One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart. Read critic reviews
City Lights
1931, Comedy/Drama, 1h 27m
61 Reviews 25,000+ RatingsWhat to know
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Movie Info
A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl's life forever.
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Rating: G
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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Director: Charlie Chaplin
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Producer: Charlie Chaplin
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Writer: Charlie Chaplin
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $18.2K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: United Artists
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Aspect Ratio: 35mm
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Critic Reviews for City Lights
Audience Reviews for City Lights
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One of the cutest films I've ever watched, City Lights is probably Chaplin's masterpiece. It's got an acceptable length, fantastic acting and a well written story. The ending is one of the best acting in the history of cinema.
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I had seen snippets of Chaplin doing his thing but this was the first time that I had seen City Lights from top to bottom. Charlies charms as usual as his Tramp defies the odds for the woman he loves. Very memorable.
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A thing of astonishing beauty. As great as so much of Chaplin's filmography is, I don't think he ever did anything as perfect as the final few minutes of this movie.
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Perfectly simple and simply perfect! They are the only words coming to mind right now. I watched it so many times, but this is the first time that I decided to write a review about this classic which the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies ranked City Lights as the 11th greatest American film of all time! This romantic comedy written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and develops a turbulent friendship with an alcoholic millionaire (Harry Myers). The millionaire wasn't originally the first choice for a subplot, Chaplin first considered a black newsboy. Eventually he opted for a drunken millionaire, a character previously used in the 1921 short The Idle Class. The millionaire plot was based on an old idea Chaplin had for a short, where two millionaires pick up the Little Tramp from the city dump and show him a good time in expensive clubs, and then drop him back off at the dump. That was when he woke up the Tramp was never sure if what happened was real or a dream. This was rewritten into a millionaire is a friend of the Tramp when drunk, but does not recognize him when sober. [img]http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14400000/City-Lights-charlie-chaplin-14440846-500-396.jpg[/img] When Chaplin started developing the script in 1928 sound films were on the rise, but he decided to continue working with silent productions. Filming started in December 1928, and ended in September 1930. Chaplin was great in almost everything he touched and in this movie for the first time he was the composer of the music which was written in six weeks with Arthur Johnston. The main theme used as a leitmotif for the blind flower girl is the song "La Violetera" composed by the Spanish composer José Padilla, and Chaplin lost a lawsuit to Padilla for not crediting him. [img]http://www.zuguide.com/image/Charlie-Chaplin-City-Lights.1.jpg[/img] For me, this was probably the highest accomplishments of Chaplin's career and I am glad that in 1992, the Library of Congress selected City Lights for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2007, In 1949, the critic James Agee referred to the final scene in the film as the "greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid". Many will agree with him! At the gala premiere on 30 January 1931, at the Los Angeles Theater. Albert Einstein and his wife were the guests of honour, and the film received a standing ovation. I have to say that from all the movies made until 1952, I will agree with the Sight and Sound magazine's choice in which City Lights finished second in voting for "The Best Films of All Time", after Vittorio DeSica's Bicycle Thieves! If you haven't seen it - go and do it now. [img]http://www.claudiocolombo.net/FotoDVD/lucidellacitta5.jpg[/img]
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