SF Symphony presents Charlie Chaplin's 1931 silent film classic City Lights, accompanied by the San Francisco Symphony
2014-04-12
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA
8:00 PM, Saturday, April 12, 2014

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Charlie Chaplin: City Lights (1931)

[8:00 PM lights down, announcements]

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

1. [8:00 PM] timing data corresponds MOSTLY to scene changes
   [show ends 9:20 PM, no encore]

• Richard Kaufman: conductor;
• symphony members vary by program, see http://www.sfsymphony.org/About-Us/Musicians-Conductors for the current list.

I enjoy watching old films, all the more when given live accompaniment. Taken by themselves, the films are an excellent testament to the creative spirit of their creators, revealing universal hopes, desires, agonies and aspirations. I also enjoy watching them for the “window to the past” that they offer. For stylized as the acting might be, it offers a view distinctly different from still photography. Obviously richer by addition of time-development, but also different in how it engages the viewer's attention.

City Lights, universally acknowledged as one of Chaplin's best efforts, was hugely entertaining, all the more so with the addition of clever foley FX in addition to the symphonic score. Hopefully the SFS will continue to schedule this sort of event – unfortunately, the only silent film I noticed on the 2014-15 schedule, was Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, a good one, but a repeat from a few years ago!

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!