Review of City Lights (1931) by Tim S — 24 Nov 2013
City Lights is the fourth Charlie Chaplin film under the United Artists banner, was released in 1931 and grossed nearly three times its original budget. It was a big commercial success, much to everyone's surprise.
Films at this time had just begin to use sync sound and silent films were already beginning to seem ancient by comparison, but because of the Little Tramp's popularity with filmgoers, the film was a major success.
As for the film itself, it's a marvelously simple story of a poor man (the Little Tramp) falling in love with a blind woman who sells flowers on the street corner. Along his way he meets a wealthy but inebriated man who both befriends him and helps him, only to reject him when he sobers up the next day.
The story builds to one of the finest endings to a movie ever put to film. It's sweet, appropriate and tugs at your heart strings. Purportedly an all-time favorite film of the likes of Orson Welles, Andrei Tarkovsky, Frederico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick and George Bernard Shaw, City Lights is also considered both one of the best silent films ever made and one of the best films ever made in general.
It was also Charles Chaplin's personal favorite of the films that he made, and it's not hard to understand why.
This review of City Lights (1931) was written by Tim S on 24 Nov 2013.
City Lights has generally received very positive reviews.
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