Chaplin.

The opening scene was good, the boxing scene was fantastic, and the ending was very pretty but also (slight spoiler warning?) frustrating.

But from the comments about the film I googled up, people seem really into the characters. This seems odd, since the characters seem to be mostly one-dimensional shells -- the blind girl's personality amounts to "easy on the eyes". But the fans seem to think Chaplin's Tramp is "fundamentally decent", which I don't think is entirely supportable. But does it matter? I don't think you can hold this film up as a touching portrait of decency holding up under extreme conditions -- the characters are too thin, and too dependant on the humor to hold up to that. (Not that comedies can't have complex and realistic characters, but I don't think this one comes anywhere near that goal.)

That said, jeezus, City Lights isn't interesting compared to what? Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back? I don't care for Chaplin's late sentimentality (CL and Modern Times are the last 2 times he played the Tramp, unless Great Dictator counts -- and the schmaltz got even worse in his sound films), but the slapstick is consistently great, and as Stuart Klawans wrote in The Nation recently, he said as much about what it is to be poor as any great artist.

Try his Essanay and Mutual shorts to see the more knockabout style.

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