City Lights
Charlie Chaplin remains not only the undisputed biggest name in silent movie history, but arguably remains at or near the top when it comes to being considered the single greatest movie star of all time. Such was his level of power and prestige in Hollywood that when the movies were switching over to being all talking as opposed to the pantomime of silents, Chaplin just simply continued on making movies in the way that he always had, obviously feeling that silent acting was in and of itself an art form that needed to be preserved no matter what and it was through this refusal to compromise his way of doing things that he produced what is widely considered to be his greatest works while utilizing his stock in trade character of The Little Tramp. Chaplin would produce 2 more silent classics in the otherwise all talkie filled 1930s before finally switching over to sound with The Great Dictator in 1940, a masterpiece in its own right because he had officially decided that The Tramp would have something to say (and it was amazing).  The rest of his career dedicated by him to making sound films more or less petered out (just as much by the fact that he was clearly getting older than by any possible perception that he wasnât as adept at writing dialogue) but the three which he made in that decade of output in the 1930s were truly astonishing with eternal debate about which one remains the greatest of them all. Itâs notable to point out that 2 of these 3 films could be considered rather âtopicalâ or rather as a standing historical commentary by Chaplin concerning events of that time such The Great Depression (1936âs Modern Times) or the rise of Hitler and World War II (Dictator) which leaves this entry from 1931, a film which was neither topical nor really political at all, but rather the one with the most pure comedic heart of all his work before or since, a emotionally charged story that features The Tramp dedicating himself to doing all that he can to helping somebody who is actually even less fortunate than himself and then putting himself through hell in order to achieve it. The film opens with a legendary scene (although not as legendary as the ending) featuring the unveiling of a statue (with those giving the dedication speech almost being heard as âwonk wonk wonkâ like Charlie Brownâs teacher).  When the canvas to lifted to reveal the statue, there is The Tramp sleeping in its lap, an event that unsettles the pompous city officials who quickly shoo him away from the scene. It isnât long before The Tramp encounters a Blind Flower Girl plying her trade on the street corner. As played by Virginia Cherrill, this might be considered one of (if not the) best lead performance by a âChaplin Girlâ ever seen, ironic since Cherrill had never acted before but was said to have been a âcasual acquaintanceâ of the known (young) ladies man Chaplin whom (after Chaplin had done scores of auditions with other actresses and was dissatisfied with all of them) was finally given the chance to audition which was something she had reportedly hounded him over for a while and she turned out to be a perfect choice. Cherrill is also notable among the other âChaplin Girlsâ to have famously feuded with him extensively during filming, having actually been fired by him at one point whereupon Chaplin resumed filming with his Gold Rush lead actress Georgia Hale (even doing a version of the ending scene with her which still survives to this day as a deleted / alternate scene) before realizing that the costs of reshooting Cherrillâs scenes would just be too prohibitive to do so which resulted in Cherrill being hired back at double her salary (much to Chaplinâs chagrin). Regardless, to convincingly play a blind girl opposite Chaplin and to be a part of that final scene is easily more than enough to earn Cherrril the respect that she deserves even as she claimed in her later years that Chaplin allegedly showed no sexual interest in her probably because she was 20 at the time and that he âliked them youngerâ. Once The Tramp endeavors to do all that he can to help her out financially (she has rent issues along with a possible medical procedure that can help restore her sight to her), he lucks out by finding a drunken, depressed millionaire (Harry Myers) whom he rescues from a suicide attempt (supposedly over his wife divorcing him) which leads to the drunken fool befriending The Tramp and promising to give him a taste of the âgood lifeâ. The two of them usually wind up the night by hanging out in the millionaireâs big mansion, but as soon as the rich man sobers up, he pretends not to know The Tramp and instructs his nasty butler to throw him out in the street. Of course, the obvious subtext here is that the millionaire is actually gay (hence the divorce from his wife) and he only exhibits that side of himself while heavily intoxicated which is the real reason why EVERY time heâs drunk and sees The Tramp walking along minding his own business he immediately recognizes him and throws his arms around him before inviting him along for some more of the âgood lifeâ only to become a mean, cold hearted bastard when sobriety hits. As expected, The Tramp is able to get some money off of him in order to help the blind girl (although nothing even remotely sexual is shown or even implied between The Tramp and the millionaire as his âdonationsâ are shown to be done out of the kindness of his drunken heart and at one point The Tramp even tells him straight up about how heâs trying to help out the blind girl) while also trying out a couple of actual jobs including being a street sweeper. But when it comes to setpieces, Chaplin probably hits his peak here when The Tramp gets roped into a low rent boxing venue by a fighter who needs an opponent and a quick win, getting The Tramp to agree to throw the fight in exchange for half the purse money which is always useful to The Tramp in order to help the girl. But when The Tramp is signed up to box and has all his gear on, the other fighter whom he had made the deal with suddenly ducks out and The Tramp is now assigned a replacement opponent (veteran Chaplin regular Hank Mann) who has no interest in any kind of a special deal and is looking to fight The Tramp for real winner take all. Even worse, this guy has a habit of knocking out cold other fighters in the locker room who annoy him and even rowdy fans while on his way to the ring. The fight scene that results is easily one of the best slapstick comedy sequences of all time, one that sees The Tramp, his opponent and even the referee involved in a hilarious melee as The Tramp pulls out every wild trick that he can think of to overcome his superior opponent, up to and including finding a way to ring the bell himself in order to give his opponent the mistaken impression that the round is over so that he can get himself a cheap respite (a trick that 80s pro wrestling would later use).  The staging of this and other scenes has been said by many to have been effective mostly because Chaplin while he was explaining to the other actors how he wanted things done would literally jump back and forth actually playing all of the given characters in any given scene (including the blind girl) in front of everybody as he demonstrated all of the tics and mannerisms that he wanted each character to have only to solely step into the role of The Tramp once the cameras started rolling when some have even gone so far to say that if Chaplin could have played all of the roles in his own films, he probably would have. The most notable thing about the boxing scene was that Chaplin had brought in a number of friends to be extras in the crowd, but when the word spread about Chaplinâs incredibly funny work in the scene, more and more people started showing up to be extras just so they could watch the master at work. Eventually, he makes sure that the flower girl has everything she needs (and makes a serious sacrifice in doing it) so that we can have the final scene where the girl (always believing that The Tramp was a wealthy gentleman) finally encounters him with her own eyes, an ending (one which reduced Albert Einstein to tears at the premiere) that transcends politics or ideology and squarely places Chaplin for what he was: a champion for humanity who perhaps naively believed in mankindâs better nature but was also someone who knew of what our potential could be if only we could just look past our own flaws and weaknesses for the greater good so that we can all be able to finally say: Yes, I can see nowâŚ
10/10