Blu-ray, DVD Release: City Lights

By
Laurence
– August 27, 2013Find Others: Blu-ray, Movie, New Release, NewsGet More: , , , ,

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 12, 2013
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion

City Lights movie sceneThe 1931 silent comedy-drama City Lights, one of the most cherished films by Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times), is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle.

Writer-director-star Chaplin achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him for a millionaire.

Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy.

Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo of the classic movie includes the following features:

• New, restored 4K digital film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
• Chaplin Today: “City Lights,” a 2003 documentary on the film’s production, featuring Aardman Animations cofounder Peter Lord
• Chaplin Studios: Creative Freedom by Design, a new interview program featuring visual effects expert Craig Barron
• Archival footage from the production of City Lights, including film from the set, with audio commentary by Chaplin historian Hooman Mehran; a costume test; a rehearsal; and a complete scene not used in the film
• Excerpt from Chaplin’s short film The Champion (1915), along with footage of the director with boxing stars at Chaplin Studios in 1918
• Trailers
• A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins and a 1966 interview with Chaplin

Buy or Rent City Lights
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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.