City Lights (1931)
City Lights (1931)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently City Lights is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Tubi TV, Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Amazon Video, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Vudu
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Charlie Chaplin
Tramp / Director / Screenplay / Editor / Original Music Composer / Producer
Virginia Cherrill
A Blind Girl
Harry Myers
An Eccentric Millionaire
Al Ernest Garcia
The Millionaire's Butler James / Casting
Hank Mann
A Prizefighter
Albert Austin
Street Sweeper / Burglar (uncredited) / Assistant Director
Eddie Baker
Boxing Fight Referee (uncredited)
Henry Bergman
Mayor / Blind Girl's Downstairs Neighbor (uncredited) / Assistant Director
Johnny Aber
Newsboy
Buster Brodie
Bald Party Guest (uncredited)
Jeanne Carpenter
Extra in Restaurant Scene (uncredited)
Tom Dempsey
Boxer (uncredited)
James Donnelly
Steet Sweepers' Foreman (uncredited)
Ray Erlenborn
Newsboy (uncredited)
Robert Graves
Police Officer (uncredited)
Charles Hammond
Extra in Street Scene (uncredited)
Joseph Herrick
Extra in Boxing Scene (uncredited)
Austen Jewell
Newsboy (uncredited)
Willie Keeler
Boxer (uncredited)
Robert Parrish
Newsboy (uncredited)
John Rand
Tramp Who Dives for Cigar (uncredited)
W.C. Robinson
Man Who Throws Away Cigar (uncredited)
Cy Slocum
Extra in Boxing Scene (uncredited)
Tony Stabenau
Victorious Boxer - Later Knocked Out (uncredited)
Mark Strong
Man in Restaurant (uncredited)
Tiny Ward
Man in Elevator in Front of the Art Shop (uncredited)
Stanhope Wheatcroft
Distinguished Gentleman in Cafe (uncredited)
Florence Wix
Woman Who Sits on Cigar (uncredited)
Granville Redmond
Sculptor (uncredited)
Florence Lee
The Blind Girl's Grandmother
Gordon Pollock
Director of Photography
Theodore Reed
Sound Designer
Media.
Details.
Release DateFebruary 1, 1931
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 27m
Content RatingG
Budget$1,500,000
Box Office$4,250,000
Genres
Wiki.
City Lights is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy-drama 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).
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 worldwide rentals of more than $4 million. Today, many critics consider it not only the highest accomplishment of Chaplin's career, but one of the greatest films of all time. Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance believes "City Lights is not only Charles Chaplin's masterpiece; it is an act of defiance" as it premiered four years into the era of sound films which began with the premiere of The Jazz Singer (1927). 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".