City Lights (1931)

Tomorrow the birds will sing.

— The Tramp

From my experience of watching Nosferatu, I watched Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights in the daytime to not fall asleep. That wouldn’t matter, because this movie had me hooked on the story.

This movie was mentioned on the Cinebanter podcast a while ago. Being eager to expand my movie watching into different genres, I wanted to see this movie. It is currently #62 of Top 250 of All Time on IMDb.

The story told in pantomime is about The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) meeting a girl (Virginia Cherrill) selling flowers on the street. It turns out that she is blind. He tries to help her and her grandmother (Florence Lee) during a lean time.

The Tramp befriends an eccentric millionaire (Harry Myers) that tries to kill himself when his wife leaves him. Whenever he is drunk, he is friendly to The Tramp. When he sobers up, he doesn’t know The Tramp.

The Tramp tries to get some money to help the blind girl.

Judgment: This is a beautiful film that will make you tear up. A must see!

Rating: ****1/2