Charles Chaplin

City Lights

City Lights

City Lights, the most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin, is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (a magical Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1931
  • 86 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.19:1
  • English
  • Spine #680

Special Features

  • New digital restoration from a 4K film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
  • Chaplin Today: “City Lights,” a 2003 documentary on the film, featuring Aardman Animations cofounder Peter Lord
  • Chaplin Studios: Creative Freedom by Design, a new interview program featuring visual effects expert Craig Barron
  • Archival footage from the production of City Lights, including film from the set, with audio commentary by Chaplin historian Hooman Mehran; a costume test; a rehearsal; and a complete scene not used in the film
  • Excerpt from Chaplin’s short film The Champion (1915), along with footage of the director with boxing stars at Chaplin Studios in 1918
  • Trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins and a 1966 interview with Chaplin

    New cover illustration by Seth

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New digital restoration from a 4K film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
  • Chaplin Today: “City Lights,” a 2003 documentary on the film, featuring Aardman Animations cofounder Peter Lord
  • Chaplin Studios: Creative Freedom by Design, a new interview program featuring visual effects expert Craig Barron
  • Archival footage from the production of City Lights, including film from the set, with audio commentary by Chaplin historian Hooman Mehran; a costume test; a rehearsal; and a complete scene not used in the film
  • Excerpt from Chaplin’s short film The Champion (1915), along with footage of the director with boxing stars at Chaplin Studios in 1918
  • Trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins and a 1966 interview with Chaplin

    New cover illustration by Seth
City Lights
Cast
Virginia Cherrill
A blind girl
Florence Lee
Her grandmother
Harry Myers
An eccentric millionaire
Allan Garcia
His butler
Hank Mann
A prizefighter
Charles Chaplin
A tramp
Victor Alexander
Superstitious boxer
Tony Stabenau
The tramp’s opponent
Eddie McAuliffe
Eddie Mason
Eddie Baker
Fight referee
Emmett Wagner
The tramp’s second
Tom Dempsey
Other boxers
Willie Keeler
Joe Herrick
A. B. Lane
Cy Slocum
Ad Herman
Jack Alexander
Albert Austin
Street sweeper/Burglar
Henry Bergman
Mayor/Blind girl’s neighbor
Robert Parrish
Newsboys
Austen Jewell
Joe Van Meter
Burglar
Stanley "Tiny" Sandford
Man on street elevator
Jean Harlow
Extra in cabaret
Florence Wicks
Woman who sits on cigar
T. S. Alexander
Man who throws away his cigar
Harry Ayers
Cop
Mrs. Hyams
Flower shop assistant
Credits
Director
Charles Chaplin
Produced and written by
Charles Chaplin
Assistant directors
Harry Crocker
Assistant directors
Henry Bergman
Assistant directors
Albert Austin
Cinematography
Roland Totheroh
Second camera operators
Gordon Pollock
Second camera operators
Mark Marlatt
Second camera operators
Eddie Gheller
Production design
Charles D. Hall
Music composed by
Charles Chaplin
“La violetera” composed by
José Padilla
Musical arrangement
Arthur Johnston
Musical direction
Alfred Newman
Editors
Charles Chaplin
Editors
Willard Nico
Sound
Theodore Reed
Casting
Allan Garcia
Script supervisor
Della Steele
Production manager
Alfred Reeves
Press agent
Carlyle Robinson

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