I saw this film last night as it ought to be seen: on the silver screen, in a movie palace built in 1926, preceded by a live stage performance, and the film itself accompanied by a genuine theater organ, the Mighty Wurlitzer. There is nothing better for an evening’s entertainment, and I am pleased that our town’s historical theater runs a silent film series, featuring the best of the silent era.
Anyone who associates silent films with mindless slapstick (a la Keystone Cops) needs to see a film featuring one of the masters of the silent era. Charlie Chaplin was one of the outstanding performers of his day, blending comedy with pathos, sweet fantasy with gritty reality. City Lights is one of the best of Chaplin’s films and has been hailed by some as one of the top ten movies of all time.
Actually, City Lights was not exactly a silent film. There was a soundtrack, consisting of Chaplin’s own musical score. There is no speech, however. The viewer follows the story through word cards and from the expressions and body language of the actors just as in a traditional silent movie.
In City Lights, Chaplin stars as The Tramp, a characterization he is most remembered for (though certainly not the only character he played in his films). Virginia Cherrill plays the beautiful and angelic Blind Girl. None of the characters have names, as was typical of the era -- the Prize Fighter, the Cop, the Millionaire. That’s all the audience needed to know about them.
The story opens with a crowd gathered to see the dedication of a new city monument, “Peace and Prosperity.” As the statue is unveiled, we see the Tramp sleeping peacefully in the cold stone arms of “Prosperity.” After being chased away, the Tramp comes across the Blind Girl who is selling flowers on a street corner. Virginia Cherrill’s portrayal is a strongly Victorian ideal of the “worthy poor.” The Blind Girl is sweet and pure-hearted with the face of an angel. She sells flowers to earn enough money to pay the rent for herself and her grandmother, who live together in a tiny flat. It’s love at first sight for the Tramp, who fishes in his pocket for his last coin to buy a flower. As she searches for change, the Blind Girl hears a car door shut and, thinking it is the man who just bought the flower, calls out, “Wait, Sir, your change!” The Tramp tiptoes away, unwilling to break the illusion.
Later that night, the Tramp stops a drunken millionaire from drowning himself. In gratitude, the Millionaire gives the Tramp a new set of clothes, takes him to a wild nightclub, takes him home, offers him his car, and gives him cash to buy flowers. The Tramp runs and buys all the Blind Girl’s stock, then drives her home, furthering the fantasy that a rich man has come to rescue her from her poverty.
But the Millionaire, once sober, doesn’t remember his friend, the Tramp, and has him thrown out of the house. After several more drunken encounters and sober refusals, The Millionaire leaves for Europe, and the Tramp goes to find work to make money so he can help the lovely Blind Girl.
Prosperity, however, is elusive and offers him no more comfort and shelter than the cold stone arms of the statue. The Tramp takes on any job, does anything he can, to make a little cash to take to the Blind Girl. He cleans the streets, and when he’s fired for coming to work late, he tries his luck at a prize fight. He loses, much to his sorrow, for by losing the fight he has lost his last chance to pay the Blind Girl’s back rent and prevent her from being thrown out of her flat. Finally he wanders the streets looking for any opportunity at all to make some money. He encounters the Millionaire, once again drunk, who again recognizes the Tramp who saved his life.
The Millionaire hears the story of the Blind Girl and gives the Tramp a thousand dollars to take to her, not only to pay the rent, but to pay passage for her on a voyage to Vienna to see a famous eye specialist who can cure her blindness. The Tramp is ecstatic, but the joy is interrupted when burglars, who had been lurking behind a curtain, enter the room and hit the Millionaire over the head. The Tramp fends them off and calls the police, but the burglars flee the scene. The police arrive and revive the Millionaire, who, now sober, does not recognize his friend. The Tramp is accused of robbery and barely escapes with the thousand dollars. He runs straight to the home of the Blind Girl, gives her the money, and tells her he must go away. Soon after, the Tramp is spotted on the streets by detectives, seized and handcuffed, and hauled away to prison.
Months pass. The Blind Girl is home from Vienna and cured of her blindness. Prosperity has blessed her: she, with her grandmother, run a florist’s shop on a busy street corner. The Tramp is released from prison. Ragged, broken in spirit, he shuffles through the streets where he’s a target for the pea-shooters of thoughtless newsboys. His face lights up, however, when he spots the Girl in the shop window. She, of course, does not recognize him. She’s been looking for a rich man to enter her shop, listening for the familiar voice. It isn’t until she offers the Tramp a flower and puts a coin in his hand that she realizes, by the touch of his hand and the shape of his face, that the ragged Tramp is her beloved “rich man.” The film ends with the Tramp’s radiant expression and the Girl’s tearful face, leaving the audience to imagine what must come next.
Pointedly, in this movie, those who could do the most to help the poor do nothing of the sort. The rich are portrayed as heartless hedonists, spending their money on wild parties, fancy cars, big houses, or using it to build marble monuments to their own prosperity. Only when he’s drunk is the Millionaire able to be generous. The Tramp puts himself into the role of the kind rich man, but it’s only a part he’s playing to cheer his lady friend. Yet the poor Tramp is the one who, by accepting humiliation for himself, elevates the Blind Girl from poverty to prosperity. The sentimental members of the audience all hope that the Girl will return the favor.
A great pity that Hollywood doesn’t make movies like this any more.
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