Respond to these rapid questions in our City Lights quiz and we will tell you which City Lights character you are. Play it now.
“City Lights” (1931), one of Charles Chaplin’s films, would come the closest to capturing all the various facets of his genius if only one could be saved. It features slapstick, pathos, pantomime, easy physical synchronization, melodrama, bawdiness, grace, and, of course, the Little Tramp, who was once regarded as the world’s most recognizable figure.
Chaplin must have known when he made “City Lights,” three years into the sound era, that it might be his final silent film; he thought about making a talkie but decided against it, and although the movie has a complete musical soundtrack (composed by Chaplin), it has no speech. The film opens with political speeches, but what comes out of the speakers’ mouths are unintelligible squawks—Chaplin’s dig at dialogue—would have been understood by audiences at the time. Five years later, Chaplin made “Modern Times,” allowing speech on the soundtrack, but the Tramp stayed silent once more save for some gibberish.
Speech was not how the Tramp really conveyed himself, and this made perfect sense. The majority of silent movies give the impression that the actors are speaking when in reality we cannot hear them. For instance, Buster Keaton’s figures are unmistakably chatty. The Tramp, however, is more of a mimic who uses body language as a form of communication. He stands outside of the other characters’ lives and realities, is evaluated based on his looks, is homeless and lacks true friends or family, and communicates with the outside world primarily through his actions. He also exists on some other level than the other characters. Despite occasionally appearing to talk, he doesn’t necessarily need to because, unlike the majority of characters in silent movies, he could have easily survived in a silent environment.
In “Modern Times,” the Tramp is always attempting to get back into jail, where he feels safe and secure, as Walter Kerr notes in his priceless book The Silent Clowns. His favorite haven is a paddy truck. His only relationships in “City Lights” are with people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired, including a drunken millionaire who doesn’t know him when he sobers up and a blind flower girl. A tramp is not… one of us, and his scruffy look makes him stand out and warns people to stay away from and stereotype him. The Keaton characters are employed and enthusiastic members of society, whereas the Tramp is an outsider, a bystander, and a loner.
Does she accept and value him solely because she can’t see what he looks like? That is what makes his relationship with the flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) so poignant. (Her grandmother, who would no doubt warn her away from him, is never at home when the Tramp calls.) The final scene of “City Lights” is well-known for being one of the most moving movie scenes ever; the girl, whose sight has been restored thanks to a procedure paid for by the Tramp, now sees him as a bum but smiles at him anyway, gives him a rose and some money, and then, touching his hands, recognizes them. She queries on the title card, “You? You can see now? he asks as he nods and attempts to smile. She responds, “Yes, I see now.” Despite her awareness, she continues to smile and tolerate him. She has a good heart and is able to embrace him for who he is, as The Tramp correctly predicted.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this City Lights quiz.
Chaplin and the other silent movie pioneers were international in their outlook. Talkies were like the Tower of Babel, erecting barriers between countries as they traveled the world without concern for language. In 1972, when all of Chaplin’s films were screened at the Venice Film Festival, I had one of my most priceless moments as a moviegoer when I saw the universality of his work.
One evening, “City Lights” was broadcast on a huge screen as the Piazza San Marco was dimmed. There was not a dry tear in the piazza when the flower girl recognized the Tramp, and I heard lots of sneezing and blowing of noses in the area. Then total blackness descended, and a spotlight focused on a balcony with a view of the square. Charlie Chaplin approached and made an obeisance. I hardly ever hear such jubilation.
He had already been praised as one of the greatest screenwriters for many years by that point. We can see how innovation and compassion coexist in “City Lights,” one of his movies.
City Lights Quiz
The film features some of Chaplin’s best comedic scenes, including the well-known prize fight in which the Tramp always manages to maintain the referee between himself and his opponent thanks to his deft footwork. In the first scene, a statue is unveiled to reveal the Tramp dozing in the bosom of a courageous Greco-Roman stone statue. (While attempting to descend, he hooks his pants through the statue’s blade and attempts to stand at attention during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but his feet are unable to touch the ground.) There’s the scene where he swallows a whistle and gathers a pack of dogs; the scene where the millionaire and the Tramp come across burglars; the scene in the nightclub where Charlie sees Apache dancers and defends the woman dancer against her partner. There’s also the sequence where he tries to save the millionaire from drowning and ends up with the rock tied to his own neck.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this City Lights quiz.
And then there are the raunchy scenes, like when the Tramp, who is employed as a street sweeper, avoids a horse procession only to run into an elephant parade; or when the millionaire pours champagne down the Tramp’s pants.
Chaplin excelled at the subtle contact and the delayed response. Think about the instance when he visits the home of the blind girl to give her the funds for a surgery. For his own purposes, he has wisely kept $100 in his pocket, but after she kisses his hand, he shrugs, reaches in his pocket, and hands her the remaining money.
The giants of silent humor are Chaplin and Keaton, and in recent years, their works have become more and more popular. Chaplin reigned supreme for many years, but by the 1960s, some watchers found him sentimental and dated, and Keaton seemed more modern and up-to-date. In the polls conducted every ten years by the British cinema magazine Sight & Sound, Chaplin came in first place in 1952 but left by 1962; Keaton came in first place in 1972 and 1982 but was replaced by Chaplin once more in 1992. Such surveys only demonstrate one thing with certainty: many moviegoers believe that both men’s films should be included in a list of the ten best movies ever produced.
About the quiz
Both directors used their fictitious characters as inspiration for their films, but they adopted different strategies. Chaplin typically portrays the Tramp; Keaton alternates between characters. Chaplin’s characters are perpetual outsiders who rigidly repeat the same strategies and responses, while Keaton’s characters yearn for acceptance, recognition, romance, and stature in the real world. (often the gags come from how inappropriately the Tramp behaves). While Chaplin’s peculiar, lopsided gait appears almost arthritic, Keaton’s motions are fluid and effortless. They only shared a single scene together in Chaplin’s “Limelight.” (1952). Keaton steals the sequence, but as Kerr points out, Chaplin was happy to let Keaton win rather than re-editing it to give himself the advantage.
Also, you must try to play this City Lights quiz.
Chaplin was once regarded as the best popular artist of the 20th century, and everyone was familiar with his films. How many people follow them today? Do they air in classrooms? I disagree. On TV? not frequently. The silent cinema genre, which provided Chaplin with his canvas, has now deprived him of his wide audience. Only those who look for them will be able to watch his pictures in perpetuity.
I just watched “City Lights” and “Modern Times” again, and I’m still captivated by them. Chaplin had a genuinely magical talent. Additionally, since there is no dialogue or intrusive super-realism to break up the flow, silent pictures themselves induce a state of reverie. They remain by your side. They are a location as well as a job.
The majority of Chaplin’s movies can be watched on television. When kids of a certain age watch them, they don’t even notice that they are “silent”; instead, they focus on how every frame talks to them directly, devoid of the enigmatic words that other movies have. Children eventually grow up and lose this knowledge, but the movies patiently wait and are ready to reintroduce it to us.
For more personality quizzes check this: Hotaru No Haka Quiz.
