Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

City Lights Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 17, 2011

Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" (1931) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Park Circus. The supplemental features on the disc include an introduction by Chaplin biographer David Robinson; outtake; documentary featuring filmmaker Peter Lord; raw footage from Winston Churchill's visit to the set of "City Lights"; and photo gallery. Region-B "locked".

The girl of his dreams

Charlie Chaplin completed City Lights in 1931, four years after the first "talkie" had premiered. He gambled with it, but the film became an instant success, and to this day many consider it one of his greatest creations.

As it is the case with practically all of Chaplin’s films, in City Lights comedy and drama are closely intertwined. In it the Tramp makes two friends - one is an eccentric millionaire (Harry Myers) with a serious drinking problem who has decided to end his life, the other a poor blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers to make ends meet. The Tramp profoundly changes their lives but they react to his goodness in two radically different ways.

The Tramp’s relationship with the flower girl is pure and beautiful, never overly sentimental. Every single scene where the two are seen together is incredibly moving, filled with grace. At any given moment one knows exactly how they feel about each other.

The Tramp’s relationship with the millionaire, though, is drastically different - it is grotesque and unfair, often times quite misleading. After the Tramp saves the millionaire’s life the two become friends, but their friendship ends each time the millionaire gets sober - and then resumes as soon as he hits the booze again.

The point Chaplin makes with these contrasting relationships is that because of their blindness the girl and the millionaire can see the Tramp as the person he is - a good man always willing to help others, not a social outsider doomed to failure. Naturally, these relationships are quite illuminating about the nature of the society the Tramp belongs to.

It took Chaplin more than two years to complete City Lights. He spent weeks working on a single scene, demanding perfection from himself and all around him. Somewhat surprisingly, before the film’s premiere Chaplin was extremely nervous, but the response from critics and audiences was overwhelmingly positive.

Chaplin selected Cherrill, a young and inexperienced Chicagoan, to play the flower girl after they reportedly met during a boxing match in Los Angeles. However, when shooting of City Lights began he was not impressed by Cherrill’s ability to portray a blind person, and at one point fired her, hoping to reshoot all of her scenes with Georgia Hale (The Gold Rush). Eventually, Chaplin rehired Cherrill, and shooting of City Lights resumed, but he never quite warmed up to her.

Despite the well documented tension between Chaplin and Cherrill, however, it is hard to imagine that the final scene in City Lights, where the Tramp meets the flower girl again and she realizes that he is indeed her benefactor, could have turned out any better. It is a beautiful, magical scene, one of the greatest ever filmed.

Notes:

Chaplin wrote, directed and produced City Lights. He also composed the music score for the film.

City Lights is subtitled as “A Comedy Romance in Pantomime”.

City Lights has been named the best romantic comedy of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI).

City Lights Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Park Circus.

There are obvious improvements in detail, contrast, clarity and color reproduction, and the bigger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to see them. As it was the case with Park Circus' Blu-ray release of The Kid, however, there are certain limitations with the presentation that I have to speculate are inherited. Tiny flecks and even small scratches for instance occasionally pop up here and there. Various small color pulsations are present as well. During the final 20 minutes, I also noticed various warps, which, again, I believe are inherited. What is not inherited are the random noise corrections that have been performed. Still, light grain is noticeable throughout the entire film, but it appears in all sorts of different variations. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

City Lights Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. Obviously, the film contains English intertitles.

Both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and the LPCM 2.0 track sound very good. I lean towards the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, however, as it is indeed quite well mixed and with a clearly stronger dynamic amplitude. The winds in particular are wonderfully reproduced. Regardless, I encourage you to experiment with both tracks.

City Lights Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features are placed on a separate SDVD. They are encoded in PAL.

• Introduction by David Robinson - a short introduction to City Lights by the Chaplin biographer in which he quickly notes a few interesting facts from the film's fascinating history. In English, not subtitled. (6 min).

• Chaplin Today: City Lights - an informative documentary focusing on Chaplin's career and legacy featuring filmmaker Peter Lord (Chicken Run). In English, not subtitles. (27 min).

• Outtake - a fantastic scene in which the Tramp struggles with a small wooden stick. No audio. (8 min.)

• Winston Churchill's Visit to the Set - No audio. (2 min).

• Photo Gallery - a collection of stills from the film.

City Lights Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

City Lights is my favorite Chaplin film. It is hilarious, sad, beautiful and thought-provoking. It is a film I watch at least once a year. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Park Circus, looks and sounds good. Admittedly, there is a little bit of room for improvement in the video department, but I am certainly pleased with the presentation. Indeed, this is the best City Lights has ever looked. RECOMMENDED.