Charles Chaplin's City Lights - Movie Review Example

 City Lights Charlie chaplain’s movie City Lights is a well casted masterpiece. It has remained to be one of the most beloved movies of all times. The motion picture features iconic, imagery, humorous and above all the greatest love scene in movie industry. It is a silent, black and white movie produced in 1931. It is an extraordinary film difficult to resist watching once the play button has been pressed despite it being a silent movie. This silent movie was released right after the advent of talkies in early 1931. The setting of this movie is based on The Great Depression in America then. The movie can be categorized as a “romantic comedy” since Charlie Chaplin’s humor is similar to that of Ben Stiller who more often than not uses physical happenings make his audience burst out in laughter. Even though it is has been categorized in the silent movies, the film City Lights was not entirely a silent movie. Though there is no dialogue, there are sound effects throughout the movie, which includes music, and symbolic sound effects. The starring Charlie Chaplin uses sound to set the environment and comedic moments, rather than using his voice to narrate the story, A perfect example of this technique is depicted immediately after the opening credits when the town mayor is about to preside over the unveiling of a statue, and is making his speech, but instead of the viewer hearing the speech, he or she get what is can be referred to as “Charlie Brown talk.” The starring puts a word narrative on the screen to make the audience know the purpose of the speech. The script is well written and directed that nothing is lost with the absence of dialogue, since the audience understand from the beginning, what goes on in scenes and thus get the comic effects being expressed. Any audience watching this movie for the first time, quickly relates with the main characters. This indeed explains the perfectness with which the movie was written and directed since the intended purpose is achieved at the end of the viewing. Charlie Chaplin played a tramp, today the best definition that can suite a tramp is a homeless person. During the Great Depression in USA, almost a quarter of American works were jobless and many of them struggled to make through the daily life. In regard to this depression, Chaplin is in the same situation and thereby depicts the life which these destitute go through. The film City Lights contain the melodrama, the grace, the effortless physical coordination, the bawdiness, the pathos and most important of all the slapstick. In many silent films there is always the illusion that the characters in the film are speaking, even though the audience cannot here them. The tramp is more of a mime, where the body language serves as ‘speech’. Chaplin exists on a different plane different from the other characters. Seemingly, he stands outside the characters lives and realities as well (46). Moreover, he is judged on his appearance, his state of homelessness and his lack of true friends or family. Chaplin interacts with the world more often through his actions. However, he is sometimes seen to be talking although he does not need to make any speech. Unlike most of his fellow characters that are silent in films, he exists comfortable when in the silent world. In the film City Lights, Chaplin’s friends are people who cannot see him. He even has a drunken millionaire friend who hardly recognizes him when sober. Because of his shabby appearance, he cannot mingle with his millionaire friend since he is not of the “required class.” The movie revolves around the tramp; a noble poverty-stricken character that uses every opportunity to get wealth in helping a woman does not even recognize him. The movie is a medium that directly depend on technology, and whenever there is a cinematic widget, film critics come out to criticize on the negatives and at times on the positives of the new change, their line of argument would always be seen to gear towards the traditional way of shooting a film. City of lights was done at a time when talkies had been deeply adopted by the public eye. Additionally, these talkies were openly and forwardly resistant to change. Charlie Chaplin, who is also the director, felt that dialogue would ruin the comedy of mime. It was rather interesting to see a film star, who is resistant to change make a movie in a dated format and ultimately coming up with what has been regarded as one of America’s best movies. However, all this makes the film a bit dry and somehow technical. From the film, it is evident that a movie can be shot without speech and as such keep the audience attentive thought out the scenes without getting bored while at the same time getting the intended message. Chaplin’s sense of comedy situations and physical expertise is a paragon of humor. There is a specific scene in the movie where the Tramp admires a nude statue through a shop’s window, just behind him, there is a trapdoor that opens in the sidewalk. Taking a few steps backward, the tramp pushes up to the opening and thereafter walks forward again. He does this three to four times. The physical perfection in this is amazing which makes the audience to giggle all through. It is a glorious film, one of its kinds that has ever been produced. City of Lights was shoot using a very basic technology that set the footsteps that the modern movies followed. The film producers never used high-tech cameras, yet they managed to put their point across. They managed this through using their original techniques together with spellbinding storytelling (37). A simple and easy shot like the one Charlie used in the film was good enough, he successfully conveyed his point to the audience and how the viewers should feel at that particular point in the movie. Lastly, City Lights is indeed a funny movie that never loses the humor despite the changing times. Work Cited Molyneaux, Gerard. Charles Chaplin's City Lights: Its Production and Dialectical Structure. New York: Garland, 1983. Read More