City Lights - 1931

Orson Welles said that this was his favorite movie of all time.

Charles Chaplin re-shot the scene in which the Little Tramp buys a flower from the blind flower-girl 342 times, as he could not find a satisfactory way of showing that the blind flower-girl thought that the mute tramp was wealthy.

The famous Flower Girl theme was written by Jose' Padilla.

Charles Chaplin's first film made during the sound era. He faced extreme pressure to make the film as a talkie, but such was his popularity and power in Hollywood that he was able to complete and release the film as a silent (albeit with recorded music) at a time when the rest of the American motion picture industry had converted to sound.

In terms of years, this film was Charles Chaplin's longest undertaking. It was in production from 31 December 1927 - 22 January 1931, over three years. It shot for only 180 days, though.
At the beginning of the film, a town official and a woman dedicating the statue can be heard uttering nondescript words by way of a paper reed mouth instrument. The sounds were made by Charles Chaplin and this was the first time that his voice was heard on film.

When the film opened on 31 January 1931, Albert Einstein joined Charles Chaplin at the theater. When the film opened in England, George Bernard Shaw joined him.

At one point, Virginia Cherrill came back to the set late from an appointment, keeping Charles Chaplin waiting. Chaplin, whose relationship with Cherrill was not friendly, fired her on the spot. He intended to reshoot the film with Georgia Hale, his heroine from The Gold Rush (1925), playing the flower girl; he even reshot the final scene between the tramp and the flower girl with Hale in the role. However, Chaplin had already spent far too much time and money on the project to start over. Knowing this, Cherrill offered to come back to work - at double her original salary. Chaplin reluctantly agreed and the film was completed. (Source: Virginia Cherrill interview, "Unknown Chaplin" (1983))

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #11 Greatest Movie of All Time.

[June 2008] Ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Romantic Comedy".

In 2008, this film was voted #1 on AFI's list over the ten best romantic comedies of all time.
Production was delayed on several occasions. In 1929, one break lasted 62 days.

Though no footage of Georgia Hale appears in the finished film, the reconciliation scene she shot for him in Virginia Cherrill's absence, has survived.

Winston Churchill visited the set, and Charles Chaplin took a break to make a short film with him.

Georgia Hale was added to the cast on November 11, 1929, according to studio records.

Virginia Cherrill said that when she renegotiated her contract to be brought back onto the film, she was given advise by Marion Davies.

One of Charles Chaplin's friends, the famous illustrator Ralph Barton, was on set one day during the filming of the scene where Charlie and the blind girl meet. These home movies, which appear in "Unknown Chaplin" (1983), and is the only known behind the scenes footage of Chaplin at work in costume as the tramp.

At the beginning of the film, a town official and a woman dedicating the statue can be heard uttering nondescript words by way of a kazoo. These sounds are the very first "words" Chaplin ever spoke on film, as it is his voice you are hearing through the reed instrument.

Cast of City Lights

Charlie Chaplin - A Tramp
Virginia Cherrill - A Blind Girl
Florence Lee - The Blind Girl's Grandmother
Harry Myers - An Eccentric Millionaire
Al Ernest Garcia - The Eccentric Millionaire's Butler (as Allan Garcia)
Hank Mann - A Prizefighter
Robert Parrish - Newsboy
Henry Bergman - Mayor and Man in Basement
Albert Austin - Street Sweeper