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Welcome to Movies & Film
Movie Reviews, & Film Industry Commentary
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1931 – NR – 86 min.
Director: Charles Chaplin
Primary Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Hank Mann
Stars ***** (of 5)
Popcorn *** (of 5)
Film Type(s): Comedy, Silent, Pathos, Prohibition
Synopsis: While The Tramp (Chaplin) flees a policeman, he has an encounter with a blind flower girl (Cherrill) who, because a limousine door slams nearby, believes him to be a millionaire. The Tramp falls for the girl and, after a chance encounter with a drunken millionaire (Myers), he agrees to pay for a surgery that will restore her sight. The only problem is that when he is sober, the millionaire doesn’t recognize the Tramp at all. Forced to take a series of odd jobs to build up funds to help the girl, he eventually builds up enough to pay for the surgery but feels it best to stay away afterward in his returned destitution. But when he has a chance encounter with her later, she recognizes him after an act of kindness of her own.
Review: This powerful comedy is one of the best films ever made, and certainly the best silent film. Though many consider Chaplin to be the best filmmaker of the silent era, most think of The Gold Rush as his masterpiece, but there are still others that believe this to be his best. Full of his trademark pathos, Chaplin creates a love story between his classic Tramp character and a blind flower girl who mistakenly believes that he is a rich man. Chaplin once said, “All I need to make a film is a beautiful girl, a policeman, and a park.” He certainly uses it to great affect here, opening the film with just that. After falling for the girl, he wants to pay for the surgery that will get her sight back to her; the only problem being his destitution, which would have rung true for audiences of the time since The Great Depression had only just started at the time of the film’s release. So in classic Chaplin style he makes the solution a simple one: The Tramp has saved the life of a millionaire who is suicidal when he’s drunk. The only problem is that the millionaire doesn’t remember his savior at all when he’s sober. After a series of classic comedy bits involving this fact and the Tramp’s attempts at odd jobs, he is finally able to pay for the surgery but must leave her. It is her recognition of him later by way of touch that creates the final, pathos filled shot (which if it doesn’t make you cry, you need to get your humanity checked). (Many of those comedy bits inspired any number of Looney Tunes that stole them blatantly, i.e. the boxing match and street sweeper sequences.) One of the things that makes this film unique is that it was the first silent film (of two) made after the advent of sound that were both financially successful and popular (the other being Chaplin’s follow up Modern Times). Even Albert Einstein was reported to have said that this was his favorite film. Lights and Modern Times were also unique in that they were the only ‘Silent’ films to be released that had sound effects (since many theaters were now equipped for sound) and were the only silent Chaplin films that didn’t have his trademark ‘lonely road’ ending. The slapstick is always funny, the barbs at society deadly accurate (keeping in mind the class comments and prohibition state of mind of the day), and Chaplin was a wunderkind on this film by starring, directing, writing, producing, scoring, and editing it, a feat that to date only Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty have come close to copying in American cinema.
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