In one of his most celebrated films, Charlie Chaplin plays his famous character the Tramp. He falls in love with a blind flower seller (Virginia Cherill) and tries to help her. Along the way, he makes friends with an eccentric (and probably alcoholic) millionaire, climbs into the boxing ring, and gets into all manner of sticky situations.
I haven’t seen many silent movies – one to date, and that is The Artist, which was a recent film. I do find it quite an unusual viewing experience to be watching a film with no dialogue. The acting here is much more exaggerated, maybe because it HAS to be – there are no words to tell you what the characters are thinking (except for the few title cards), so their actions have to show you everything. Fortunately of course, Chaplin was a master at visual comedy, and this film is packed with visual gags, many of which literally made me laugh out loud.
How it really won me over though, was the tenderness expressed throughout – and a wonderful final scene, which I’m not going to spoil; viewers deserve to see it for themselves – which made me grow very fond of the Tramp, and root for him to beat the odds.
Cherrill is luminous and lovely as the flower seller – it is interesting to see the emotion between the two characters, particularly when you consider that off-screen, the actors did not get on, and in fact he did fire her at one point when she arrived late for work. (By that time, he had already completed most of the film, and intended to shoot it with a different actress, but was not able to afford this. Cherrill was aware of his difficulty, and offered to come back and finish the film for double her original fee, which Chaplin had little choice but to agree to!) Harry Myers also put in a great performance as the suicidal man who befriends the Tramp – the first meeting between the two characters is a hoot, as is the opening scene of the film. And the boxing match is like a finely choreographed and extremely funny dance!
I watched this more out of curiosity than anything else; I wanted to see how I would enjoy one of the original silent greats, and I think I surprised myself by just how much I did enjoy it. It works as both a great comedy, and a moving romance – give it a try, you might like it!
Year of release: 1931
Director: Charles Chaplin
Producer: Charles Chaplin
Writers: Charles Chaplin, Harry Crocker, Harry Clive
Main cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Al Ernest Garcia
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