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Once again Chaplin plays his famous creation, the beloved Tramp… The noble Little Fellow meets and falls in love with a blind flower girl… She assumes he is wealthy man and offers him a flower, which he attentively accepts with his last penny…

One night by chance he rescues a drunken millionaire from drowning… The rich gentleman becomes a generous friend when drunk but doesn't recognize the tramp when sober… Chaplin takes the blind girl under his wing, and takes flight with the millionaire's money to cure her blindness…

"City Lights" engaged a true genius in a graceful and touching performance which arouses profound feelings and joy with great simplicity of style and tragic tale… Each scene was the result of hard-working detail and planning

I always thought this was one of Charlie Chaplin's nicest, most under-appreciated silent movie gems. Then I discovered it really wasn't underrated; it's rated very high on most critics' lists. It may be that I usually hear about some of his other movies than I do this one.

Part of the reason I think so highly of this is simply that I'm a sentimentalist and story in this film is a very touching one. It's a romance between Charlie's tramp character (no name) and a blind girl, who also had no name in this film. Virginia Cherill, who played the blind woman and had a wholesome, pretty face which I found very attractive.

I'm not always a huge fan of pantomime except for some great comedians of the era like Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, but Chaplin was so good at it and this is one of the last of dying breed as "talkies" were out in full force by 1931. Chaplin was at his best in silent movies, anyway, and his comedy routines are legendary. He gave me a lot of laughs in this film, as always, and I particularly laughed (I love slapstick) at the boxing scene. Kudos, too, to Harry Myers as the "eccentric millionaire."

There's a lot of drama as well as humor in this 86-minute gem as the Tramp tries to aid a blind girl, raising money so she can get an operation to restore her sight.

Comedy, romance, drama (with suffering) all combine to make this an extraordinary piece of entertainment. It's hard to believe this movie was not up for one, single Academy Award.

City Lights is simply put one of the best movies out there. Every scene is classic and had a huge impact on the history of film-making. Chaplin's last 'silent' film tells the story of a poor little man the tramp played by Chaplin who falls in love with a blind flower girl. He becomes friends with a wealthy man who constantly tries to commit suicide. The man only recognizes the tramp character when he is drunk. To impress the flower girl the tramp uses the man's wealth to make her fall in love with him. The only problem is that when the man is sober he doesn't recognize the tramp anymore. On top of this the flower girl has to pay 22 dollars of rent or she will be thrown out of her apartment. Now the tramp desperately seeks for jobs in the city to help his love. Out of this simple plot great comedy and heart breaking moments come forth.

The outcome of the movie is to almost all people known. It is regarded as one of the best endings ever taped on film. The movie itself still is masterpiece more than 70 years after it's release. I personally rate this as Chaplin's second best I have seen so far. My favorite remains The Gold Rush. Still this movie gets 5/5 stars from me.

If there is one Charlie Chaplin film to recommend, as others have pointed to in the past, City Lights is the one. Though Chaplin played his Tramp character superbly in other movies, like Modern Times and The Gold Rush, City Lights displays the Tramp at his funniest, his bravest, his most romantic, and his most sympathetic. It's tough for filmmakers in recent days to bring the audience so close emotionally with the characters, but it's pulled off.

The film centers on three characters- the Tramp, the quintessential, funny homeless man who blends into the crowd, but gets caught in predicaments. He helps a drunken businessman (Myers, a fine performance in his own right) from suicide, and becomes his on and off again friend (that is, when it suits him and doesn't notice his 'friend's' state). The other person in the Tramp's life is the Blind Flower Girl (Virginia Cherrill, one of the most absorbing, beautiful, and key female performances in silent film), who are quite fond of each other despite the lack of total perception. The emotional centerpiece comes in obtaining rent and eye surgery money, which leads to a (how else can I put it) magical boxing match where it's basically a 180 from the brutality and viscerality of a match in say Raging Bull.

