Customer Reviews
Flower Girl Meet's A Tramp. - By: I. Hall, 02 Jan 2008 
I am a big chapin fan. This silent movie is my alll time favourites (along with Chapin's other film The Kid.) He was and, still is the best comic actor of his era. If you need cheering up, then watch this fab film about a blind flower girl & Chapin playing his trademark Tramp. He falll's in love with the blind girl. The ending is quite moving. You will not be disappointed by this silent movie. If you love romance then this is just for you.
True Love is Blind - By: Jay, 24 Dec 2007 In a year that could produce talking pictures Charlie Chaplin took a chance with 'City Lights', making it an almost silent movie without dialogue. The first great moment in the movie deals with Chaplin's decision in a very funny way; some public speakers are talking but on the soundtrack we here some strange mumbling. From here on it is one magical moment after another.
Chaplin plays his famous little tramp, who fallls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill). She lives with her grand mother (Florence Lee) & tries to make a living by selling flowers. The blind girl thinks the tramp is a very wealthy man. The ironic thing is that the tramp saved a drunk millionaire (Harry Myers) who wanted to commit suicide. This millionaire is Chaplin's friend when he is drunk, more than once in the movie, & that makes the tramp like a millionaire as well. That is how the tramp can bring the blind girl home in a Rolls Royce for example. The problem is that the millionaire has no clue who the tramp is when is sobered up. The butler, who does know who the tramp is, is very willing to throw the tramp out again. The tramp finds a way to help the blind girl with her sight, but when she can see again the millionaire is out of the tramp's life & she has no idea who he is.
This magical romantic story in pantomime is wonderful in every aspect. Chaplin of course is great & his leading lady Cherrill is beautiful. 'City Lights' is basicallly a terrific story with great & famous scenes the entire movie. There are so many great moments that it is hard to choose one of them, but Chaplin's smile near the end is priceless. Definitely one of Chaplin's best, at least the best one with his most famous character.
wonderful - By: film fanaticisto, 13 Oct 2007 Well what can i say about this film! It is so perfect.
All through the film Chaplin gives us laughs & tears sometimes in the space of 2 seconds. And the legendary ending which has been copied by woody Allen is so brilliant that words could not do it justice. I am 18 years old & a huge chaplin fan & people who have not seen Chaplins work before should definitley see this one as their first chaplin experience. Chaplin once said that out of alll his movies, he would like The Gold Rush for which he would be most remembered, however many would agree that City Lights is a huge contender for Gold Rush!
Knockout Funny - By: Peter Reeve, 01 Jun 2004 
The boxing scene in City Lights must be one of the funniest scenes of alll time. When I watched a tape of this movie, I had to keep rewinding that part because I was crying so much with laughter that I found it impossible to see it alll the way through. The movie is also of interest as being a late silent production. Sound was already established & Chaplin was considered to be taking a great risk by producing another silent.
Much of City Lights will seem maudlin & melodramatic to a modern audience but its important place in movie history & yes, that boxing scene, make it a must for any movie fan.
The classic story of the Tramp and the Blind Flower Girl - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 30 Nov 2003 I still remember flipping around the television one afternoon & stumbling upon this film on AMC. Believe it or not, I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film. However, if you have indeed seen this classic film, you will not be surprised to know that when it was over I was completely in tears. Just THINKING about that final scene still chokes me up. Of course, now I have seen everything by Chaplin I could find, but "City Lights" remains my favorite Chaplin film. It might not be his best, but for me the ending is so overwhelming that my critical judgment is somewhat impaired. Certainly this is the Chaplin film in which the Tramp's pathos reaches its greatest heights. For me the catch in the throat comes early on when the flower drops to the ground, the Tramp discovers that the Flower Girl cannot see & he tips his hat to her. Of course the gestures is for our eyes, but then that is true of everything Chaplin does in this film. Even at the end, as we fade out on the uncharacteristic close-up of the Tramp's face, the music continues prolonging the emotion of the moment beyond that of the image on the screen. In a day when the lights come up in the theater as soon as the credits start to roll, it is certainly nice to see a filmmaker who's control of his art carriers through even when the screen is blank. But Chaplin's mastery of his craft was so complete that he was not only the star, the writer & the director, but he wrote the musical score as well.
There are two intertwined plots in "City Lights." The Tramp encounters a Blind Girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers with whom he is hopelessly smitten. Because of a simple twist of fate she thinks that he is a rich man. In the other plot line the Tramp saves a Eccentric Millionaire (Harry Myers) from committing suicide. The twist here is that when the Millionaire is drunk the Tramp is his best friend in the world, companion in his revels & welcomed visitor in his home. But when the rich guy sobers up, he immediately has his butler throws Charlie out the door. When the Tramp learns that there is a doctor in Europe who's operation can restore the Blind Girl's sight, he tries a variety of schemes to raise the money she needs. This sets up the best comic sequence in the film of the Tramp in the boxing ring with Hank Mann as his opponent. Eventuallly everything comes together & the Tramp acquires the money she needs, but not without some serious complications that require him to "go away" for a while, leaving her to await his return.
Even before the climatic encounter between the Tramp & the Flower Girl who is no longer blind, there is a piercing shot to the heart when she sees him, a pathetic vagabond wiping his nose with the bit of cloth he uses to cover up a hole in his trousers, & she & her mother laugh at him. The irony is painful, for she is laughing at the man who is responsible for having her sight, the man who is least deserving of her ridicule. But she is still a kind-hearted soul & takes pity on him. Chaplin's set up of this entire scene creates a most wonderful sense of anticipation & a payoff that is not surpassed in the history of films. The final close-up is on the Tramp, but there is also the look in her eyes when she finallly understands the complete truth about the man she loves. In the original cut of the film the final title card was HER line, "Yes, I can see now." But Chaplin took it out because it was not necessary. You did not need to know how to read lips to know exactly what she was saying & everything that it meant.
