Charlie Chaplin
City Lights

City Lights. A romantic comedy in pantomime.

Considered by many as the pinnacle of Chaplin's artistic career (a director whose filmography includes only four or five works that are not absolute masterpieces), "City Lights" is undoubtedly one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. No one will be able to replicate at the same lyrical level that mediation between comedy and drama which characterizes this diamond of world cinematography.

And the soundtrack (curated and composed by Chaplin himself) provides the ideal backdrop to the adventures of the Tramp.

"You will laugh as a child, you will cry as an adult".

The music of the soundtrack is a collection of rare beauty. The brief opening overture can almost be considered a small synopsis of the film's emotional content: from the carefree beginning to the melancholy theme, to the "worldly" conclusion that already hints at how these so-called "city lights" are nothing but a mask of hypocrisy...
"Unveiling The Statue", with its obsessive violin theme, very baroque, sets the stage for the frantic initial scene where Charlot, caught asleep on the statue during the monument's inauguration, tries to escape but falls into a crescendo of comical "mishaps"... It's worth noting how in this scene the voices of important personalities are rendered grotesque with the use of a trumpet which silences only during the execution of the anthem (good Charles could communicate "heavy" concepts even through comic scenes... throughout the film there's a depiction of a society based on a rigid division into social castes, where no one grants anything to those below them).
"La Violetera" accompanies his first meeting with the blind flower girl (beautifully rendered in the film and later more intensely in this precious disc), who, by coincidence, believes him to be a wealthy gentleman.

"Tomorrow the birds will sing. . .
Face life!"
"No! I want to end it!"

"I'm cured: you will be my friend for life!"

Here too there are wonderful pieces, I particularly appreciated "At The Millionaire's Home," wonderfully colored as it is with that sublime melancholic tone that characterizes a bit all Chaplin's films.
Meanwhile, the Tramp strives to help the blind flower girl, counting also on the help of the wealthy friend. It's a pity that once the millionaire sobers up, he forgets about poor Charlot, rudely throwing him out. Charlot, on the other hand, doesn't lose heart: he starts doing odd jobs to gather money to give to the flower girl. The generosity of spirit, the heartfulness of this small great character is incalculable.
She, despite being blind, manages to see it:

"The Boxing Match" backs one of the most comedic sequences of all time.

Even today, in the new millennium, one remains astounded at the talent of this great actor. There are no words: a must-see. The music takes up the lively theme of "Unveiling The Statue." "The Burglars" underscores the greatest of injustices: the Tramp is unjustly arrested for a theft he did not commit. However, he manages to give the flower girl a full thousand dollars to treat her eyes and pay the rent. In such a hypocritical world, only a blind flower girl is capable of seeing the inner nobility of another human being.
And the oxymoron is fully intentional.

Finally, he gets out of prison. And sees the flower girl again, who, in the meantime, has managed to heal and, with the remaining money, has even opened a shop. Her heart is filled with hope to meet this rich and generous gentleman again and, finally, to see him.
He looks at her... and is left speechless. Motionless before her. And the music starts. "Reunited". Wonderful. He smiles at her. In his hand, he holds only a little wilted flower he has just picked up from the ground. She ridicules him with her friends.

"I made a conquest!"

She tells him to come in but he tries to flee. She manages to stop him, gives him a flower, and places a coin in his hand.
The music stops at this moment. He has already felt the warmth of that hand. She knows this man. She has already "felt" him.
The music resumes. And freezes that moment. Stops our internal time, in tune with theirs. It colors the black and white in the most vivid color: the very color of the spirit. It adds another dimension to the inner horizon of the two characters. Here is the sovereign function of the soundtrack in Chaplin's film. This is why he considered the spoken sound harmful.

But only the greatest director ever to appear on the face of the earth could achieve such a result.

"Is it you?"
"Yes, it’s me!
You can see now, eh?"
"Yes, I can see now.

The ending is ambiguous. Personally, I lean towards a happy ending. Her look and her placing his hand on her chest are eloquent in this sense. Anyway, it's indescribable.

The poet says: "It takes a strong feeling to make others feel again". (Niccolò Paganini)

For having managed to communicate such a fullness of the world, Charlie Spencer Chaplin must be considered as one of the greatest poets ever shaped by human nature.
Chaplin is not dead. He still lives: he is in that instant, in that concluding moment of City Lights, in that feeling of melancholy, or rather: of melancholic joy of living, destined to remain such. Forever.