City Lights

"True Blind Love"

1931 1h 27m EN

🙌

8.2

BANGER

🔥

95%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.5

IMDB

★8.2TMDB · 2,561🍅95%Rotten Tomatoes●99Metacritic★8.5IMDB · 215,345

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

“True Blind Love”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon Prime VideoSubscription

HBO Max Amazon ChannelSubscription

HBO MaxSubscription

Amazon Prime Video with AdsSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Charlie Chaplin
A Tramp
Virginia Cherrill
A Blind Girl
Florence Lee
Her Grandmother
Harry Myers
An Eccentric Millionaire
Al Ernest Garcia
His Butler
Hank Mann
A Prizefighter
Albert Austin
Street Sweeper / Burglar (uncredited)
Eddie Baker
Boxing Fight Referee (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Writers: Charlie Chaplin, Harry Crocker, Harry Carr
Languages: No Language
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

95 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Charlie Chaplin, shot by Gordon Pollock. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Charlie Chaplin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Charlie Chaplin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Charlie Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill and Florence Lee carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "True Blind Love".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Charlie Chaplin directs. Gordon Pollock behind the camera. Charlie Chaplin scores. Charlie Chaplin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
395 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Charlie Chaplin, shot by Gordon Pollock. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Charlie Chaplin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Charlie Chaplin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Charlie Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill and Florence Lee carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "True Blind Love".
9IMDB entry: tt0021749 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 18 themes, including "blindness and impaired vision", "eye operation", "operation", "love of one's life".
11Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Gordon Pollock
Original score: Charlie Chaplin
Editing: Charlie Chaplin
Production design: Henry Clive
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,500,000
Box office: $4,250,000
Return: 283% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: City Lights (1931)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 99/100
IMDB rating: 8.5/10 · 215,345 votes
MPAA: G

Awards

6 wins total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Charlie Chaplin

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-07-14
★ 7/10
Virginia Cherrill charmingly plays a young, blind, flower seller whom the tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls for, hook line and sinker. Later that night, he is crossing a bridge when he encounters a suicidal, dipso, millionaire (Harry Myers) whom he convinces to hang about for a while longer, and who by way of appreciation invites him to a party at his mansion, then to a series of evening entertainments. Thing is, when he wakes up with the mother of all hangovers next morning, though, he has never a clue who the tramp is and so gets his butler to send him packing. Meantime, still determined to help his new love, our kindly vagrant reads in a newspaper that there might be might be a cure for her blindness - but it will be expensive. His boozy buddy offers him $1,000 to help but when, as usual in the morning, he sobers up and denies all knowledge of the "gift". The police are called and things now take a series of unhappy turns that force the tramp to think of other ways of raising the cash. This challenge is especially spurned on when he discovers that she has left her usual selling spot and is now quite poorly and being taken care of by her grandmother (Florence Lee) - and they are facing eviction. It's probably his attempts at boxing that provide for most of the entertainment here, but there are plenty of other humorous exploits - especially between him and Myers and the scenes with Cherrill are touching and joyous, too. Chaplin keeps the pace moving along well with plenty of variety in a film that's a gem to watch.

Production companies