150 Greatest Movie Performances Of All Time

Part one (150-121)

By Total FilmDec 8th 2008

21. 131. Charlie Chaplin - A Tramp, City Lights (1931)

“I think I like City Lights the best of all my films…” Just as well, as Charlie Chaplin laboured longer on his ‘comedy romance in pantomime’ (two years, eight months all told) than anything else in his career.

But the strain doesn’t show, least of all in CC’s turn as his trademark, toothbrush-’tached Little Tramp persona: boldly voiceless even though the talkies were in full swing, his gracefully bumbling body language etching a poetry of slapstick, social commentary and swooning sentiment.

You’d never, ever guess that he and leading lady Virginia Cherrill actually couldn’t stand each other…

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