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Summary: Chaplins silent masterpiece!
Review: Chaplin took a gamble that people would still stick with silence after taling pictures had all but killed of the art form that had made him famous. However, City Lights become a huge success and is the pinacle of silent movie acting and directing. Chaplin is awesome in this movie, i.e., City Lights VHS ~ Charles Chaplin. The story centers around Chaplin and him falling in love with a blind flower girl. The last scene is a classic and a testament to Chaplins genius. Highly Recommended.
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Summary: City Lights: Its tender story and soundtrack
Review: City Lights is the third Chaplin film I saw in a high school class 10 years ago, following Modern Times (1936) and Shoulder Arms (1918). It still remains as one of my all-time best films. Made in the very first years of talkie, though the director Chaplin was strongly resisting it with good intensions, the film's soundtrack may strike you as old and immatured. In my opinion, though, it even goes perfect with the setting and atomosphere of the entire story. The story of Charlie the Tramp and the blind girl goes in an anonymous city (might be somewhere in the US or even London, Chaplin's birthplace) with various unique characters such as the millionaire of a double personality, his butler, the blind girl's grandmother, the prizefighters, and so on.
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Summary: Not a dry eye....
Review: If you can see this film and walk out of the theater without a little tear in the corner of your eye, I wonder if you're human. I'm a big man, a sports enthusiast, probably "macho" by the common definition and have seen the film at least six times. It still stirs my emotions like few other things ever has. Perhaps it is because one must split his emotions between laughing at the pitiful man and feeling his pain in the next minute. You'll love this film if you have a pulse at all.
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Summary: one of chaplin's best
Review: and that's saying a lot!! charlie chaplin -- the man who came probably closest to having a perfect track record with making movies comes in an excellent silent romance/comedy (probably the only romance comedy i can stomach in histor). his choice to do it silent even after sound had become pretty common wasa stroke of genius, and we're left with one amazing movie. image did a quality job restoring his movies, and i wouldn't hesitate to purchase any of them
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Summary: The Best Film Ever
Review: I'd give this six stars if I could, it's that good. Chaplin's genius shines brilliantly in this film. You'll never forget the scene where the clerk at the flower shop relalizes who he is. I've seen many, many films, and this one is unquestionably #1.
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Summary: MASTERPIECE OF CINEMA
Review: The eternal image of Chaplin's tramp is embedded in the minds of moviegoers everywhere, whether they have seen one of his movies or not. The tragicomic style that Chaplin developed in his early years, mainly at Keystone and Essanay, are put into their finest form here. For those who do not know, the story revolves around Chaplin's tramp being mistaken for a millionaire by a blind flower girl and their eventual romance. Overall it is an incredibly romantic and funny movie from the golden age of slapstick, a genre which Chaplin gave a human warmth to. The DVD itself, as with all of Image Entertainment's Chaplin DVD's, is as full of good extras as can be put on. The one thing that I would like that is not here is a commentary by a film critic or historian, since that would certainly add to its value. Nonetheless, if you consider yourself a movie buff and you haven't yet delved into the world of silent film, this wouldn't be a bad place to start off.
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Summary: The story of the Little Tramp and the Blind Flower Girl
Review: I still remember flipping around the television one afternoon and stumbling upon this film on AMC. Believe it or not, I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film. However, if you have indeed seen this classic film, you will not be surprised to know that when it was over I was completely in tears. Just THINKING about that final scene still chokes me up. Of course, now I have seen everything by Chaplin I could find, but "City Lights" remains my favorite Chaplin film. It might not be his best, but for me the ending is so overwhelming that my critical judgment is somewhat impaired. Certainly this is the Chaplin film in which the Tramp's pathos reaches its greatest heights. For me the catch in the throat comes early on when the flower drops to the ground, the Tramp discovers that the Flower Girl cannot see and he tips his hat to her. Of course the gestures is for our eyes, but then that is true of everything Chaplin does in this film. Even at the end, as we fade out on the uncharacteristic close-up of the Tramp's face, the music continues prolonging the emotion of the moment beyond that of the image on the screen. In a day when the lights come up in the theater as soon as the credits start to roll, it is certainly nice to see a filmmaker who's control of his art carriers through even when the screen is blank. But Chaplin's mastery of his craft was so complete that he was not only the star, the writer and the director, but he wrote the musical score as well. There are two intertwined plots in "City Lights." The Tramp encounters a Blind Girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers