NPR: Decades Later, Charlie Chaplin’s Film ‘City Lights’ End
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:55 pm
http://wabe.org/post/decades-later-char ... ts-endures
Decades Later, Charlie Chaplin’s Film ‘City Lights’ Endures
By Wendy Parker
English born actor Charlie Chaplin brings a floral offering to actress Virgina Cherrill, who plays a blind girl, from a scene in the film "City Lights", Jan. 5, 1931. The film was produced by Chaplin.
Charlie Chaplin and Virgina Cherrill, who plays a blind girl in his 1931 masterpiece “City Lights.”
Credit AP Photo
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7:35
One of the first megastars of the cinema made perhaps the biggest name for himself in a film that defied its time.
In 1931, Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, starred in and composed the music for “City Lights,” an homage to the silent film genre that was fading as “talkies” were starting to dominate Hollywood studios.
For WABE’s “City Lights” program, contributor Matthew Bernstein examined the film and why audiences still flock to see it today. It recently was shown at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, and last fall was screened in a famous kabuki theater in Tokyo.
Bernstein, head of the film studies department at Emory University, said the film “City Lights,” which he discusses with his students, “exemplified the human capacity for endurance.”
Decades Later, Charlie Chaplin’s Film ‘City Lights’ Endures
By Wendy Parker
English born actor Charlie Chaplin brings a floral offering to actress Virgina Cherrill, who plays a blind girl, from a scene in the film "City Lights", Jan. 5, 1931. The film was produced by Chaplin.
Charlie Chaplin and Virgina Cherrill, who plays a blind girl in his 1931 masterpiece “City Lights.”
Credit AP Photo
Listen
7:35
One of the first megastars of the cinema made perhaps the biggest name for himself in a film that defied its time.
In 1931, Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, starred in and composed the music for “City Lights,” an homage to the silent film genre that was fading as “talkies” were starting to dominate Hollywood studios.
For WABE’s “City Lights” program, contributor Matthew Bernstein examined the film and why audiences still flock to see it today. It recently was shown at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, and last fall was screened in a famous kabuki theater in Tokyo.
Bernstein, head of the film studies department at Emory University, said the film “City Lights,” which he discusses with his students, “exemplified the human capacity for endurance.”
