City Lights (1931) Storyline and Short Reviews

City Lights is a great film by Charlie Chaplin. It tells the story of two men who struggle to make a living in the big city of New York. The film follows their lives from the beginning when they are struggling with money to feed themselves and survive, all the way to the end when they reach their dream of becoming artists.

This article will discuss the Storyline and give you a short review of each scene of City Lights.

All About Of City Lights (1931) Storyline and Short Reviews

City Lights (1931) Meaning

In the opening scene of City Lights, a man is wearing a derby hat, trying to earn some money. He encounters an old blind beggar in the street who forces him into asking for tips. This only lasted until they both got tired and moved on their way again.

The next scene shows two men sitting at a sidewalk cafe arguing about keeping up with life’s pace while waiting for someone important to arrive (a customer). One guy wants to be active while his friend seems more interested in relaxing out of it all by listening privately through earplugs that he bought earlier today, still newly sealed.

This entire scene shows how the movie industry was in the early ’30s. A lot of people try to enjoy and leave everything for later, still, new sealed ear plugs included, which is a good example of a slow-moving society that doesn’t have time for anything yet being able to survive from it all by living within limits (slowly walking along the sidewalk).

The film, however, moves on:

The next scenes tell about one man aspiring to be an actor while his friend tries a bit harder at clean writing. They both encounter doors heavily guarded by valets & concierges, making sure their clients won’t get caught outside.

These scenes show that the movie industry was in the hands of actors with connections at studios, producers, and directors and ran a high-security measure all-around Hollywood while taking things slowly as they’re doing now inside it.

City Lights (1931) Plot

The film tells the story of two men who don’t want to recognize their feelings for each other. One is Thomas (played by Harold Lloyd), a writer and father of 2 children, one younger than him (who he has long neglected) & another little girl whom he had met 4 years earlier from out-of-town when she was just 13.

She hasn’t shown much interest or respect toward her dad, which resulted in his rejecting her as well after coming back from WWI, leaving them both broken due to lack of affection but especially being wait’s for attention instead.

The second part follows Jim (played by Charlie Chaplin), a struggling 5-foot-tall millionaire playboy who won’t allow himself to be seen in public without his life-sustaining mounds of makeup.

This defies the societal norms at that time in which he is nearing 40 & should have been married with kids having turned into balding drunken womanizers hardly ever seen out for something positive because of lack of money and always out there only looking how he can get some more as long as paying full price. A guy like him still represents one of society’s biggest nightmares, being unable or willing enough to face reality on its own instead.

As you saw at the beginning of this post, only 2 years difference separates these characters, which means that the dialog & scenes should match accordingly. The 3rd negative review shows his evidence with Transatlantic Outlook labeled by “Hollywoodland” as getting some of its facts straight (mainly Mr. D’Souza’s summary about WWI being over).

City Lights (1931) Storyline

In the film adaptation of Philip Roth’s book, City Lights (1931), the Storyline is condensed. A few things happen in the movie to make sense: Paul Auster and Sydney Kleinberg first meet at an art show discussing how each artist’s works caught their attention. After talking for a while, they end up back together again, drinking beer at one of Peter Cuk’s rugs friend’s house. Iowa once again called Paul “a man with something driving through him.”

Which made Sidney think he was crazy or insane because who did not have something driving through them? You can see Steinway piano and an oil painting during this scene. Time goes by as Paul tells Sidney about his wife, children and Jewish heritage. Charles also complains that he should be the one to play Gypsy Dancer on the Steinway because “you know I have talent.”

However, this episode of each person playing their separate parts ends with Brian singing Gypsy Dancer up on a rooftop in Iowa City. In contrast, Charles plays Syrinx (Romance) completely alone below him, then they both fall off together. At this time, we are back into the dining room where another gnarled old gentleman called Sydney, who works for the Jewish community magazine “the Fiddler,” wants to show him a place on the boardwalk in older New York City.

