City Lights
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1931, black and white, 87 min
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill
The film City Lights is about a tramp that falls in love with a blind girl and throughout the entire film he wants nothing more then to aid the girl in any possible way. He befriends a rich drunk who makes it easy for him to help the blind girl with her financial problems. The tramp develops a main focus of trying to get enough money to pay for an eye surgery for the girl but he soon comes to the realization that perhaps after the eye surgery like everyone else in the city the girl will not reciprocate the feelings he wished for her to have.
In what ways does the score enhance different scenes?
City Lights is a silent film not to say there is no sound at all. There is a constant score attached throughout the entirety of the film. Because the actors cannot rely on dialogue for obvious emotional expression the soundtrack plays an important role in revealing what kind of emotions the actors want to emit but cannot through they’re facial expressions. An example of this is when Chaplin decides to enter the boxing tournament on the sole of helping the woman he is in love with. When the boxing tournament starts the music is soft yet swift like Chaplin and his contenders feet moving at a fast speed. This demonstrates how quickly the actors are moving as they are passionate about wining the lot of money awarded at the end. When the fight is over and Chaplin loses the music is rapidly changed to a more melancholic tone giving the viewers the kind of impression needed.
How does body language play a significant role in the film?
When Chaplin’s character is released from prison he is walking the streets a slumped over man teased by boys and extremely saddened that he cannot find the woman he fell in love with. When he finds her right behind him as beautiful as ever his smile is wider then ever before but more importantly he is no longer hunched over because he is so glad to have found her once again. His straight posture is something that emulates the happiness the director was trying to convey. When she can see literally but more importantly metaphorically that she has found him her posture and her upright body justifies that body language is something that is truly important to an actors character that they are trying to portray.