Though there is no dialog, the film achieves a timelessness- it's essentially a tale of two loners who find each other, lose each other, and find each other again (the last scene, widely discussed by critics for decades, is moving if not tear-inducing). And it's never, ever boring- once you get along with the Tramp, you find the little things about him, the reaction shots, the little things he does after the usual big gag (look to the ballroom scene for examples of this, or when he gets a bottle of wine poured down his pants without the other guy noticing). Truth be told, if this film makes you indifferent, never watch Chaplin again. But if you give yourself to the film, you may find it's one of the most charming from the era, or perhaps any era.

This is my favorite Chaplin film, but I don't want that to diminish his other work, either. MODERN TIMES was an outstanding work of social satire, THE GOLD RUSH was great slapstick, and even the largely-neglected MONSIEUR VERDOUX strikes a certain unforgettable tone. Chaplin didn't make a bad movie, and I'm not even sure that CL is his best, exactly. But it IS my favorite, if only for the ending.

That ending has been the subject of much comment here. I think it's a masterpiece in a single scene. Chaplin's little tramp has never seemed less like a character and more like a living, breathing human being. It's a monument to understated sentimentality.

To me, the rest of the film exists largely to set the context for that one magnificent piece of celluloid. Yes, the boxing scene is great, and the scene where he rescues the millionaire is also wonderful, but it's that ending that makes us all love this movie.

Chaplin takes himself a little more seriously in City Lights, and the results are spectacular. The musical score which Chaplin composed for the film was one of the many highlights, and even though Charlie's performance is much more dramatic than usual in some scenes, the hilarious comedy for which he is known and loved is still abundant.

City Lights is so well made that it is one of the very few movies in which the obvious flaws can be gladly overlooked. Yes, you can clearly see the string holding Chaplin up in the sidesplittingly funny boxing scene, but who cares? That is such classic slapstick that little things like that really don't matter. Besides, let's keep in mind that this movie was made seventy years ago.

Chaplin does a phenomenal job in his traditional role of the tramp, and develops a perfectly convincing romantic relationship with the blind flower girl on the sidewalk. His friendship with the drunken rich guy is hilarious, but it also makes a significant comment about the problems of alcohol. This is truly a great film, which should not be forgotten.

CITY LIGHTS (United Artists, 1931), written, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin (1889- l977), is a silent comedy-drama released at the height of the sound era. Distributing a movie in the silent film tradition at the time when silents were considered a fad, Chaplin gambled with this production, and made it pay off. Although Chaplin hails THE GOLD RUSH (1925) as the one movie he would most want to be remembered, CITY LIGHTS nearly dims out his GOLD RUSH and at the same time, practically places his other silent masterpiece, THE CIRCUS (1928) to oblivion. CITY LIGHTS has stood the test of time, balancing perfectly a mixture of comedy and drama, but in Chaplin's case, pathos.

Subtitled, "A comedy romance in pantomime," the story opens in the early morning where the mayor is dedicating a statue to the citizens of the city. After the unveiling, the crowd finds a little tramp (Charlie Chaplin) sleeping on the lap of one of the figures. As he tries to climb down, he encounters one problem after another. This opening scene alone is priceless. With such a great beginning, Chaplin adds in more comedic insertions blended into the plot. The theme to CITY LIGHTS is remembered mainly about a tramp's love for a blind girl. However, there is a subplot, involving the tramp's involvement with a millionaire drunk, which, by far, takes up more time than the sentimental love story. These two segments actually set the pattern. First segment, set in the afternoon, finds Charlie walking down the street, examining a nude statue in a shop, being annoyed by some newsboys making fun of his tattered clothing. He encounters a beautiful blonde girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers. After she drops one of her flowers, Charlie notices her feeling about the sidewalk for it, thus, realizing she's blind. Smitten by her beauty, he picks it up and pays her for it. Minutes later, the slamming of a limousine door is heard, with the girl believing the kind gentleman, Charlie, to be a millionaire. Second segment, set at night, finds Charlie encountering a drunk (Harry Myers) trying to commit suicide by drowning himself. Just as Charlie is about to save him, he in turn falls into the river. The drunk, in gratitude for saving his life, takes Charlie under his wing to accompany him to various night clubs until dawn. By morning, the millionaire, now sober, fails to recognize or remember Charlie and orders orders his butler to escort this stranger out of his mansion. This running gag that's repeated in the story might play itself as repetitious, but Chaplin manages to breathe new life and funnier routines through his encounters with the drunk and their all night binges. By day, Charlie looks after the blind girl and worries when she's not at her usual corner selling flowers. Finding that she's ill and being cared by her grandmother (Florence Lee), whose behind with her rent and threatened with eviction, Charlie offers to help by obtaining and losing various jobs, ranging from street-cleaning to fighting in a boxing match. Reading in a newspaper of a European doctor who restores sight for the blind, Charlie gives the girl $1,000 for an operation, the money offered to him by the drunken millionaire, who, after sober, accuses Charlie of robbing him, has his arrested and serving jail time. The climatic finish is truly the best thing Chaplin has ever done and certainly one not to be missed.

