1. It was Chaplin's last silent film. When this film was made, it was already the age of sound films. At the time, many people criticized Chaplin, saying he was outdated, and some people said he was too contemptuous of sound films.
2. Indeed, making City Lights was the most daring and adventurous of Chaplin's career. But he succeeded in the end, more than any film directed by anyone of his time. He interprets greatness and legend.
3. He showed us what to do. He directed us by being us. People often remember the actor Chaplin, but not so much that he was also an excellent director. He is always hands-on with every scene, strict to the point of harshness. He didn't care how many takes he took. This is the impression that the actors who worked with him have been talking about. He did everything and he was a dervish. Many actors remember him on the set.
4. The heroine Virginia Cherrill is not an actress, but Chaplin said, "This is exactly what I want." This makes people think of Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou. In an interview, Ang Lee was invited to give advice to young actors. He only said that he should keep his innocence (to the effect); and Zhang Yimou has always felt this way about the casting of heroines (from Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Dongyu to Liu Haocun... ) Many big directors are looking for an unpolished rough jade. So what's the problem with the actor who came from the class? Jia Zhangke once said that they wanted to act too much and wanted to show too much. (Here's a philosophical question: Can Baby Angela play a "terrible" actor?)
5. The first meeting with the flower girl was repeated for more than 3 weeks, and Chaplin was always dissatisfied. Later, he became ill, and the whole crew had to wait. After more than 80 days of filming, there were more than 60 days of shutdown. This scene not only needs to let the audience see that the flower girl is blind, but the bigger challenge is to keep the logic flowing. Chaplin's problem was how to convince the blind flower girl that she was rich. He thought about it for a long time and couldn't solve it smoothly. Towards the end of filming, he reshot the scene one last time - "The car slams"! That's why Chaplin climbed over the car to a "bridge" in front of the flower girl, and then after buying flowers, he arranged for another real rich man to walk over, get in the car, slam the door, and gallop away. go with. Every time I see this detail, there are two words in my heart: genius.
6. As a simple love fairy tale, the ending can only be handled here, not even one more scene. The reason why fairy tales can infect the audience is that there is sincerity and purity in them, which is a backlash and irony of realist love. We always want to be strong and heroic in front of our beloved goddess, but when the dust settles and the stubbornness and disguise of time fade away, can you still smile as softly as you did when you first met?
7. Of course, there is a saying that "keep innocent" and "unprofessional" are sometimes separated by a fine line. The heroine of "The Gold Rush" was Virginia Cherrill at the beginning, but because of her unprofessionalism, Chaplin fired her and replaced her with Georgia Hale.
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