On Saturday night, the San Francisco Symphony continued their fantastic film series with City Lights (1931), Charlie Chaplin’s timeless romantic comedy. Conducted by Richard Kaufman, the orchestra performed the entire film score in perfect sync with the film playing overhead. The music, written by Chaplin, is a wonderful mix of joyous and romantic motifs that fit well with the variety of urban locales on screen. The score can at times recall Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” written just eight years before City Lights was first released. The audience at Davies Symphony Hall ate the whole evening up, cheering as often for the orchestra as they did for The Tramp himself.
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