It’s hard to recommend Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights to most because few people seem to have the patience for black and white movies – let alone silent ones.

It’s not on Netflix or iTunes. You’ll have to buy the DVD or rent it. And who the hell does that anymore?

But City Lights is as alive now as it was then, even without colour or dialogue, with very few title cards and a broad, allegorical plot.

Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles loved it. It made them cry and it made me cry. And if you can summon up the patience, you’ll probably cry too.