City Lights is a 1931 American pre-Code silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story 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).
- Starring : Charlie Chaplin / Virginia Cherrill
- Genre : Comedy / Drama / Romance
- Country : United States
- Language : English
- Director : Charles Chaplin
- Production : Charles Chaplin Productions
- Distributor : United Artists / Les Artistes Associés / Nova Film / Sandrew Film & Teater / Dear Film / C.B. Films S.A. / Dear International / Towa / Parafrance Films / CBS/Fox / Sandrews / Warner Home Video / Continental Home Vídeo / The Criterion Collection / Classics Films Distribución / Filmes Castello Lopes / Théâtre du Temple / Park Circus
City Lights movie
City Lights release date
- January 30, 1931 : USA (Los Angeles, California) (premiere)
- February 6, 1931 : USA (New York City, New York)
- February 27, 1931 : UK (London)
- March 7, 1931 : USA
- April 4, 1931 : Spain (Madrid)
- April 7, 1931 : France
- April 20, 1931 : Sweden
- May 9, 1931 : Australia
- August 21, 1931 : Ireland
- January 20, 1934 : Japan
- April 8, 1950 : USA (re-release)
- September 29, 1950 : France (re-release) (Paris)
- March 9, 1951 : France (re-release)
- May 18, 1951 : Australia (re-release)
- January 7, 1952 : Philippines (Davao)
- July 7, 1973 : Japan (re-release)
- February 25, 1974 : Spain (re-release)
- October 12, 2011 : Japan (Kawasaki Shinyuri Film Festival)
- May 27, 2015 : Spain (Phenomena – Barcelona) (re-release)
- October 13, 2016 : Japan (Kyoto International Film Festival)
- July 10, 2019 : France (re-release) (restored version)
City Lights cast
- Virginia Cherrill as A Blind Girl
- Florence Lee as The Blind Girl’s Grandmother
- Harry Myers as An Eccentric Millionaire
- Al Ernest Garcia as James – the Millionaire’s Butler(as Allan Garcia)
- Hank Mann as A Prizefighter
- Charles Chaplin as A Tramp(as Charlie Chaplin)
- Jack Alexander as Boxing Match Spectator(uncredited)
- T.S. Alexander as Doctor(uncredited)
- Victor Alexander as Superstitious Boxer(uncredited)
- Albert Austin as Street Sweeper / Burglar(uncredited)
- Harry Ayers as Cop(uncredited)
- Eddie Baker as Boxing Fight Referee(uncredited)
- Henry Bergman as Mayor / Blind Girl’s Downstairs Neighbor(uncredited)
- Betty Blair as Woman at Center of Table in Restaurant(uncredited)
- Buster Brodie as Bald Party Guest(uncredited)
Although sound films were on the rise when Chaplin started developing the script in 1928, he decided to continue working with silent productions. Filming started in December 1928 and ended in September 1930. City Lights marked the first time Chaplin composed the film score to one of his productions and it 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” (“Who’ll Buy my Violets”) from Spanish composer José Padilla. Chaplin lost a lawsuit to Padilla for not crediting him.
City Lights was immediately successful upon release on January 30, 1931 with positive reviews and box office receipts of $5 million. Today, many critics consider it not only the highest accomplishment of Chaplin’s career, but one of the greatest films of all time. In 1991, 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, the American Film Institute ranked it 11th on its list of the best American films ever made. In 1949, the critic James Agee called the film’s final scene “the greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid”.
Citizens and dignitaries are assembled for the unveiling of a new monument to “Peace and Prosperity”. After droning speeches, the veil is lifted to reveal the Little Tramp asleep in the lap of one of the sculpted figures. After several minutes of slapstick, he manages to escape the assembly’s wrath to perambulate the city. He rebukes two newsboys who taunt him for his shabbiness, and while coyly admiring a nude statue has a near-fatal encounter with a sidewalk elevator.
The Tramp encounters the beautiful flower girl on a street corner and in the course of buying a flower realizes she is blind; he is instantly smitten. Through an aural coincidence, the girl mistakes her customer for the wealthy owner of a chauffeured automobile.
That evening the Tramp saves a drunken millionaire from suicide. The millionaire takes his new best friend back to his mansion for champagne, then (after another abortive suicide attempt) out for a night on the town. After helping the millionaire home the next morning, he sees the flower girl en route to her street-corner. He gets some money from the millionaire and catches up to the girl; he buys all her flowers and drives her home in the millionaire’s car.
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