Featured in the supporting cast are Henry Bergman, Allan Garcia, Albert Austin, and Hank Mann. While much has been discussed about Chaplin's performance, his co-star, Virginia Cherrill, as the blind girl (no name given), should not go without mention. Even though her future film career consisted of forgettable programmers, and at one time being one of the future wives of film actor, Cary Grant, her performance is excellent by all means. Although it's been said that future film star Jean Harlow (1911-1937) appears as an unbilled extra in the night club sequence, she is visible in a surviving still photograph, but no such scene appears in the finished product.

Unlike THE GOLD RUSH, CITY LIGHTS had limited showings in revival houses in later years, and was never allowed to be distributed to television. Being first introduced to CITY LIGHTS at New York City's revival movie house, The Regency Theater, formerly located on Broadway and 67th Street, in 1979, the memorable thing about this event are the roars of laughter from its theater packed audience. There was one man, probably a big fan reliving his childhood memories, whose laughter almost drowned out the underscoring of the film. No doubt he was having more fun watching this movie than anyone else. Watching CITY LIGHTS surrounded by an appreciative audience theater is one way to truly appreciate and experience the feel of silent film comedy, and to think back as to how the audience reacted in same back in 1931.

After Chaplin's death in December of 1977, CITY LIGHTS, along with his other silent features, were not only resurrected for a new generation to endure, but became readily available on video cassette at the time of Chaplin's 100th birthday, 1989. In later years, CITY LIGHTS was frequently revived on various cable channels, ranging from Turner Network Television (TNT) in the early 1990s, American Movie Classics up to 2001, and finally Turner Classic Movies. The complete musical soundtrack that accompanies CITY LIGHTS happens to be the original score composed to perfection by Chaplin himself.

Much has been written and said about CITY LIGHTS over the years. To learn more about the making, difficulties and long term preparations to CITY LIGHTS, either watch Kevin Blownlow's 1980 documentary, Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film, as narrated by James Mason, or Brownlow's other documentaries dedicated entirely to Chaplin's career, including outtakes to CITY LIGHTS as well as scenes involving Virginia Cherrill's temporary replacement, Georgia Hale, Chaplin's co-star in THE GOLD RUSH. (****)

If i have to choose which movie have the best ending, it is very easy to choose city lights, it is very very easy. Chaplin was genius, seriously genius.

This is the movie that truly inspire me. After i watch city lights, i just know there is such a movie power that exist in this world that can move and touch me really deep. I never feel such a sharp sensation ever from any hundred movies i watch before. and this movie, pierce me through the heart within silent. only gesture, eye- contact, and camera-works with no dialogue.

sometimes i try to analyze deeply, why this movie have such a magnificent power. i think the reason is the connection between scenes. if we ask ourself what makes a good ending ? maybe the answer is how good you make the scene before the ending. how good you correlate the prologue and epilogue and also between them. how you fill the mid-duration of a movie. if the director took a right decision, a movie will not have any wasted scenes. its only genius film-maker can do and chaplin is one of them.

silent movie such as city light is a hard-kind of movie to made. it needs next level of acting skill from the actors and actresses because there are no dialogue in it. and most of the duration, this movie is flawless in casting. and the ending scene were unbelievable and unpredictable. maximum genuine art-beauty of silent movie.

i recommend everybody to watch this movie at least once. this movie is special. it definitely will pierce you.

