City Lights (1931)

City Lights
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chaplin
1931/USA
Charles Chaplin Productions
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

The Tramp: You can see now?
A Blind Girl: Yes, I can see now.

A comic fairy tale about a little tramp’s devotion to a blind flower seller. My heart belongs to Buster Keaton but even I must acknowledge that no one anywhere ever equaled this. It is exquisite.

The movie begins with a hilarious comedy sketch which is one gag hard on the heels of another.  All are quite inventive.

The Little Tramp (Chaplin) is strolling through the town picking up cigar butts and being ridiculed by bratty boys when he comes across a flower seller (credited only as “The Girl”) (Virginia Chirelle) who has set up shop in front of a rich man’s mansion.  The Tramp buys a flower from her and is rapidly smitten.  Through an incredible stroke of luck, simultaneously a rich man parks there and The Girl gets the impression that it is he who bought the flower.

Later that night the Tramp walks down by the river and meets An Eccentric Millionaire (hereinafter the millionaire) who is trying to commit suicide by jumping the water with a weight.  After a funny and eventful rescue by Chaplin, the millionaire embraces the tramp and takes himself nightclubbing in a memorable scene.  But when the millionaire is sober, he remembers nothing of his savior and friend and takes back the gifts, etc he has given him.  Over and over, the two are reunited and the cycle repeats.

The tramp is able to use the millionaire’s car to pay calls on the girl.  He tries to help the girl and her grandmother who believe the largesse is coming from the millionaire.  He sees an ad for a miracle cure for blindness and vows to help the girl regain her sight. When the landlord comes calling for the rent, the tramp vows to pay it.  But he hasn’t got a cent and so has to find some employment.

First, he is a streetsweeper who makes one too many mistakes then he is enlisted to box and lose to  man who will split the purse with him.  Fate is not kind to him, however, as the original boxer has to take it on the lam and the replacement is playing winner take all. dThen follows the fantastic and wonderfully choreographed boxing match.

The millionaire returns from a European vacation.  He and the tramp are reunited at an opportune moment and a wild outageous homecoming party follows.  He gives his friend $1,000 to help the girl.  When the two return to the mansion, a burglary is in progress. The burglars rob the millionaire and the tramp and get away before the police arrive.  The millionaire has been hit over the head and now can’t remember giving him the money.  Charlie escapes pursued by the cops.  He manages to get to the girl’s house in time to give her the money.  I’ll stop here.

Wow, that was a long summary, but I adore this movie and have it practically memorized. This is my absolute favorite Chaplin film.  If he hadn’t been a comic, he would have been a great dancer.  He moves with such subtlety and grace.  And so amazing that the same man produced, directed, wrote, starred and wrote the musical score.  He was some kind of a genius, I guess.  If you die without seeing this one, you will be poorer for it.

A master class in film making in 4 minutes and 7 seconds