[Film Club] INFJf Film Club - Week Three -City Lights (1931)

Let me know when you've seen it, I can't wait to get into a discussion about it

 

I'm also done watching! [MENTION=13542]SarahBS[/MENTION] [MENTION=5601]ezra[/MENTION]

Like The Kid, I find it a sweet and heartwarming film (though technically a comedy).
Somehow it doesn't feel like just any other movie of the genre, even if the plot is quite simple.
The gags are still funny though we've seen many similar ones through the years,
which obviously got their influence from Chaplin's antics.

And THAT FINALE... is perfect.
The last exchange of dialogue, a simple question and answer, has so much more to it than what meets 'the eye'.
(Lol, terrible pun, sorry). I guess that's where the title's interpretation must be taken from. The CITY LIGHTS.

Oh, and just a small observation. This was done around the beginning of the sound era, right?
...when talkies were all the rage, but Chaplin wanted to persist in doing silent films.
That first scene with the actual speech (albeit warbled) and him suddenly appearing on the event
looked as if it was his statement of rebellion implying, 'Okay you can talk, but The Tramp is here to stay'.

 

Yeah, I also find it very heartwarming, with a bitterness attached to it. We are introduced to a very bleak world, which the Tramp is a result of. The police are shown as brutes, newspaper children blow wet pieces of paper at the tramp and even butlers try to get rid of him. Babies are abandoned, and thieves break into houses with guns. Yet despite all of this, the Tramp is a helpful and optimistic romantic at heart. He feels for the blind girl, and falls in love with her. He loses his job for her, and joins a dangerous boxing contest to help her pay her rent.

Considering everything, I also think that it's his funniest film! Imagine telling the plot of the story to a friend of yours and ending it with "... and it's hilarious!". People would probably look twice at you, right? Then imagine that same scenario in the 1930's. Wow. Bold statement for the time!

From what I've read, Chaplin hated talkies. He thought that they cheapened the format and took focus away from performance to dialogue. He might have even thought that it was a fad! So when he started working on the film in 1928, he went against all advice and made it a silent film. He stuck to his guns and when it came out it was practically the only silent film available. It is remarkable that it broke all financial records, all things considered. Makes you think! On a side note, I don't think that he could've released it as a silent film if he was just an actor working for a studio. He was lucky to be the studio at the time. He co-owned his studio, and the sets that the film was shot on. Like I've mentioned earlier, it was a huge production for the time, and many of the actors were frustrated and bored during filming. Now it's customary to spend 3-4 years on a film, back then you did it in a few months! So when he spent 3 years on the film, it was an obscene amount of time for the actors.

I don't know this for sure, but I think that this is when the US government started questioning whether or not Chaplin was a communist. His obsession with showing poverty and the negative sides of life was seen as problematic during these times of rebellion and uprisings.

Oh and the warbled speech was done by Chaplin himself

[MENTION=13542]SarahBS[/MENTION] [MENTION=1669]Gist[/MENTION]

 

He was incredibly smart. One of the pioneers of film making!
[MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] I'm game for watching one more of his. Which one do you guys think we should see? My vote is for Modern Times!

About the drunk - he is two people in one. A lot of different things can be interpreted into his character, like the duality of Shakespeare's work and his characters going mad, or the duality of the Christian God being both Jesus and God. I don't know. I think that his insanity is a commentary by Chaplin about being rich. "Look, he's depressed even though he's rich!".

His father was a manic-depressive performer, who was probably a lot like the rich man at times. Maybe it's a comic reinterpretation of him? Your guess is as good as mine

I love that the ending is so open. Does she love him? Do they end up together? And ultimately - Does it matter? They have gone on this amazing journey together, and nothing that would happen afterwards could ever pay back what had happened between them.

 

Great reviews guys. Thanks for all the additional info as well.
I agree how it's really a bittersweet film...which makes it all the better, right?
I think this picture says it all:

Interesting point. I haven't really thought of any particular symbolism regarding the eccentric millionaire while watching it.
I also don't know much about Chaplin's personal life, but ezra has provided some good suggestions.
I wonder if it could also be just a loose representation of the uncertainty of relationships, or life in general.
And a lesson on how we shouldn't rely on any outer circumstance, since it can change at any given time.

True, in the end, that piece of their story shown in the film is what all that matters.
I'd like to think they ended up together, but that would just be another detail.


I would also love to see Modern Times. Though if Sarah's up for watching two more, I'd also like for her to see The Kid.

 

Good question. I suggest we start with The Kid, as it is older than Modern Times. What do you think, [MENTION=13909]Satori[/MENTION] ?

 

Well, I just saw The Kid kinda recently, so starting with it works for me. Haha.

 

Me too! Great film. New thread time?

 

I know this one has already been "watched" in the order of films here, but this is hands down my favorite Chaplin film. It is close between this one and Modern Times, but there always seems to be something blowing through the room when I see this, and I get stuff in my eyes. Every time.

The three strongest scenes for me are when he first realizes she is blind, when he knows he is going to prison and may never well see her again (and knows he really can't show himself anymore to her as it will reveal who he is), and obviously the final scene. I love, love, LOVE this film. Anything that can bring a tear to an emotionless cyborg like this ISTJ is worth noting.

On another note, I have been waiting a few days for my copy of "The Charlie Chaplin Archives" to arrive from Amazon. As soon as I get it, I will be more than happy to post any new insights here that I find that are gleaned from the book for any Chaplin fans here, as well as any time a new Chaplin film is reviewed here.

 

I know I'm the new guy here and also the odd duck character, but is there any chance of at least sharing the list of what you had considered for viewing in these two evolutions of cinematography?

I am familiar with the contributions of Russian films and the German Expressionism genre, and would really would be interested in expanding my own personal knowledge through any insight into these films that you may have.

Battleship Potemkin is a great film, by the way, to anyone who has not seen it.