with whom he is hopelessly smitten. Because of a simple twist of fate she thinks that he is a rich man. In the other plot line the Tramp saves a Eccentric Millionaire (Harry Myers) from committing suicide. The twist here is that when the Millionaire is drunk the Tramp is his best friend in the world, companion in his revels and welcomed visitor in his home. But when the rich guy sobers up, he immediately has his butler throws Charlie out the door. When the Tramp learns that there is a doctor in Europe who's operation can restore the Blind Girl's sight, he tries a variety of schemes to raise the money she needs. This sets up the best comic sequence in the film of the Tramp in the boxing ring with Hank Mann as his opponent. Eventually everything comes together and the Tramp acquires the money she needs, but not without some serious complications that require him to "go away" for a while, leaving her to await his return. Even before the climatic encounter between the Tramp and the Flower Girl who is no longer blind, there is a piercing shot to the heart when she sees him, a pathetic vagabond wiping his nose with the bit of cloth he uses to cover up a hole in his trousers, and she and her mother laugh at him. The irony is painful, for she is laughing at the man who is responsible for having her sight, the man who is least deserving of her ridicule. But she is still a kind-hearted soul and takes pity on him. Chaplin's set up of this entire scene creates a most wonderful sense of anticipation and a payoff that is not surpassed in the history of films. The final close-up is on the Tramp, but there is also the look in her eyes when she finally understands the complete truth about the man she loves. In the original cut of the film the final title card was HER line, "Yes, I can see now." But Chaplin took it out because it was not necessary. You did not need to know how to read lips to know exactly what she was saying and everything that it meant.
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Summary: The man was a genius!
Review: I'm talking about Chaplain of course. In City Lights, it's easy to see why the man is revered as one of the greats. Chaplain had the master's touch and it comes across wonderfully here. The moving thing about Chaplain's films is that he made them for real people, people with problems. He didn't ask us to ignore our problems or pretend we didn't have them, he asked us to laugh through them, look past them. This is evident in the people of this movie: a blind girl forced to sell flowers for a living, the love sick homeless little tramp, and a suicidal millionaire who's money doesn't give him happiness. Through it all, Charlie pulls hilarity out of the sad situations. The most outstanding sequences in the film include the rich man's various suicide attempts and the scene in the locker room just prior to the fight. And oh that fight!! The boxing match ranks right up there as one of the funniest routines ever put on film. It had me literally, rolling on the floor, holding my stomach with tears pouring from my eyes. All in all, highly recommended. This is one of the best ever.
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Summary: Chaplin's masterpiece
Review: City Lights is ,of course, one of the greatest movies ever made. If you have never seen it, or are adverse to silent films, this is a great place to start. The plot follows the tramp[chaplin,who directed, and also wrote the music],who we find asleep on a monument about to be dedicated. Charlie soon meets a blind flower girl,and ,in a brilliant moment, realizes she is blind. The look on chaplin's face, the compassion he exhibits, is a wonder. He later meets up with a drunken millionare trying to drown himself in alcoholic depression. charlie saves hi, and the man becomes his new best friend, until, the next morning, he awakens from his blackout, and, of course,remembers nothing. Back and forth they go,with carlie trying to get enough money to save the girl from eviction{he always snuck in social commentary with such grace that most folks didnt feel they were being beaten over the head with it},then later to send her to Vienna for an operation to regain her sight. The final five minutes are pure gold, the magic of cinema.I do not know whether or not chaplin was a genius. What hea was was an extraordinary film maker, with a deft touch and enormous talent. The DVD tranfer is superb, without much of the flashes one gets from old silent Black and white films. A must own,on DVD or Tape{the VHS copy is excellent,also}Magnificent!
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Summary: Remarkable. My favorite Chaplin film
Review: Though some here and in other circles have remarked that they believe "City Lights" is overrated and over-sentimental, I still believe that one cannot deny how moving and beautiful the film becomes as it draws toward its conclusion. "City Lights" remains my favorite Chaplin movie with "Modern Times" coming in at a close second. Chaplin plays his classic Tramp character who falls for a blind flower girl and wants to help her earn money for an operation to cure blindness. The boxing scene in which the scrawny Chaplin takes on a seasoned prize fighter is the major comic highlight of the film featuring gags that have been imitated and recycled by countless other comedies. The finale is nothing short of touching, beautiful, and brilliant and shows perfectly the full emotion that can be conveyed in a silent picture. This is one of the few films that still, time and time again, can bring tears to my eyes. "City Lights" is a masterpiece.
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