and kind to her.

This is set up in their introduction, their “meet-cute” moment and comes home to roost at the end of the film, in which the misunderstanding is cleared up in perfect fashion. To the Tramp, she is an outsider like him but to her, he is rich, but most importantly kind, a man who may be the first to ever pay any attention to her, just as she is to him.

The scenes between the Girl and the Tramp are romantic and sweet, but Chaplin wisely doesn’t let these stand separate from the comedy. So many films that attempt the mix that City Lights does are more like two movies, the comedy and the romance, or they introduce tender moments out of nowhere that doesn’t feel earned at all. City Lights blends the two perfectly and avoids descending in the saccharine or bathos by constantly undercutting every one of the romantic scenes with comedy.

Every romantic scene is undercut by humor.

There is one exception, however, and this is the celebrated final scene of the movie in which the Tramp and the Girl are reunited. The merits of the scene couldn’t be more apparent, but it is also important to see just how much work was done throughout the rest of the film to set it all up. First, we have the aforementioned misunderstanding the Girl has about the Tramp, since she thinks he is rich it never enters her mind that a shabby homeless man could be her love. The scene hinges on two moments, the first is when the Tramp stops to pick up the flower in the gutter, which eventually allows the girl to notice him. Through the film, we see that flowers remind him of her and at every chance he can get he looks at, smells, and carries flowers. Even after changing from his wet clothes into new clothes, the flower makes the transition.

The second moment, the turning point of the entire sequence, is when the Girl takes the Tramps' hand and realizes who he is. From their very first scene together and in every one that follows it, at some point the two characters hold hands.

In all four of their major scenes together, the Tramp and the Girl hold hands.

There may be better sequences in film history than the ending of City Lights, but I haven’t seen them; a few equals maybe but no superiors. No matter how many times you view it, it never fails to have an effect.

Both the Tramp and the Girl are looking for each other.

After fighting off the newspaper boys, the Tramp finds a flower that reminds him of the Girl...

...who is sitting right behind him...

...but doesn't know who he is.

Embarrassed, he leaves but her kindness draws him back...

...and his touch does the rest.

This impact isn’t just due to the previous set-up, the direction, and acting, all of which are brilliant, but because it touches a universal desire in all of us. We all wish to be seen and loved because of who we are, not what we look like. This goes doubly so for those who identify with the Tramp, the awkward misfortunate among us. The Tramp loves the Girl despite her blindness and to her, his supposed riches are only secondary. She loves him because of his kindness and heart, regardless of his appearance or wealth; what more could a person desire?

See Also

The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin’s first feature, in which his signature mix is first fully established. Instead of a girl, however, the Tramp’s relationship is with a young, unwanted child (another outsider) that brings the tears. Watch it on YouTube

The Gold Rush (1925) dir. Charlie Chaplin

Set in the frozen north during the Klondike Gold Rush, this is Chaplin’s funniest film and features another case of misunderstanding between the Tramp and a girl. Up there neck-and-neck with City Lights for his best film. Watch it on YouTube

Modern Times (1936) dir. Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin’s final silent film a full eight years after the advent of sound. The Tramp (technically a factory worker) battles the machine of industry and gets caught up in strife. And accidentally ingests cocaine to boot! Watch it on YouTube

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