The Movies........City Lights

It really is a tricky task to give a run down on the top 5 Ady films of all time (not films with me in them you understand!). Don't you just hate people who tell you so much about a film you've not seen, that it removes any need or desire to watch it; thus depriving you of the joy which their cliff notes cannot possibly substitute? I honestly don't know why they do it; I would guess it's through some giddy excitement of wanting to share the experience with someone, even if that someone hasn't had the experience! So with this in mind, I will be treading carefully, hopefully giving you enough to tease you into renting/buying/stealing (making no assumptions), without overstepping the line into ruining.

That said; teasing you into renting/buying/stealing (making no assumptions) the first on my list will be quite a task; as my experience of mainstream, modern film-goers is that they will be very quickly turned off by the following terms.....

• black and white
• silent
• Charlie Chaplin

The typical response I usually hear from people when they realise 'oh, it's that sort of film is it?', is along the lines of my childhood attitude to brussel sprouts: "I do not like them, I will never like them........although I have never actually tried them". For these people the film is doomed even before the opening titles are through!

However, for those open-minded, happy few who are prepared to give sprouts a go........ City Lights is one of those incredibly rare movies which makes me cry laughing, as well as cry crying. Despite the 'talkies' (talking pictures) appearing three years previous; Chaplin still chose to make it as a silent film (see that?....that's research that is!), and for me it is so much the better for it. Watching it conjours emotions in me which are so powerful that even its recollection brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. I'm not embarrassed to admit, it touches my soul.

Its basic plot revolves around Chaplins legendary tramp, falling in love with a blind flower-seller. By twist of fate the aforementioned girl mistakes Charlie for a millionaire - not being able to see the tramps trampy clothes - and Charlie spends the entire movie doing all he can to scrape together enough money so as to perpetuate this illusion; clearly feeling that if she really knew what he was, she would want nothing to do with him. He quite overlooked the fact that in his efforts to stop her from finding out what he was, she found out all she needed to know about who he was. I will go no further with the spoiler; except venturing to say that in my humble opinion - and in the humble of opinions of people much more qualified to say so - the last moments of the film make it the greatest movie ending (with some of the greatest acting) of all time. Quite beautiful.

So what is it about City Lights that has me so gushy? Many things really. It is about love. It is about a man who does good things for that love, without ever expecting it to be returned (the deed in itself being its own reward), it is about comic genius, with clean, innocent humour that has managed to cross the decades, and ultimately it gives a message to all of us to just be who we are. If we are brave enough to do that, there will hopefully be someone out there who will accept us, appreciate us and love us for just being us.

During research into the movie (yes, you heard it......research!!...hark at me, a real Woodward and Bernstein eh?) I stumbled upon the following review written by a Roger Ebert. Don't have the slightest inkspot of an inkling as to who he is, but he can write.....

Having just viewed "City Lights'' again, I am still under its spell. Chaplin's gift was truly magical. And silent films themselves create a reverie state; there is no dialogue, no obtrusive super-realism, to interrupt the flow. They stay with you. They are not just a work, but a place.
Most of Chaplin's films are available on video. Children who see them at a certain age don't notice they're "silent'' but notice only that every frame speaks clearly to them, without all those mysterious words that clutter other films. Then children grow up, and forget this wisdom, but the films wait patiently and are willing to teach us again.

Couldn't have said it better myself!!