City Lights: Amazon.ca: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Al Ernest Garcia, Hank Mann, Jack Alexander, T.S. Alexander, Victor Alexander, Albert Austin, Harry Ayers, Eddie Baker, Gordon Pollock, Roland Totheroh, Harry Clive, Harry Crocker: DVD

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Amazon.com Essential Video

City Lights is a film to pick for the time capsule, a film that best represents the many aspects of director-writer-star Charlie Chaplin at the peak of his powers: Chaplin the actor, the sentimentalist, the knockabout clown, the ballet dancer, the athlete, the lover, the tragedian, the fool. It's all contained in Chaplin's simple story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill). Chaplin elevates the Victorian contrivances of the plot to something glorious with his inventive use of pantomime and his sure grasp of how the Tramp relates to the audience. In 1931, it was a gamble for Chaplin to stick with silence after talking pictures had killed off the art form that had made him famous, but audiences flocked to City Lights anyway. (Chaplin would not make his first full talking picture until 1940's The Great Dictator.) After all the superb comic sequences, the film culminates with one of the most moving scenes in the history of cinema, a luminous and heartbreaking fade-out that lifts the picture onto another plane. (Woody Allen paid homage to the scene at the end of Manhattan.) This is why the term "Chaplinesque" became a part of the language. --Robert Horton

Video Details

With "City Lights," Charlie Chaplin gambled that the power of good storytelling and the appeal of The Little Tramp could overcome any perceived advantages of the captivating but still primitive technology of sound. His gamble paid off as critics and fans alike raved about this touching and simple story of a young blind woman who believes the Little Tramp is a wealthy duke. In a series of comic adventures that only Chaplin could pull off, The Tramp sets out to earn the money that will pay for an operation to restore the young woman's sight. While he succeeds, his efforts land him in jail, but the girl still has a successful operation and yearns to meet her benefactor. The closing scene in which she discovers that he is not a wealthy duke but only The Little Tramp was described by critic James Agee as "the highest moment in movies" and brought the audience to tears.

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Customer Reviews

54 Reviews

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (54 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The masterpeice., Sep 29 2008

By

Rick M. Pilotte "Author of Earth, Man, & Devo... (Victoria BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: City Lights (DVD)

Right up to the 70's this was considered the best movie of all time. I'd heard of this movie but was never able to see it for ages.
One day it came on the French channel and as I love silent movies I recorded it in French (subtitles). ( it's one way to learn the language.) Even though it was in French, it still shone, and to this day it is still the only version I've seen. This is by far the best Chaplin, though some of his earlier works, had they been feature length films, might have come close. ( For example The "Pilgrim" is pretty good. Later works such as "Modern Times" and The Great Dictator are also top notch movies,. bur He never again matches this one, and his films after The Great Dictator(1940), are probably not even worth watching)
The scene when the sound of the siren and the tramp realizes he's in for trouble is a classic image. This is just a wonderful pic that just has to be seen. If you have a friend who's doesn't know how good a silent movie can be this is the one they have to see.
The scene at the end , no matter how many times I watch this masterpeice, never stops a tear from coming. This is a 7 star movie...none of this five star business. One chap, Jackie Coogan (The Kid: 1921) remembers this movies affect on the viewers when it was new. He said after the movie ended there was "not a dry eye in the house".
To give the uninitiated an understanding of just how fabulous this movie really is, understand it was released in 1931, a full two years after the silent era had supposedly ended, yet it was a number one box office smash for, if I'm not mistaken, 6 months!...and I think it played in theatres for two years!
If you've been subjected to some of Chaplin's earliest films where editing didn't exist as far as I'm concerned, you've been shown a bum steer. This one is the epitome of class.
One of the difficult things Chaplin tried to do was to somehow figure out how to accidently convince a blind flower girl he was rich. It took me a couple viewings to get it, and indeed it took Chaplin ages to figure it out himself, so this could be considered the one weak area. Clearly the coincedence of appearing rich and then finding a rich friend to facilitate and complete the illusioin for the blind girl is a bit contrived, but it was fun getting there just the same, and he had to get there somehow.
But these are the minutest flaws in a true cinema masterpeice, and it's well worth the price, and plays well time after time.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Chaplin, and maybe best film ever Made., Jun 6 2004

By

_M_ (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: City Lights (DVD)

"City Light's" is by far Chaplin's greatest film. Some may say "The Gold Rush", but myself, and I know a lot of others, will say this one. I think its maybe THE greatest movie ever made, just maybe. Chaplin was by far the greatest film maker of all time, and this is his most finest work. You have to see the movie for the end scene alone.