A good deal of silent black and white cinema is a chore to endure but the cream of that era still manages to rise to the top and compete, in its own unique and original way, with the cinema that followed over the decades up to and including today. A significant number of those films were written and performed by Charlie Chaplin and, if you watched nothing other than the films he made from that period, including this, your appreciation of his genius and talent would flower and grow, your vision of sincerity and generosity restore and your enchantment of the simpler and more genuine things in life embellish.

To be sure the ending is beautifully pathetic, and tear inducing (at least I cried.) And throughout their are funny and memorable moments, along with shots that are very prettily framed. But to be honest their are also boring moments, and scenes that aren't all that funny. (Which makes me wonder at the lavish praise some have heaped upon the film.) Overall, it's a good movie and in a sense a classic. But it is, in my opinion, a flawed classic.

Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" contains a blend of humor and humanity that make it memorable for everyone who watches it. Although made very much in the old-fashioned silent film tradition, much of it is timeless, too.

After a few minutes of slapstick at the beginning, Charlie's "little tramp" character makes two acquaintances. He meets a blind girl selling flowers, who mistakes him for a rich man, and the two become very fond of each other. Then he meets a real millionaire, who is drunk, depressed, and about to commit suicide. In a comic scene, the tramp persuades the millionaire not to go through with it, making himself a devoted friend.

The tramp soon learns that there is an operation that could give the girl her sight, and tries to think of some way he could help. His scenes with the girl and her grandmother are moving, while his determination to help lead him into some comic escapades - his attempt to win money in a boxing match being particularly funny, and one of Chaplin's best comic pieces. Meanwhile, when his millionaire friend is drunk, he dotes on the tramp, but when sober he forgets who the tramp is, leading to more amusing scenes and occasional trouble for Charlie.

All of the comedy leads up to a finale that is one of the best-remembered scenes in any film. "City Lights" shows the power of the camera in the hands of a master, who without words can move his audience or make them laugh. Anyone who appreciates good cinema should see it at least once.

The victory of the sound picture over the silent was a speedy and decisive one. The first full-length talkies were released in 1928. By 1929 theatres were being forced to convert to sound in order to stay in business. By 1930 silent film production by the major studios was completely discontinued and the medium became generally viewed as an anachronism. But in 1931 a new silent picture was released that, far from being an embarrassing failure, became the fourth-highest grossing picture of the year, being even more popular than such classics as the Bela Lugosi Dracula and The Public Enemy. The picture was City Lights and its producer, writer, director, editor, composer and star was Mr Charlie Chaplin.

Chaplin was of course primarily a comedian, and his humour was of broad appeal, but audiences of the time were not exactly starved of easy comedy. The Marx Brothers were making great strides on the verbal quipping front, and the ever-popular Laurel and Hardy had made a successful transition to sound. What makes Charlie stand out, and what gave him a level of accessibility that allowed him to continue with his slapstick antics well into the sound era, is his equal devotion to story which allowed him a scope for social commentary, empathetic characterisation and deep poignancy. Of all Chaplin's silent pictures, City Lights is probably his least memorable in the funny stakes. The number of classic gags here is fairly small. Not since The Kid a decade earlier has Chaplin given story so much precedence. City Lights is riddled with coincidence and plot contrivance, but it's a tale of such beauty and sincerity that this does not matter. Within this story, the comedy becomes functional, often serving to puncture a schmaltzy moment before it becomes overdone. Ironically it is the occasional forays into slapstick that help keep City Lights real.

