IMDb > City Lights (1931)
City Lights
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Overview

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Director:
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View company contact information for City Lights on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 February 1931 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
The Tramp struggles to help a blind flower girl he has fallen in love with. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
(7 articles)
A-z Movie Reviews – C’s
 (From HeyUGuys. 4 November 2009, 5:00 AM, PST)

San Jose Theatre Presents 'Another Night Before Christmas' Nov. 19 - Dec. 20
 (From BroadwayWorld.com. 25 October 2009, 11:35 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Chaplin's Masterpiece...and Oh Those Last Five Minutes! more (141 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Virginia Cherrill ... A Blind Girl
Florence Lee ... The Blind Girl's Grandmother
Harry Myers ... An Eccentric Millionaire
Al Ernest Garcia ... The Eccentric Millionaire's Butler (as Allan Garcia)
Hank Mann ... A Prizefighter

Charles Chaplin ... A Tramp (as Charlie Chaplin)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
City Lights: A Comedy Romance in Pantomime (USA) (copyright title)
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Runtime:
83 min
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
1.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Silent | Mono (musical score)
Certification:
France:U | Portugal:M/6 (DVD rating) | Spain:T | West Germany:12 (1951) | Germany:6 (re-rating: 1997) | USA:G (1972) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Denmark:A (2003) | Norway:7 | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
At the beginning of the film, a town official and a woman dedicating the statue can be heard uttering nondescript words by way of a kazoo. These sounds are the very first "words" Chaplin ever spoke on film, as it is his voice you are hearing through the reed instrument. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When saving the man's life, and trying to climb out of the water, the position of the Tramp's hat is inconsistent. more
Quotes:
The Tramp: Be careful how you're driving.
Eccentric Millionaire: Am I driving?
more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

List: Wacky boxing
Why is it called "City Lights"?
Is this movie based on a novel?
more
18 out of 22 people found the following comment useful.
Chaplin's Masterpiece...and Oh Those Last Five Minutes!, 16 December 2005
Author: Ed Uyeshima from San Francisco, CA, USA

Let me join the consensus and call Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" a masterpiece. It's only 81 minutes long, but they are among the best 81 minutes you could spend at the movies, and the last five minutes are simply exquisite. Keep your Kleenex box at arm's length as I doubt if there has been a more honestly heartbreaking scene captured on film. When the formerly blind girl gives the Little Tramp a flower and ultimately says "Yes, I can see now", the scene takes on such emotional gravity as to defy explanation.

Chaplin was at his zenith in 1928 when he started a journey of more than two years to develop and film this story, and the Little Tramp had already been a familiar character to audiences for over a decade. He had already made the classics "The Gold Rush" (1925) and "The Circus" (1928) starring his character, so it's obvious he felt a need to take a slightly different direction and deepen the character this time. The advent of talkies didn't stop Chaplin from making this "Comedy Romance in Pantomime" (as he subtitled it), as he knew giving the Little Tramp a voice would limit his appeal as a universal character. What I particularly enjoyed in this film is how the Little Tramp fancies himself as a well-mannered gentleman in spite of all the circumstances that bring him down, even going to prison for love. It is this self-delusion and his subsequent mistaken identity as a millionaire that leads him to the blind flower girl, played in an effectively plaintive manner by Virginia Cherrill. Her performance is a greatly underrated element in this film, as she displays the right amount of vacant innocence to make the last minutes so memorable. Simply compare her to the screen test shown of Georgia Hale, Chaplin's leading lady in "The Gold Rush" and an obviously more experienced actress than Cherrill, as Hale struggles to show the right balance between condescension and beatific revelation when she realizes the Little Tramp is the "wealthy" gentleman who paid for the restoration of her sight.

Of course, this would not be a Chaplin film without the brilliance of his comedy routines and there is a treasure trove of classic scenes - the rising and lowering of the street elevator, the shifting musical chairs scene at the nightclub, the mock suicide at the canal and especially the boxing scene, which has been imitated by so many lesser filmmakers (and was according to the footage included as a DVD extra, inspired by an earlier Chaplin short "The Champion" from 1915). Even a simple moment, for example, when the Little Tramp mistakes a piece of thread from his vest for a ball of twine, is impressive for the sheer delicacy of the moment. And special mention needs to go to Chaplin's musical score, where he beautifully interweaves José Padilla's "La Violetta" as his love theme.

The transfer to DVD is very good, and the 2-DVD set has plenty of extras though they vary in quality. The Serge Bromberg documentary provides an informative supplement to the film, and the footage of Chaplin from a Vienna press tour is fascinating since it captures the long-forgotten worldwide frenzy he created back then. The aforementioned Georgia Hale screen test is a worthwhile addition but runs on a bit too long. The 10-minute home movie of Chaplin's trip to Bali has a certain anthropological interest but seems rather pointless otherwise. Regardless, the movie itself is rewarding enough and an exquisite jewel that completely justifies Chaplin's reputation as one of the world's leading filmmakers.

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End help please? CharliesStache
Really Disappointed (Spoilers) michaelgrilo
What is the best joke in the movie? nirvanasaneurysm
Am I THAT cynical? (Spoilers) cwood0609
Is the ending the best in film history? laffalott1
how is this movie not in TOP 10 premier46
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