Arbeiter (Charlie Chaplin) 1936 / 2009

ABOUT THE MOVIE CITY LIGHTS

Charmingly simple story of The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) who meets a lovely blind girl selling flowers on the sidewalk who mistakes him for a wealthy duke. When he learns that an operation may restore her sight, he sets off to earn the money she needs to have the surgery.

In a series of comedy adventures that only Chaplin could pull off, he eventually succeeds, even though his efforts land him in jail. While he is there, the girl has the operation and afterwards yearns to meet her benefactor. The tear-inducing closing scene, in which she discovers that he is not a wealthy duke but only The Little Tramp, is one of the highest moments in movies.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION CITY LIGHTS

Film: CITY LIGHTS

Country: USA

Year: 1931

Running time: 87 minutes



Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Written by: Charles Chaplin

Produced by: Charles Chaplin

Music by: Charles Chaplin, José Padilla

Cinematography: Roland Totheroh, Gordon Polloch

Editing by: Charles Chaplin

Starring: Charles Chaplin (Vagabond), Virginia Cherrill (Blind girl), Harry Myers (Millionaire), Henry Bergman (Mayor/Neighbor of the blind girl)



- City Lights was immediately popular and is today remembered as one of the highest accomplishments of Chaplin's prolific career.



ABOUT THE MOVIE MODERN TIMES

The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman. He turns against modern society, the machine age, and progress. Firstly we see him frantically trying to keep up with a production line, tightening bolts. He is selected for an experiment with an automatic feeding machine, but various mishaps leads his boss to believe he has gone mad, and Charlie is sent to a mental hospital... When he gets out, he is mistaken for a communist while waving a red flag, sent to jail, foils a jailbreak, and is let out again. We follow Charlie through many more escapades before the film is out.



BACKGROUND INFORMATION MODERN TIMES

Movie: MODERN TIMES

Country: USA

Year: 1936

Running time: 87 minutes

Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Written by: Charles Chaplin

Produced by: Charles Chaplin

Music by: Charles Chaplin

Cinematography: Roland Totheroh, Ira Morgan

Starring: Charlie Chaplin (Charlie), Paulette Goddard, Stanley S. Sanford (Big Bill), Chester Conklin, Cecil Reynolds, Henry Bergman, Louis Natheaux, Allan Garcia


- Chaplin began preparing the film in 1934 as his first "talkie", and went as far as writing a dialogue script and experimenting with some sound scenes. However, he soon abandoned these attempts and reverted to a silent format with synchronized sound effects. The dialogue experiments confirmed his long-standing conviction that the universal appeal of the Tramp would be lost if the character ever spoke on screen.

- According to the official documents, the music score was composed by Chaplin himself, and arranged with the assistance of Alfred Newman. The romance theme was later given lyrics, and became the pop standard "Smile", first recorded by Nat King Cole and later covered by such artists as Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Michael Bublé, Petula Clark, Liberace, Judy Garland, Madeleine Peyroux, Michael Jackson and Robert Downey, Jr. (included on the soundtrack for the film Chaplin).