City Lights

Cinema Classics on DVD Curated Collection


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City Lights - 2 Disc Special Edition

[City Lights is] a Chaplin masterpiece about a blind girl (Virigina Cherrill) who is restored to sight with the help of that quintessential urban misfit, the Tramp (Charlie Chaplin), who falls in love with her. One of the landmark films of the American Cinema.

"There was a time when Chaplin was hailed as the greatest popular artist of the 20th century, and his films were known to everyone. Today, how many people watch them? Are they shown in schools? I think not. On TV? Not very often. Silent film, the medium that gave Chaplin his canvas, has now robbed him of his mass audience. His films will live forever, but only for those who seek them out."

"Having just viewed ``City Lights'' and ``Modern Times'' again, I am still under their spell. Chaplin's gift was truly magical. And silent films themselves create a reverie state; there is no dialogue, no obtrusive super-realism, to interrupt the flow. They stay with you. They are not just a work, but a place."

"Most of Chaplin's films are available on video. Children who see them at a certain age don't notice they're ``silent'' but notice only that every frame speaks clearly to them, without all those mysterious words that clutter other films. Then children grow up, and forget this wisdom, but the films wait patiently and are willing to teach us again." ----- Roger Ebert

Selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry of American Film.

DVD - 2 Disc Set

Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese (Unspecified)
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Introduction by David Robinson, Chaplin biographer
'Chaplin Today: City Lights'
Documentary by Serge Bromberg 'The Champion' (1915)
Excerpt of Georgia Hale screen test: 'Gold Rush' actress who almost replaced Virginia Cherrill
Rehearsal footage, outtakes, on-set footage of scene being shot
Footage of Chaplin boxing with visiting prizefighters on the set
Historical footage of Winston Churchill visit
Footage shot on trip to Bali with brother Sydney
'Chaplin Speaks!' Chaplin speaks for the first time on film during a 1931 trip to Vienna
Photo gallery, films posters, trailers, interactive menus, and scene access

Curator's Comments:
Roger Ebert's essay on this DVD Classic.

Director: Charles Chaplan
Black & White
186 minutes
Released: 1931
Rated: NR

Country: U.S.A.
Language: Silent with English intertitles
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Silent

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