Chaplin plays the part of his world famous Tramp character. He meets this flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) who happens to be blind. She mistakes him for a rich "gentleman". The little Tramp immediately falls in love with her, and he throughout the film, tries to help her see again, by getting money to pay for this operation. The little Tramp saves this rich guy from committing suicide, and the man becomes his friend.....when hes drunk. When the man is sober, he does not want to see the tramp. When hes not, he is kind, giving him money, letting him borrow the car, etc. The Tramp goes through a number of jobs, to get the money for the blind girl, including amongst a few, a prizefighting boxer. He gets into a lot of different bits of trouble, but he gets th money to pay for the operation. He ends up late rin prison. When he is free, he sees the girl, and she can now see, and his true identity is revealed. The end part, is the greatest scene in movie history. There is nothing possibly better than it, except it would be teamed with the "Cheek to Cheek" scene in the Fred and Ginger movie "Top Hat", of course. Those are the two most wonderful scenes ever filmed.

The film was released in 1931. the "talkies" had been around a few years now, but Chaplin managed to stay silent. He composed the muisic for this film, and added a few sound effects. The film is though, really a silent, or as it says at the beginning of the movie: "A Comedy Romance in Pantomime". This is the perfect movie, and the cinematography is the best. But yes, this film even beats Chaplin's other masterpieces in my opinion, such as "The Kid" and "The Gold Rush", and the much underrated among Chaplin fans, although one of my personal favourites, "A Woman of Paris". "City Light's" is an essential movie to see. Although I enjoy Chaplin's talking pictures, they do not come close to his silents. As for people who prefer Keaton, well, he was brilliant too, but Chaplin was so much more.

This DVD Edition, is presented on 2-Discs. This DVD, along with the others in the Chaplin Collection box set, is by far one of the best ever produced. This comes with an endless amount of extras, including featurettes, a brief 10 minute look at a scene from "The Champion". The fight scene, that is. The DVD has a screen test with Georgia Hale, its full of great little things. Extras are what make a DVD great. Other than that, the restored print looks absolutely amazing. This is a must, must have for a DVD collection.

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4.0 out of 5 stars City Lights (1931), Aug 7 2004

By

Jonathon Allsopp (Victoria, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: City Lights (DVD)

Chaplin was a genius. He did it all, writing, directing, producing, acting and even the musical score. This is a wonderful film full of many hilarious moments as well as a touching romance. The scenes with the drunken millionaire are laugh-out-loud funny, particularly the one with the switching chairs in the restaurant. Another hilarious moment is when the little tramp accidentally switches his co-worker's cheese with a bar of soap. Very funny!

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Knockout Funny
The boxing scene in City Lights must be one of the funniest scenes of all time. When I watched a tape of this movie, I had to keep rewinding that part because I was crying so... Read more

Published on April 19 2004 by Peter Reeve

4.0 out of 5 stars Imperfect Print Tarnishes Tramp's Masterpiece
City Lights is one of the shining achievements in the history of the movies, and it's been among my personal favorites for many years. Read more

Published on April 15 2004 by Jon Oye

5.0 out of 5 stars the most poignant ending in screen history
thousands of word have probabaly been written about this ending, which compares to the thousand plus word written on the ending of mahler's ninth. Read more

Published on April 11 2004 by ageofanxiety

5.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of everything.
As the Amazon review stated, this film has quite a bit of variety, showing Chaplin at all of the things that he does best. Read more

Published on April 6 2004 by Esn024

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotional masterpiece, both comedic and touching.
City Lights is widely recognized as Charles Chaplin's masterwork, and for good reason. It epitomizes Chaplin's blend of pathos and slapstick, grounding his physical comedy in... Read more

Published on April 4 2004 by D. Mok

5.0 out of 5 stars A heart-warming silent comedy classic
The Little Tramp meets a beautiful young woman selling flowers and falls for her. As he buys a flower, he discovers that she's blind and that she thinks he's a millionaire. Read more

Published on Mar 26 2004 by gac1003

4.0 out of 5 stars THE GENIUS OF CHAPLIN IN A GOOD LOOKING TRANSFER
Charlie Chaplin is a genius: there's just no getting around the fact. That the U.S. government - in his later years, branded him a communist, forcing the most incredible film... Read more

Published on Mar 3 2004 by Nix Pix

5.0 out of 5 stars WHATTA ENDING
I LOVE CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND BUSTER KEATON AND HAROLD LLOYD AND THE MARX BROTHERS AND WC. FIELDS AND LAUREL AND HARDY AND THE 3 STOOGES AND,YOU CAN GET MY DRIFT? Read more

Published on Feb 27 2004 by John V. Ellingson

5.0 out of 5 stars City Lights DVD
Quite simply one of the all time great motion pictures. I'm always baffled when people refer to Chaplin as "overly-sentimental" because all of the sentiment is so carefully... Read more

Published on Feb 23 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Chaplin Film I've Seen!
I admit,

So far, I've only seen Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Limelight, The Gold Rush, City Lights, and a few of his short films, but HANDS DOWN City Lights was the... Read more

Published on Jan 8 2004 by M. Garcia