Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin is his official name. However the he is more commonly known as Charlie or The Little Tramp. Charlie Chaplin once said, “Work is life, and I love to live” (brainyquote.com). Work is exactly what Charlie Chaplin did on the set of all his films. His love for work showed in his two most recognized films, City Lights and Limelight. City Lights was his most famous sound film done in a silent style and Limelight being his last sound film. Both these films encompassed the romantic comedy genre, yet still had their differences.

Even though City Lights was a silent film, Chaplin was able to portray the story through his music and way of communicating through his comedic acting. “One of the underlying themes in City Lights is that society is blind to the virtues and worth of someone who looks like the tramp” (White, 22). On the other hand Chaplin’s film Limelight had a different edge to it. Still being a romantic comedy, the underlying theme seemed to portray his ending career through the character Terry played by Claire Bloom as well as the love of one's art and the love that a couple share.

In City Lights, Chaplin is taken in by a drunken millionaire when Chaplin saves him from committing suicide. “The rich man is only generous when he is blind drunk” (White, 22). When intoxicated the rich man doesn’t see Chaplin as a guy that walks the streets but as the guy who risked his life to save his. He calls him his “new best friend” and indulges him in the finest. Yet when he is sober is unable to recall anything from the previous night thus not remembering who Chaplin is. He sees Chaplin as he looks; a tramp. The blind girl that Chaplin meets “thinks he is a rich handsome fellow” (White, 22). Even though she cannot see Chaplin she gets to know him through his generosity, for instance when he purchased of all the flowers she had been trying to sell. Yet what she doesn’t know is that Chaplin is a poor street walker using the rich man’s money given to him. She is able to get to know the real Chaplin due to the fact that she is unable to see the dirty tramp that he appears to be. The ending of this film is the most memorable scene throughout the film. This is when the blind girl has had her surgery to cure her blindness and is reunited with Chaplin unknowingly. As she touches his hand she quickly is overcome with emotion knowing that this street man is the man who generously cured her