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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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TIME, Almanac of the 20th Century.ISO
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1930
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30lights
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1930s) City Lights
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1930s Highlights
Movies
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
City Lights
</hdr>
<body>
<p>(February 9, 1931)
</p>
<p> Hollywood is volatile, jealous and perhaps sinful. But it is
intensely loyal to the little man whom it used to call Charlie
before the wide world called him Charlot, Carlos, Cha-pu-rin and
as many more variations as there are languages. Had City Lights
been a failure, Hollywood would have been personally and
bitterly depressed. But Hollywood was not depressed. Neither was
it frightened. For though City Lights is a successful silent
challenge to the talkies, its success derives solely from the
little man with the battered hat, bamboo cane and black
mustache. Critics agree that he, whose posterior would probably
be recognized by more people throughout the world than would
recognize any other man's face, will be doing business after
talkies have been traded in for television.
</p>
<p> City Lights is not silent in the strictest sense. Synchronized
sound effects and music are used beginning with the very first
sequence, where the talkies are burlesqued by horn sounds that
make the actors seem to be talking with their mouths full of
mush. Also there is an episode where Mr. Chaplin swallows a
whistle. Each time he coughs he whistles and he cannot stop
coughing. Taxis hurry up and stop, dogs overwhelm him. Hollywood
also grew hysterical during a prizefight in which Charlie
survives two rounds by dodging so briskly that the referee is
always between him and his murderous opponent.
</p>
<p> Chaplin does not reject the sound-device because he does not
think his voice will register. His objection is that cinema is
essentially a pantomimic art. Says he: "Action is more generally
understood than words. Like the Chinese symbolism it will mean
different things according to its scenic connotation. Listen to
a description of some unfamiliar object--an African wart hog,
for example. Then look at a picture of the animal and see how
surprised you are."</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>