City Lights (1931)

A purely beautiful outing from the Tramp, this delightful urban romance features one of cinema’s most heartbreaking smiles.

By 1931 talkies were the industry norm, but Chaplin was autonomous enough to be able to make City Lights silent, preferring the purity of mute pantomime for the antics of his iconic Tramp character. Despite this anachronism, the result was a huge success with audiences, who responded to the film’s exquisitely poised balancing act between humour and pathos.

Earnestly sentimental in its story of the downtrodden Tramp being mistaken for a wealthy benefactor by a blind and impoverished flower girl (Virginia Cherrill), the film nonetheless yields some of Chaplin’s most ingenious comic set-pieces, including a classic sequence in which the Tramp becomes an unwilling contestant in the boxing ring. The closing shot, after it dawns on the girl who her sponsor really was, counts among the cinema’s most moving.

“The balance between humour and drama that’s so effective in [Charlie] Chaplin’s work has its roots not just in his undoubted talent but in the real sympathy he felt for characters on the fringes of society. He saw rich dramaturgical material in the dreams, love, disappointments and pains of such people, but he never lost sight of the humanity and complexity of a stratum of society often defined in fiction more by its financial conditions than by its wellsprings of individuality and sensitivity. City Lights is, in those respects, the best example of his best traits.” Pablo Villaça

“One of the most beautiful films about seeing (and being seen).” Miquel Escudero Diéguez

“Chaplin’s romcom embodies all the magic and power of cinema; it’s both awe-inducing and ‘aww’-inducing. The emotional drive of the narrative and the creativity of its slapstick continue to inspire filmmakers.” Courtney Howard

1931 USA
Directed by
Charles Chaplin
Produced by
Charles Chaplin
Written by
Charles Chaplin
Featuring
Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Running time
87 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for City Lights

Critics

Antti Alanen
Finland
Alberto Anile
Italy
Manuel Asín
Spain
Eddie Averill
USA
Fabien Baumann
France
Mustapha Benfodil
Algeria
Marco de Blois
Canada
Anna Bogutskaya
UK
Serge Bromberg
France
Nae Caranfil
Romania
Thomas C. Christensen
Denmark
Rich Cline
UK
Kevin Coyne
Ireland
Koen van Daele
Slovenia
Ernesto Diezmartínez
Mexico
Philip Dodd
UK
Glenn Erickson
USA
Angie Errigo
USA/UK
Miquel Escudero Diéguez
Spain/Chile/France
Pierre Eugène
France
Elsa Fernández-Santos
Spain
Guillermo Franco
Argentina
Filipe Furtado
Brazil
Marko Grba Singh
Serbia
Peter Hoskin
UK
Courtney Howard
USA
Jordan King
UK
Pauline Kleijer
Netherlands
Eric Kohn
USA
Ivan Kozlenko
Ukraine
Vassilis Kroustallis
Estonia
Albert Lee
Hong Kong
Andrei Liimets
Estonia
Phillip Lopate
USA
Yevgeny Margolit
Russia
Gustavo Martín Garzo
Spain
Constantine Nasr
USA
Michał Oleszczyk
Poland
Óscar Oliva
Spain
Luís Miguel Oliveira
Portugal
Miguel Pendás
USA
Edward Porter
UK
Richard Propes
USA
Carlos Reviriego
Spain
Esteve Riambau Möller
Spain
Joshua Rothkopf
USA
Rox Samer
USA
Paulo Henrique Silva
Brazil
Yann Tobin aka N.T.BINH
France
Fabio Troncarelli
Italy
Carlos Valladares
USA
Pablo Villaça
Brazil
Tien-Hsiang Wen
Taiwan
Catherine Wheatley
UK
Adam Woodward
UK

Directors

Joe Dante
USA
Pete Docter
USA
Homer Etminani
Colombia/Spain
Asghar Farhadi
Iran
Michel Hazanavicius
France
Carlos Marqués-Marcet
Spain
Călin Peter Netzer
Arby Ovanessian
France / Iran
Julian Radlmaier
Germany
Mani Ratnam
India
Ben Reed
UK
Guillermo del Toro
Mexico

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