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, Hoopla, Amazon Video, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Fandango At Home, Freevee
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Charlie Chaplin
A Tramp / Director / Screenplay / Editor / Original Music Composer / Producer
Virginia Cherrill
A Blind Girl
Florence Lee
Her Grandmother
Harry Myers
An Eccentric Millionaire
Al Ernest Garcia
His Butler / 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
Buster Brodie
Bald Party Guest (uncredited)
Jeanne Carpenter
Diner in Restaurant (uncredited)
Tom Dempsey
Boxer (uncredited)
James Donnelly
Street Sweepers' Foreman (uncredited)
Ray Erlenborn
Newsboy (uncredited)
Robert Graves
Police Officer (uncredited)
Charles Hammond
Street Passerby (uncredited)
Joseph Herrick
Boxing Match Spectator (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
Boxing Match Spectator (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)
Wyn Ritchie Evans
(uncredited)
Joe Van Meter
Burglar (uncredited)
Johnny Aber
Newsboy (uncredited)
Jack Alexander
Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
T.S. Alexander
Doctor (uncredited)
Victor Alexander
Superstitious Boxer (uncredited)
Harry Ayers
Cop (uncredited)
Edward Biby
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Betty Blair
Woman at Center of Table in Restaurant (uncredited)
Marie Cooper
Dancer (uncredited)
Peter Diego
Man in Mix-Up with Coat and Hat (uncredited)
Ruth Garcia
Woman at Left of Table in Restaurant (uncredited)
Milton Gowman
Street Passerby (uncredited)
Ad Herman
Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
A.B. Lane
Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
Eddie McAuliffe
Eddie Mason - Boxer (uncredited)
Leila McIntyre
Flower Shop Assistant (uncredited)
George Nardelli
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Margaret Oliver
Street Passerby (uncredited)
Mrs. Pope
Diner in Restaurant (uncredited)
James Sheldon
Young Man (uncredited)
Jack Sutherland
Tall Man at Party (uncredited)
Emmett Wagner
Second (uncredited)
Gordon Pollock
Director of Photography
Harry Crocker
Screenplay / Assistant Director / Unit Publicist
Roland Totheroh
Director of Photography
Willard Nico
Editor
Harry Carr
Screenplay
Henry Clive
Production Design
Toraichi Kono
Driver
Charles D. Hall
Set Decoration
Alfred Newman
Music Director / Music Arranger
José Padilla
Additional Music
Alfred Reeves
Production Manager
Frank Testera
Gaffer
Mark Marlatt
Camera Operator
Della Steele
Script Supervisor
Theodore Reed
Sound Supervisor
Edward B. Anderson
Still Photographer
Ralph Barton
Still Photographer
Arthur Johnston
Music Arranger
Carlyle Robinson
Publicist
Media.
Details.
Release DateFebruary 6, 1931
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 27m
Budget$1,500,000
Box Office$4,250,000
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
City Lights is a 1931 American synchronized sound romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. 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 talking pictures (or films with recorded dialogue) were on the rise when Chaplin started developing the script in 1928, he decided to continue working without dialogue only incorporating sound with the use of a synchronized musical score with sound effects. 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 March 7, 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".