As if to snub the talkie, City Lights is a remarkable achievement in complex visual narrative, even only occasionally relying upon title cards and then often only as an embellishment to the more comedy-driven moments. Most plot points and character traits are implied rather than stated, which gives the picture a continual smoothness – another thing that would have gone down well with audiences glad to see the back of the intrusive title card. Out of necessity Chaplin's technical approach is more overt than his usual. He often cuts to a close-up to give us a necessary reaction, and there are even some whip-pans in the scene where he and the flower girl first meet, but all of this is in keeping with the rhythm and tone of the picture. Those whip pans after all reflect an abrupt emotional moment, and are in no way a blatant or showy manoeuvre.

But what really makes City Lights work, what makes it connect, is the man himself on the screen. Those additional close-ups, once a rarity for a man who acted mainly with his body, now show off a capability for intense facial acting. An older, more meditative Chaplin may have been keeping the traditions of silent cinema alive, but his own career trajectory was entering new ground, where emotional expression was increasingly intimate and personal. The result is profoundly moving.

As much as I loved The Kid, The Gold Rush, Modern Times and The Great Dictator, City Lights is the film I consider Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece. And there are several reasons why this is so for me.

I love how City Lights is filmed, once again the cinematography is stunning as are the costumes and sets. The music is also a delight(though my favourite soundtrack in a Chaplin movie is the one for Modern Times) with plenty of themes that stuck in my head, while the sound effects are wonderfully incorporated and the subtitles easy to understand. The comedy is brilliantly done, the scene in the boxing ring is not only one of my favourite scenes in a Chaplin movie(along with the final sequence and the dance of the bread rolls of The Gold Rush, the final scene of The Kid and the speech from The Great Dictator) but ever in a comedy, while there is a very touching love story between the Tramp and the little blind girl(played touchingly by Virginia Cherrill) he falls in love with. And I also found the close-up climax achingly poignant because of its beauty and ambiguity. Chaplin is superb, his pantomime skills and physical humour are extremely well judged and he is acts beautifully with Cherrill.

Overall, yet another Chaplin masterpiece, yet for me this is the best of them all. 10/10 Bethany Cox

City Lights is probably one of the most well loved, along with Modern Times, Chaplin movies. The iconic and everlasting character of The Tramp, one of the most lovable, truly human and sympathetic characters perhaps of all time. Sometimes there is some hate towards tramps, like they are labeled lazy and troublesome. It is very hard to hate The Tramp, because he gives so much when he has so little. He spends his time and money giving to people - whether it be saying a millionaires life or buying a flower from a blind girl. Undoubtedly, we all have a little bit of The Tramp in us.

The plot is as follows: the Tramp meets and falls in love with a blind girl who sells flowers on the street. She is poor and by a mere coincidence, believes that The Tramp is rich. He also saves a drunken millionaire from suicide, and despite his gratefulness, doesn't remember the poor tramp unless he is drunk.

City Lights is no doubt a magnificent feat in motion picture history. It's poignant view of the world and society leaves you laughing and crying at the same time. Some believe this should really be called a drama instead of a comedy. I believe it is a strong mixture of both, and a great balance of the two. Both comedic and touching, City Lights should not be missed by anyone.

Chaplin was a unique presence in the history of the early cinema. Coming up through the ranks, he gradually achieved a god-like stature, being awarded total control of every facet of the production.

Not only was he often the sole person who knew what the end product was to be (as in "The Kid") but he was also allowed to elaborately improvise in the creative process. This often meant doing countless scores of retakes over days, weeks and even months; holding up the cast and crew for days while he brooded over just what to do next; and even (in the case of "The Gold Rush") cancelling expensive weeks of location shooting and returning to the studio to start all over again.

He cleverly duped chief studio- and bank chiefs into somehow going along with his free-wheeling and gross inclinations, thus mesmerizing their conservative senses into supporting his hit-and-miss schemes and trial-and-error "madness."

In other words, Chaplin used the entire productional company as merely as his paintbrush, with which he toyed at his pleasure to create his personal canvases. Fortunately, he was a genius, and at the right place in time to be allowed to get away with such unprecedented extravagence.

It was a young and growing industry when Chaplin began emerging, and there were no set rules. People were still trying to figure out just what could be done with the medium -- and Chaplin helped to establish its early parameters.

