City Lights | TIME Magazine - ALL-TIME 100 movies

Return to index

Talkback

E-mail this to a friend

From the TIME Archive

Archive Collection:
Oscar Greats

TIME Magazine:
Best of the Archive

Browse:
Movies Covers

GREAT PERFOMANCES

Movie Magic
Great roles and the performers who brought them to life

GUILTY PLEASURES

Lowbrow, High Praise
Even critics have their secret favorites. Take a look at ours

BEST SOUNDTRACKS

Top Scores
Music that makes these movies

TALKBACK

Tell us what you think
We want to know your thoughts about our critics' choices. Is there a favorite of yours that should have made the cut? Or did our critics get it just right? Let us know.

Send us your thoughts >>

AUDIO INTERVIEW

MP3 Download: Corliss and Schickel Talk
TIME's film critics discuss the making of the All-TIME 100 and whether movies are as smart as they used to be
Download the audio >>

City Lights (1931)

Directed By: Charles Chaplin
Screenplay: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill


Previous	Next: City of God


EVERETT COLLECTION

he immortal tramp falls in love with a blind flower seller, with results that are both poignant and deeply comic. Chaplin's sentimental side was never more delicately stated. But his funny side, as he desperately tries to earn money for the operation that will restore the girl's sight, was never more hilariously deployed than it was in this spare, curiously haunting film.—R.S.

From the TIME Archive:

Chaplin does not reject the sound-device because he does not think his voice will register. His objection is that cinema is essentially a pantomimic art

—TIME Magazine, Feb. 9, 1931 >>

Not a subscriber?
Get 6 Issues of TIME for $1.99 >>

Rate This Movie

Next: City of God

READER'S TOP FLICKS

1: City of God- 100 Movies
2: Schindler's List
3: The Lord of the Rings
4: The Godfather, Parts I and II
5: Star Wars

See the full list >>

- ADVERTISEMENT -