Then he gets into an argument with his wife and sister over when exactly everyone should go home, which causes the whole episode of this particular night to end again at their marriage party that Sydney’s parents are throwing for them.

At the same time, they dine and dance happily together, once more back in Iowa, where Sydney says farewells after he has been studying Gypsy Music as well having read through some of Morliss’ book on Hungarian violin playing (and becoming enamored with it).

The Theme of City Lights (1931)

Early in the film, the Tramp encounters the Flower Girl and receives a flower from her, but the girl believes the fancy car door she shows belongs to the Tramps when a wealthy man walks by and goes into his car. Even though he is very poor, the Tramp does not say anything and so assumes the identity of a much wealthier man.

When the Flower Girl suffers through a procedure to repair her eyesight, she believes that one day, when she meets the Tramp, he will be a wealthy and distinguished man. She does, however, reveal that he is, in fact, a poor tramp in tattered clothing at the end of the film. The Tramp’s mistaken identity is at the heart of his romantic plotline in this manner.

The Millionaire also carries an inconsistent perception of the Tramp’s identity. He instantly realizes the Tramp as the man who defended him from suicide when he is drunk, but he gets no idea who the Tramp is lucid.

Even though he did not rob the Millionaire, the Tramp is wrongfully arrested and sent to jail due to this misunderstanding. As a result, we find that throughout the Tramp’s journey, a thematic center is a mistaken identity, the fact that people often misinterpret who he is.

City Lights (1931) Message

City lights are a symbol of progress and civilization. They remind us that we live in a time where the world is changing and growing. They also serve as a reminder that there is always something to look forward to. Walt Disney used the same notion as City Lights to create an important message throughout his films.

His films have many significant meanings that explain why he chose these themes for his works: Cinderella’s rebirth serves as a replacement for birth; Aladdin exemplifies dissatisfaction due to materialism and greed; The Beauty and Beast are a metaphor of violence towards others (nature). Each theme is only one part of Walt Disney’s painting, but all together, they convey hope, optimism, forgiveness and faith in humanity.

City Lights (1931) Reviews

City Lights is the film of dreams. It’s a fairy tale about life and what roles people play in it. Sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes unlucky, but everything does work out for your best interest, whether as an individual or all together (it doesn’t matter).

In every man there exists his special Light, which he follows through life without fail: wherever it leads him, even though at times, we don’t know where our path will take us when this moment passes into history,” Lina writes on her last night before she meets Tom Buchanan–a banker who’s rich enough to afford her an expensive meal at the exclusive Restaurant “21.”

Except for one blank page—the last in Lina’s diary–the rest is written down. And life matters no more than when there were only scattered memories of its glories, with the telephone standing by night after night awaiting some other made-to-order memory.

But something happens; it all comes back again as if she hadn’t completely forgotten it: “Time flies you can’t stop,” and she wants to escape from life because there isn’t much left until fate takes over… or maybe that would be death because “all things happen in their time.”

All of that being said, it’s still not long until fate steps into the picture, and no matter how hard we try to block her out—to get rid of her or ignore her existence– she always comes back! Perhaps if you’re really lucky (especially on your last night with what little memories you have left), she’ll stay away from this particular restaurant and ruin someone else’s birthday party. In short: Never let Cinderella eat at 21, even for one second.

Why Is It Called City Lights?

The goal was to prevent lawbreakers from fleeing the police or hiding in dark alleys, reducing crime. The city was renamed La Ville-Lumière (The City of Light) from here on out. “If you can’t trust a book and if you want to get news from everywhere,” said the progressive philosopher Charles Baudelaire, “then one newspaper out of two is bad.” But when everything depends on how many newspapers are in circulation at any given time (not only because it’s up to them what kind of consumption they’re responsible for), there may be little recourse.

Is City Lights Worth Watching?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as everyone’s opinion on City Lights will likely differ. However, some general things that may be worth noting about the film include its well-made visuals and performances and its themes of love and redemption. Consensus: It’s always a good idea to ask potential audience members what, in their opinion, inclined them most for City Lights.