He was certainly and autocrat, yet that doesn't really matter when it comes to film works. It's the product that counts. In the case of "City Lights," all the blood-sweat-and-tears that it took to achieve the finished product was more than worth the effort.

Now that all the frustration, anger, and outrage associated with the behind-the-scenes unfoldment of this highly troubled production are well in the past, what remains is a genuinely moving film classic.

Sometimes great enterprises require considerable hardship to forge them into being. The greater the achievement, often the greater the challenge and period of endurance. Whatever the case, we are the appreciative recipients of this masterwork, which takes its place besides "Modern Times" and "The Gold Rush" as one of Chaplin's consummate expressions.

Waddling along with his cane and derby hat, and that tiny mustache, the little tramp (Charles Chaplin) is visually unlike any character in film history. The tramp is kind-hearted, always dignified. He's a simple soul who in "City Lights" tries to help out a young blind woman (well played by Virginia Cherrill). This is a silent film, of course, but the tramp's body language is his speech.

The really noticeable feature of the tramp character is how he blends into everyday life. He's more or less ignored by many, laughed at by others. The girl's grandmother never "sees" him at all. And only when the millionaire is drunk does he "see" the tramp as a friend. Curious ... and deep.

The tramp gets into his fair share of trouble, but only through his bumbling efforts to help the girl. The boxing match is a hoot, and very well choreographed, as are all the skits. And what a beginning for a film, with city leaders spouting gibberish, probably as Chaplin's dig at the "talkies". Then the way Chaplin makes his grand entrance ... just terrific!

Melancholy at times, the film's music really tugs at your heartstrings. Maybe it's sentimental and manipulative. But given the abiding and Zen-like qualities of the tramp, some sentimentality is quite appropriate. And the music is choreographed totally in sync with the plot action.

Production design is sparse and at times drab. That the film was made during the Great Depression is beyond obvious.

Comedy here is simple and effective. The main character expresses heart and humanity. The little tramp is an unforgettable character. And "City Lights" is a wonderful film.

Shot in a time when silent films were already vanishing from the big screens "City Lights" is a masterfully executed comedy by the one and only Charlie Chaplin. Even without dialog Chaplin manages to tell a story between two loners looking to companionship in a world that has almost forgot about them. Funny, emotional and timeless!

Charlie Chaplin may be praised for his work nowadays, and rightly so, he was a pioneer in the silent film era. However, do his films stand out in today's standards: no. I'm not saying I disliked the film, I very well respect it, but it just didn't captivate me as much as I would of hoped for. City Lights may be the older version of Mr. Bean; a slapstick comedy with very little use of intellect.

City Lights unfortunately didn't sit well with me, nor did it really entice me to chase more of Charlie Chaplin films. It wasn't bad, nor was it boring, I just didn't find much joy in what is considered one of the 'best brads of comedy'. Whilst I don't speak for everyone, this film just won't be for everyone.

I watched this movie as part of a class project. I could have chosen any movie on the IMDb top 250. I chose this particular movie because I had never seen it. I was not expecting to like it or be able to get into it because it is a silent movie. I was completely wrong.

This movie is basically a love story between a tramp and a blind flower girl. There is also the millionaire that the tramp saves and becomes friends with, sometimes.

I believe that this movie would not have been as good with dialog as it is without. This is because Charlie Chaplin's acting and musical score were perfect. The music fits the action on screen perfectly and keeps you drawn in. Chaplin's character, a tramp, conveys his message through pantomime. The blind girl played by Virginia Cherrill was also done perfectly. The ending between these two characters is one of the best that I have ever seen.

Harry Myers plays an eccentric millionaire, This part is also played very well. This character is a kind of Jeckyll and Hyde. When he has been drinking, he is the tramp's best buddy, when he is sober he wants nothing to do with him.

The boxing scene is extremely funny. I won't give away any spoilers but the interaction between the two boxers and the referee is hilarious.

Overall this is a masterpiece. The romance, humor, and drama were all very convincing and like I said before, this was all done with no words. This movie was so good that I will watch Charlie Chaplin's other work.