City Lights, in which Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp pursues a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) who sells flowers on the sidewalk, doesn’t have the thematic coherence of Modern Times, but there are touches of Chaplin’s sensibility nonetheless. His disdain for labor is evident, especially when the Tramp takes a job cleaning up after horses in the street. At one point he sees a pack of horses and turns the other way, only to run into an elephant. The Tramp also remains a proud member of the lower class – a drunken millionaire befriends him, but forgets him the moment he sobers up – and a true gentlemen no matter what the situation. In the opening scene, when his pants get impaled by the sword of a statue, forcing him to helplessly dangle in the air, each passerby still gets a tip of the hat. Plenty of other gags follow, each impeccably timed, until the movie ends with one of film’s most famous romantic gestures. For City Lights, it’s Chaplin who deserves a tip of the hat.
