City Lights, 1931

So Charlie Chaplin is an interesting man. He thought 'talkies' were going to be out within 3 years, and married an 18 year old (as his fourth wife) and had eight children. Regardless of the numerous controversies that he surrounded himself with (remember, it was the early 20th century) he made enough money to independantly finance films.

Thus was create, City Lights. This film was created in 1931, and despite the fact that it was a silent film in after talkies were beginning to be the norm, it was a great success. Furthermore, the film made 5 million in box office receipts IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

I watched it on Netflix, but it turns out that the whole thing is on Youtube. Kinda wish I had realized that...

ANYWAY

I admit that I didn't watch City Lights on Youtube, so I'm not going to guarantee the quality of this video. I'm also not going to watch it again to check...

I thought the film was good, though I admit, I'm happy that talkies (and colored film) became the norm. There were some interesting use of sounds within the soundtrack, including the use of music to imitate people's voices, which was kind of funny choice (to me) considering Charlie's dislike for talkies in general.

This is one of Charlie Chaplin's 'Tramp' films, where a poor tramp falls in love with a blind girl, and is befriended by a millionaire (but only when he's drunk). He pretends to be a gentleman and tries to get the girl money so that she can get surgery to fix her eyes. I won't ruin it for you, but I'm guessing you can probably see how this ends.

I would like to add, this is part of how it ends...

A creepy (sweet?) smile from Charlie Chaplin.

Photo Credit: Google Images