Buy your ticket from Lippupiste!

Note! Tickets for the screening may not be bought online anymore. A few advance sales tickets are available at the Tampere Film Festival box office, though. They may also be purchased from Tampere-talo and from Lippupiste on Saturday.

13.3. 19.00 TAMPERE-TALO

CITY LIGHTS. A COMEDY ROMANCE IN PANTOMIME

United States 1931
Fiction | 87 min | 35 mm | b&w
Director: Charles Chaplin
Script: Charles Chaplin
Setup: Charles D. Hall
Photography: Roland Totheroh
Editing: Charles Chaplin
Music: Charles Chaplin except "La Violetera" © Jose Padilla
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Production: Charles Chaplin Productions – United Artists

Charles Chaplin (1889–1977) was the most well-known person of the 20th century. His name - Charlie, Charlot, Chape, Tsape - became a part of standard language. His character embodied a remarkable part of the beloved myths and cultural history of the 20th century.

The subheading of the City Lights is ‘a Comedy Romance in Pantomime’. Tramp falls in love with a blind flower girl and prevents a millionaire from drowning himself. The millionaire has to be drunk to recognize the Tramp, and the girl only knows him through her blind eyes.

Although the talking pictures had broken through a few years earlier, Chaplin made the City Lights without any dialog. After the filming, Chaplin added a few sound effects to the film, and he also composed the music in the film. “The music is simple, just like my character. I wanted that the music would come across as a contrast to gracefulness and sweetness.”

The City Lights is one of Chaplin’s greatest films, and it culminates to a breathtaking end. “During the finale, I noticed Albert Einstein wiping his eyes – another proof that scientists are incurably sentimental,” Chaplin noted after the premiere. “In the long shot life is comical, and tragic in the close-up.” (Charles Chaplin).