City Lights

Charlie Chaplin is considered one of the master directors of modern film and I haven't seen a complete film until City Lights (1931), which is arguably his masterpiece and Chaplin's own favorite film. It is interesting to note that this film was made as a silent film a few years after the first "talkies" appeared. It was an act of defiance against the new trend that he felt was inferior-in the first take he uses a saxophone to squawk as characters are making speeches for the unveiling of a new statue in which the "little tramp." It is a love story full of pathos-a mix that was some what uncommon at the time. It also offers a critique of society in the gap between the poverty of the tramp and the blind flower girl he has fallen in love with as contrasted with the suicidal millionaire who is only found of the tramp when he is roaring drunk-he turns the tramp put three times in the film. There is a great set piece in which the tramp boxes in order to win a a prize to save the blind girl from being evicted. The Criterion Blu-ray edition has some great features as well: "Chaplin Today: City Lights," a 2003 documentary on the film's production, new audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance, Chaplin Studios: Creative Freedom by Design, a new interview program, archival footage from the production of City Lights, including film from the set, excerpt from Chaplin's short film The Champion (1915), and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins.