I have never before seen a full silent movie and obviously, never seen a Chaplin film. I didn't know, going into the film, what to really expect. I didn't think I would be able to stand a whole film without any dialogue. I honestly didn't think that slapstick humor, to the extent that I've seen in a few clips from Chaplin films would appeal to me. Thankfully, I was more than wrong. Charlie Chaplin is not only a funny film, but it is an extremely touching film. The performances are fanastic, especially by legend Charlie Chaplin who was perfect as the often clumsy Tramp. The story was so moving that the 90 minute duration was forgotten by me right throughout the film.
The Tramp meets a blind flower girl and immediately falls in love with her. On eday, he rescues a millionaire as he was about to commit suicide and convinces him to not destroy his life. The drunk millionaire befriends The Tramp to the extent of allowing him to stay at the man's mansion, use his car and even borrow money. The Tramp, one day, spies on the blind girl's window and sees a doctor by the girl's bedside and realizes that she is sick. He also discovers that the girl and his grandmother may be forced to leave if they cannot pay their rent in time. 'City Lights' then follows The Tramp's hilarious adventure to try and get enough money to save the girl and her grandmother, whilst running into plenty of trouble.
Charlie Chaplin perfectly portrays the Tramp as an extremely peculiar looking and clumsy man yet also brings extreme heart and love to the role. His fantastic performance is matched by Virginia Cherrill who portrays the blind flower girl extremely well. Inarguably, both were fantastic but their brilliance is more evident due to the fact that 'City Lights' is a silent film that has no dialogue. The ability to portray an entire film simply out of facial expressions is absolutely fantastic.
My expectations for 'City Light' were to see a completely slap stick humored film. Whilst there is plenty of slapstick humor, the film is incredibly touching and powerful written and directed brilliantly by Sir Charles Chaplin. The humor is plenty throughout the 90 minute duration of the film and whilst the emotion is limited, when emotional scenes are shown in the film they work brilliantly. 'City Lights' is yet another one of those films that many people underestimate and jump to speculations which turn out wrong.
'City Lights' is such a brilliant film that is pretty much flawless, making for the most entertaining 90 minutes without any words uttered out of mouths! The brilliance of this film is more evident for myself, as I now wish to see more Chaplin classics! Featuring fantastic performances and a great story, City Lights is definitely one of the classics that every movie lover must view sometime in their life. It is the Star Wars of its era.
Grade- 10/10
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