"Actor: Florence Lee"

• City Lights (1931) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (12/12/2022) from £22.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The most cherished film by CHARLIE CHAPLIN (Modern Times) is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star 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 (a magical 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. Product Features New, restored 4K digital film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack 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 PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins and a 1966 interview with Chaplin

• City Lights - Charlie Chaplin Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (24/08/2015) from £12.09   |  Saving you £7.90 (65.34%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Wandering the city streets, the Little Tramp happens upon a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a wealthy gentleman, and manages to save and befriend a drunken millionaire who is trying to drown himself in the river. A world of disenchanted bourgeoisie, where social structure and class are misconceived and questioned at every turn, City Lights has gone down in history as not only one of Chaplin's best films but one of the best ever committed to celluloid.

• City Lights - Charlie Chaplin DVD | DVD | (24/08/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Wandering the city streets, the Little Tramp happens upon a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a wealthy gentleman, and manages to save and befriend a drunken millionaire who is trying to drown himself in the river. A world of disenchanted bourgeoisie, where social structure and class are misconceived and questioned at every turn, City Lights has gone down in history as not only one of Chaplin's best films but one of the best ever committed to celluloid.

• College | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £9.94   |  Saving you £10.05 (101.11%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For many, Buster Keaton is the greatest comedian of the silent era rated even above Chaplin, and College (1927) is one of his finest films. A poor student who has to work his way through college, Buster is desperate to win the attention of a pretty girl and takes up sports. His attempt at the high jump is a classic piece of clowning, and as the cox in a boat race Buster displays his full genius for comic invention. Through every disaster, the great "stone face" as he was nicknamed betrays not a flicker of emotion, enduring all humiliations with aplomb. If not quite the equal of The Navigator (1924) or its immediate predecessor The General (1927), College shows Keaton at the top of his form. Tragically, the following year he lost his independence when he signed for MGM. His career collapsed, his marriage broke up and he became an alcoholic, never to regain former glories. On the DVD: The organ music accompanying this silent feature is pleasantly unobtrusive, and apart from a short section in the middle where it deteriorates, the print quality is reasonable. In addition there are two excellent Keaton shorts, One Week (1920) and The Blacksmith (1922).-- Ed Buscombe

• Pumpkinhead | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For each of man's evils a special demon exists... so say the inhabitants of the backwoods where a small boy has just accidently been killed by a group of bikers. Some call the tale a myth but Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) the boy's father knows better. As a small child he once saw Pumpkinhead carrying out his evil work. Now to seek a primitive lust for revenge against the reckless bikers he summons the hideous monster to rise again. He didn't realise what horrors would follow... 'Pumpkinhead' marked the directorial debut of Stan Winston - special effects maestro behind the likes of The Terminator Aliens and Jurassic Park - and is a technical and artistic tour de force.

• Charles Munch Conducts Berlioz L'enfance Du Christ | DVD | (28/02/2005) from £20.56   |  Saving you £2.43 (10.60%)   |  RRP £22.99

• Charlie Chaplin - City Lights | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Made in 1931 shortly after the introduction of the talkies, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights is nonetheless near-silent. Chaplin was afraid that, should his universally known and beloved Tramp speak onscreen, he would be severely limited and compromised as a character. And so, City Lights is billed as "pantomime", a piece of cinema harking back to the manners and methods of an already defunct era. Chaplin fell out of fashion towards the end of the 20th century as a new wave of comedians (Rowan Atkinson for one) castigated him for what they saw as his excessive, maudlin sentimentality. Certainly, City Lights--which sees Chaplin's Tramp befriended by a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a rich benefactor--is hokum indeed. Accepting this, however, what makes the film so marvellous is the deceptive skill and artistry of Chaplin the filmmaker, the immaculate timing and acrobatic grace of his seemingly slapstick comedy, in particular a justly famous boxing sequence. Chaplin's sparing use of sound is inventive also: the wordless waffle of public speakers in the opening scene and another in which the tramp swallows a whistle. Moreover, the conclusion, in which the dishevelled Tramp encounters again the flower girl, her eyesight restored is--sentimentality notwithstanding--one of the most moving and superbly executed scenes in cinema history, not least for its economy and restraint. On the DVD: City Lights contains a generous package of extras on this two-disc set, including an introduction by David Robinson, in which he relates how poorly Chaplin and his leading lady Virginia Cherrill got on, an extended documentary/interview with Peter Lord (partner in animation to Nick Parks), who sings the praises of Chaplin's screen art, and a deleted scene, an immaculate piece of business involving a grate and a stick. There's a bonus in the form of an excerpt from 1915's The Champion, in which Chaplin prefigures the boxing scene from City Lights. Meanwhile, the "documents" section includes a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage, including a test screening for alternative actress Georgia Hale, rehearsal shots, chaotic scenes of Chaplin being mobbed in Vienna, a meeting with Winston Churchill and 1918 footage of Chaplin horsing around with famous boxers of the day including Benny Leonard. It also contains trailers, photo gallery and subtitles. On the first disc, the film's transfer to DVD is splendid. --David Stubbs