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Charlotte Symphony brings extra pathos, humor to Chaplin‘s “City Lights”

Many actors have won Oscars for producing, directing or writing, but only one has been nominated for best score: Charles Chaplin, who won in 1973 for "Limelight" and shared the prize with Ray Rasch and Larry Russell. (The 1952 film's L.A. release waited 20 years, hence the delayed prize.)

Chaplin wrote his own music for "City Lights," the 1931 comedy-drama many critics consider his best. It reflects the movie it serves: sweetly sentimental in a few spots, wryly funny in many more, yet never underlining the action as heavily as scores often did in the first decade of sound.