Impressive Nobodies
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Charlie Chaplins “City Lights” and Keatons “Sherlock, Jr.” were considered be two of the best comedies of all time. In City Lights, Chaplin stared as a tramp who tried to help a blind girl. In Sherlick, Jr, Keaton acted as a projectionist who tried to become a detective while being accused as a thief of stealing watch. Although two stories and the ways of performance were quite different, I noticed a common point between these two movies: both actors successfully presented the life and emotion of “the small figures” in dramatic ways.
Found asleep in the arm of a statue, Chaplin showed up with a derby hat, a tight coat, oversized pants and shoes. The dumb and embarrassing action in front of the crowd was just the appetizer of the movie. Later in the story, the same figure with ridicules cloth and manner kept repeating in screen. In one scene, the tramp wanted to earn some money from boxing. In the locker room and on the boxing stage, we could notice some of the characteristics of Chaplins comedy- the movements were exaggerated but the coordination of his body made the movements so nature. The acting of Chaplin was fabulous in making audience laugh.
Another reason why City Lights is impressive is that Chaplins acting was not only funny, but also well fused with the plot. During some exaggerated comic scenes, for example, the tramp trying to fight in club, swallowing the whistle in party, the audience laughed because they thought the actions were inappropriate and outrageous. But on the other hand, the outrageous actions may seem reasonable in the background of the entire film. What a tramp could do in a club or a party for millionaires? How can a tramp be a gentleman without the millionaire? In my opinion, the answer to these questions was the soul of this comedy. The film is about a person who nobody would pay attention to in the lights of modern city. And Chaplin presented the “nobody” well with emotions and corresponding actions. He looked so helpless facing his opponent on the boxing stage, his part-time-job boss, policemen or even the hazing from newspaper sellers, but he tried his best to help a blind girl he loved. At the last scene when he showed an embarrassing smile under his square mustache to the girl, the audience did not even know the tramps name, but the story behind the smile would let them remember the figure.
In the second movie Sherlock, Jr, Keaton showed a different style of comedy. “Sherlock Jr.”, who was a projectionist in a cinema, tried to become a detective but his personality decided that he would fail. A significant part of the story