City Lights is a 1931 English language film written by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin also composed the musical score which comprised the majority of the film's sound, since there is no dialogue in the picture.

The Circus, released in 1928, was Chaplin's last film to debut before motion pictures with sound (known as "talkies" at the time) took over. Since The Circus, sound pictures quickly took over as the industry standard. It was not uncommon for silent actors to oppose the arrival of talking pictures. Had Chaplin been anybody else, he probably would not have been able to shoot City Lights as a silent film, but because of his power in Hollywood, and because he had complete artistic and financial control over his work, he was able to make this film silent (except for music, sound effects, and some unintelligible sounds that mock speech). Dialogue is presented with title cards.

Charlie Chaplin was known for being a perfectionist; he was famous for doing many more takes than other directors at the time. At one point he actually fired Virginia Cherrill and began re-filming with Georgia Hale, Chaplin's co-star in The Gold Rush. This proved too expensive, even for his budget, and so he later re-hired Cherrill and was able to finish City Lights. (Approximately seven minutes of test footage of Hale survives and is included on the DVD release; excerpts were first seen in the documentary Unknown Chaplin along with an unused opening sequence from the film.) By the time the film was completed, silent films were unpopular. However, it was one of the great financial and artistic successes of Chaplin's career, and remained his own personal favorite of all his films. He was especially fond of the last scene. He commented:

Shot on the streets of Boston and Chicago by guerrilla videographers Stephen Christy and Zach Craley, "City Lights" provides a rare glimpse of what it means to be homeless in the most prosperous country in the world. Hear firsthand from four homeless men and women. Hear what it takes for them to get back on their feet. Written by Producer

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind girl. Her family is in financial trouble. The tramp's on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor. Written by John J. Magee

Charmingly simple story of The Little Tramp who meets a lovely blind girl selling flowers on the sidewalk who mistakes him for a wealthy duke. When he learns that an operation may restore her sight, he sets off to earn the money she needs to have the surgery. In a series of comedy adventures that only Chaplin could pull off, he eventually succeeds, even though his efforts land him in jail. While he is there, the girl has the operation and afterwards yearns to meet her benefactor. The tear-inducing closing scene, in which she discovers that he is not a wealthy duke but only The Little Tramp, is one of the highest moments in movies. Written by alfiehitchie