This is an effective way of getting different perspectives when viewing the film since everyone will likely have at least saved one person from being killed by fate in particular or life itself in general. Another thing you can consider doing before setting out with your friends; is perhaps even wearing pajamas so that no matter how late things get—or if there isn’t anyone who would be interested enough at first to watch it (this includes those thinking about attending)— you at least have something more comfortable to fall asleep in.

City Lights (1931) Summary

The night when the 32-year old Charles “Chick ” Swackhamer (Jack Nicholson) has a chance meeting with George Alibra (Fritz Weaver), it is this day that helps to change his life forever. The next morning, Chick takes up residence above the bookshop at Broadway and Grant in downtown Lousiville. He would be forced through trial by fire of sorts before overcoming all obstacles, even if inner turmoil gives him pause along the way.

For Chick to continue down this path, everything must take place as dictated throughout Baudelaire’s poems while stepping aside from what society would have us believe. What follows is a love story that unfortunately ends way too soon, becoming even more painful and hopeless after some time has passed.

What’s special about seeing a classic to greater potential beauty if never seen before may be in finding out how well director Charlie Chaplin knew the material for his film; City Lights revolves extensively within Baudelaire as does its cause of people are ruled by fear instead which causes them to do wrong things rather than being generous or helpful towards one another (to put it bluntly).

Conclusion

City Lights is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Chaplin as Eugene O’Neill, the playwright who wrote the seminal play Long Day’s Journey into Night. With this movie, the character of Eugene O’Neill became widely known to the general public, both as a writer and as an individual. It also introduced his romantic interests in two major roles: Paulette Goddard and Virginia Cherrill. The story concerns a tramp named Harry, who comes to the city searching for work and starts working as a hot dog vendor for his brother, who owns a restaurant. He meets Sylvia, an actress, and falls in love with her.

FAQs

1.How Long Did City Lights Take to Shoot?

Ans: It took only 6 weeks, but we spent 20-25 days on set just for the shots of Chaplin walking alone in a very small alley. That alone took us up to 3 weeks every time we had to do that shot again and again with different takes.

2.Did Chaplin Realize He Had Shot a Great Film Not Long Before His Death?

Ans: I don’t know. I wasn’t ever around him at the end of his life. All I can say is that this movie changed everything for African Americans in America. It brought together stars like Sophia Coppola [Oscar winner], Woody Allen (lots more) .

It’s always the films you make when you are 35 to 45 years old that have something special about them and are classic films – they occur naturally because some imposed formula does not bind individuals. So I left it up to Chaplin as he felt that this film was a masterpiece, but what made the difference were his ideas and his personality.

3.Who Helped Chaplin Direct City Lights? ​

Ans: Chaplin answered for himself, which meant there was little prep time, so he depended heavily on Michel (he had been his assistant director on The Gold Rush when they filmed in Calistoga, Calif., where I worked as well). He also spent a great deal of time talking with me before filming 30 years later.

He wanted to make sure that none of his ideas would be tampered with too much by the studio heads, so he looked at every frame back many times because there was no way that any outside person could ever understand what Chaplin felt about this movie.

4.Where Was City Lights Filmed?

Ans: Burbank, Calif., because the studio wanted to control him more. They didn’t want him driving around with a film crew, so they needed more control over where he went and when we shot scenes that were on streets near theaters any time outside of shooting days, Charlie would go by in his car, or I was off duty one day after Chaplin had actor goes into the crowd at the circus – Janie is stumbling down the street trying to find her man.

5.Do City Lights Have Sound?

Ans: No. I knew that it would be shorter than his last four features, but I hoped things would go wrong. You see, when a film is made from scratch with no comedy material and 100% on a new idea, you always have the possibility of something bad happening like filming rain or deaths on set, which there were many times during City Lights (for example doubling Murray).