I’ve already reviewed two of Charlie Chaplin’s other movies, but City Lights is considered by many to be his magnum opus, and is often ranked on many lists as one of the greatest films of all time. Interestingly enough, at this point in time the silent era of films had ended, and yet Chaplin wasn’t interested in making “talkie films,” so City Lights is considered a silent film classic in an era where silent films were becoming outdated. Despite this, the movie was able to garner praise when it was released, and has since gone on to become even more beloved.

Much like Chaplin’s other movies, he stars in City Lights as the Tramp, a man that always winds up getting caught in some sort of crazy situation. In the movie, the Tramp gets involved in two different plots (which wind up playing into each other in important ways as the movie goes on). Early on, he saves a man from committing suicide, and so the man invites the Tramp back to his place to thank him. The man is extremely drunk, and gets the Tramp involved in some drunken escapades with him. The humor to this situation is that the man only knows who the Tramp is when he’s drunk, but then when he’s sobered up he doesn’t know who he is. Anyway, the bigger story here is that the Tramp meets a blind flower girl. The two become very taken by each other, and a nice little romance buds there. However, the problem ends up being that the girl is in dire financial straits, and has no way of getting out of them. So, the Tramp ventures to take on some jobs to help pay for her bills.

It’s honestly a really sweet story, and one that will likely resonate with audiences even today. The Tramp’s involvement with the blind girl is the heart of the film, and it all culminates towards a very beautiful and touching ending. The ending has been considered to be one of the greatest film endings of all time, and it’s easy to see why. Unsurprisingly, given Chaplin’s record, the majority of the movie is still a comedy though. I firmly believe that Chaplin is an expert in the art of the gag, as the set-ups for his scenes are always really unique, and the executions are simply hilarious. Chaplin is even able to turn some dark material, like the alcoholic man’s suicide attempt, into a really funny scene. If you’ve heard anything about this movie, you may have heard about the famous boxing scene, and this is perhaps the best comedic scene in the entire movie. The Tramp signs up for a boxing fight in order to quickly get money for the blind girl, and watching him fight in the ring is nothing short of spectacular. The choreography in that scene is genius, and it’s simply a riot to watch it unfold.

City Lights is a movie that I really respect. I did some research on the movie for this review, and I can’t believe how much went into the production of the movie. Chaplin started working on the movie in 1928, and so it took him three years to finish it. During this time, Chaplin faced many trials, such as the death of his mother, legal disputes with his ex-wife, and arguments with some of the main actors that resulted in some of them getting fired. Chaplin was clearly under a lot of stress while making the movie, and it shows when you read about the stories of problems he was having with the people he was working with on the movie. He seemed to be a bit of a perfectionist with this movie, as it took a lot in order for him to be pleased with the content he was getting. This is exemplified in the fact that he used over 300,000 feet of film when shooting the film, when the final product only amounted to about 8000 feet. That’s absolutely insane, and so when I read about all of these things, it’s hard to imagine how this movie ever got made, and for that matter how it turned out to be as good as it is. It’s a wonder how it all came together, and so for that I really respect Chaplin and City Lights itself for how good it is.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you here. Do I now consider City Lights to be one of my favorite films of all time? No, I don’t. But honestly, I barely have any movies before the year 1950 that I’d consider to be my favorite movies ever, and so it’s more a sign of the times than it is a merit of the movie. The fact is, I do consider City Lights to be one of the best movies of that era that I’ve seen, and it’s definitely one that’s easily accessible to modern audiences due to its timeless comedy and touching story. If you’re ever interested in checking out one of the old classics, City Lights is definitely a good choice.

4.5/5