Chaplin at the Hammer
I also had the sublime pleasure this weekend of seeing Charlie
Chaplin's "City Lights" at the Audrey Wilder Theater at the Hammer
Museum.
The film was being shown as part of the LA Film Festival and was chosen at the express request of honoree, director, writer auteur Melvin Van Peebles who selected it as one of his favorite films.
It was pretty great. It was not a pristine print. But it's hard to beat seeing Chaplin on the big screen in a great theater. There are some great bits in the film -- we probably laughted hardest at the sequence where Chaplin having swalled a whistle, burps in whistle tones. All in all, however, I probably prefer "Modern Times" but that's just a matter of ranking greatest over great.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film is that the plot hinges on a blind flower girl who eventually has an operation that allows her to see.
During the movie, my daughter asked me if that was possible -- an operation that would allow a blind person to see. I had to say that in most cases it can't but that the movie hoped that it could.
In 1930 when City Lights was made, it must have seemed that many medical advances were just within reach. And if we look at all the medical advances between now and then -- and there have been many, it is impressive. But the ability to make the blind see, remains elusive.
Cataract surgery and laser and lasik surgery have allowed millions who would be vision impaired to have great vision -- to see. But that is mostly operating on the lens. Same for detached retinas.
You would think with cameras and players advanced to the point where a laptop can have a webcam and we can watch movies on our cellphones or Ipods --that there would be some way to clamp a camera to someone's head or replace an eyeball. But not yet......
The film was being shown as part of the LA Film Festival and was chosen at the express request of honoree, director, writer auteur Melvin Van Peebles who selected it as one of his favorite films.
It was pretty great. It was not a pristine print. But it's hard to beat seeing Chaplin on the big screen in a great theater. There are some great bits in the film -- we probably laughted hardest at the sequence where Chaplin having swalled a whistle, burps in whistle tones. All in all, however, I probably prefer "Modern Times" but that's just a matter of ranking greatest over great.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film is that the plot hinges on a blind flower girl who eventually has an operation that allows her to see.
During the movie, my daughter asked me if that was possible -- an operation that would allow a blind person to see. I had to say that in most cases it can't but that the movie hoped that it could.
In 1930 when City Lights was made, it must have seemed that many medical advances were just within reach. And if we look at all the medical advances between now and then -- and there have been many, it is impressive. But the ability to make the blind see, remains elusive.
Cataract surgery and laser and lasik surgery have allowed millions who would be vision impaired to have great vision -- to see. But that is mostly operating on the lens. Same for detached retinas.
You would think with cameras and players advanced to the point where a laptop can have a webcam and we can watch movies on our cellphones or Ipods --that there would be some way to clamp a camera to someone's head or replace an eyeball. But not yet......
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