MovieChat Forums > City Lights (1931) Discussion > that face!

that face!

posted 19 years ago by Steve_Larson
5 replies | jump to latest

My father showed me City Lights when I was six years old. I remember thinking that not only was Paulette Godard beautiful notedly ravenously eating that stolen banana with that look of defiant satisfaction. She was the only woman who didn't look or dress old fashioned. Being six I didn't understand that people didn't come born looking like it was 1936 but that makeup had the effect of creating looks.
Chaplin had her in near rags and her hair was as hip and unruly as any magazine ad today. I still say they rarely showed the natural beauty of women in the 'old days' but Chaplin did it best. Amazing to watch her in this picture. That face!

You've got me? Who's got you??

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Steve_Larson 19 years ago

Oh My God. I feel so silly. Modern Times! Of course. What kind of Chaplin fan am I? lol. Right. Didn't Chaplin hate Virginia Cherrill who played the blind girl. He loved Goddard madly but treated poor Virginia Cherrill literally like garbage?

You've got me? Who's got you??

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] heather_m1986 15 years ago

Virginia Cherrill was not a serious actress while Chaplin was a very serious artist, director, and performer. From what I read, she was really just bopping around Hollywood at the time looking for a rich husband after her first marriage ended in divorce. Her history is actually very interesting. She went on to marry Cary Grant, divorced him, went to the East where some emir or something asked her to marry him. She turned him down. She went to England, wandered onto the Earl of Jersey's front lawn. He asked her to marry him and she did. She was reknown for her relief effort during WWII and then gave up being Countess of Jersey to marry a Polish fighter pilot and came back to California.