{"product_id":"city-lights-charles-j-maland-9781844571758","title":"City Lights","description":"In 1967, Charlie Chaplin told an interviewer, \"I think I like \u003ci\u003eCity Lights\u003c\/i\u003e the best of all my films.\" Speaking of the film's famous ending, James Agee wrote that \"it is enough to shrivel the heart to see.\" Although \u003ci\u003eCity Lights\u003c\/i\u003e had a long and extremely difficult production history, the final film, in Alistair Cooke's apt words, flows \"like water over pebbles, smooth and simple for all to see with no hint of the groaning pressure that had gone into it.\" It could easily have been otherwise. Chaplin began the film in 1927, even before the release of \u003ci\u003eThe Circus, \u003c\/i\u003e just months after a highly publicized divorce from his second wife and a tax dispute with the U.S. government, both of which cost him dearly. In addition, Chaplin's mother, with whom he had a close and complex relationship, died in August 1928. Besides the burden of these financial and emotional strains, Chaplin also had to contend with the transition of the American film industry to the talkies and the downward spiral of the depression following the Stock Market Crash in October 1929. He chose a novice actress, Virginia Cherrill, as the female lead for the film, and during production he fired the man originally cast as the millionaire and fired, then re-hired, Cherrill. Yet he pressed forward, releasing the film to much acclaim and box-office success in the first two months of 1931. Aesthetically, technologically, and culturally, \u003ci\u003eCity Lights\u003c\/i\u003e is a key transitional film in Chaplin's body of work, as the director\/writer\/actor responded for the first time to sound films and stepped in the direction of the social commentary that would become more overt in \u003ci\u003eModern Times\u003c\/i\u003e (1936) and \u003ci\u003eThe Great Dictator\u003c\/i\u003e (1940). Based on extensive archival research of Chaplin's production records, Charles Maland's \u003ci\u003eCity Lights\u003c\/i\u003e offers a careful history of the film's production and reception, as well as a close examination of the film itself, with special attention to the sources of the final scene's emotional power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Charles J. Maland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1844571750\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781844571758\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e British Film Institute\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.51h x 5.45w x 0.33d","brand":"Charles J. Maland","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43994436403455,"sku":"9781844571758","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d90217db-978e-4009-9f6f-1fedccfbcfbc.jpg?v=1683330142","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/city-lights-charles-j-maland-9781844571758","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}