City Lights

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1:14

City Lights

G,

1931,

1h 27m,

Romance/

Comedy/

Drama/

Crime/

History/

Musical

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95%

60 Reviews

Tomatometer

96%

25,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

60 Reviews

96%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl's life forever.

Critics Consensus

One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart.

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Chris Stuckmann

ChrisStuckmann.com

Jun 27, 2018

A+

Chaplin and his cast have crafted a silent film that is drastically funny, extremely well-shot and still holds up today...this is a labor of love, for sure, but the end result is a classic that has held the test of time.

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Irene Thirer

New York Daily News

Jan 29, 2016

4/4

"City Lights" is excruciatingly funny and terribly, terribly sad. It makes you chuckle hysterically. You have the greatest time imaginable, and yet, occasionally you find little hurty lumps in your throat.

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Scott Tobias

The Dissolve

Nov 19, 2013

5/5

There's dignity and folly to The Tramp in City Lights, and everything in between.

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Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

Aug 21, 2026

City Lights delivers all the Charlie Chaplin hallmarks: the duck walk, bowler hat, toothbrush ’stache and pratfalls as gymnastic high art.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Mar 14, 2026

4/4

The film is one superb vignette after another.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Feb 21, 2023

... it borders on maudlin at times, but the rest mixes heartbreak and hardship with slapstick and spirited gags, all with the grace we’ve come to expect of cinema’s silent comic poet.

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Apr 26, 2019

visual comedy at it's best

Han W

Jan 22, 2019

City Lights finds Charles Chaplin in his most intimate and affecting, telling a simple story with a lot of heart.

Hermione S

Nov 28, 2018

Why did I rate such a famous movie so low? Because it may have been entertaining in the 30's it is no longer so. The only reason to watch this is to acquaint yourself with Charlie Chaplin

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Finn S

Nov 20, 2018

Pathos filled comedy with hilarious set pieces, moving drama and the genius of Chaplin.

Anakin P

Sep 14, 2018

Charlie Chaplin falls for a blind flower girl and lives the high life with a lush, amnesiac fatcat, sampling and exploiting various urban lifestyles along the way. Playful and carefree, like all the classic auteur's best pantomimes, this is more of a loosely-related collection of skits than an all-enveloping story. The sidetracks are all great, of course - The Tramp and a late replacement swinging for the fences in the boxing ring, all manner of drunken hijinx in a ritzy club on New Year's Eve, slapstick encounters with a newly-unveiled statue before an outraged audience - but it doesn't get quite as deep under the skin as Chaplin's masterpieces. That he doesn't share a wealth of chemistry with his leading lady, Virginia Cherrill (who endured a contentious relationship with the star during production), isn't so much to blame as their too-swift courtship and her disappearance during the second act. We never really get a chance to grow into loving them as a couple, though their sweet parting shot serves as proof that such spoils were within reach. Stuffed with ideas and ingenuity, City Lights still makes for an endearing, if scatter-brained, early romantic comedy.

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Draco W

Sep 8, 2018

A classic movie and even after 87 years I still laugh at this movie. Great humor in this silent film!

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Charlie Chaplin

Director

Charlie Chaplin

A Tramp

Virginia Cherrill

A blind girl

Harry Myers

An eccentic millionaire

Hank Mann

A prizefighter

Al Ernest Garcia

The eccentric millionaire's butler

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City Lights: Trailer 1

1:14

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Synopsis

A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl's life forever.

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Producer: Charlie Chaplin
Screenwriter: Charlie Chaplin
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Charles Chaplin Productions
Rating: G
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Crime, History, Musical
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 30, 1931, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 14, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $18.2K
Runtime: 1h 27m
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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