With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl's life forever.
"If only one of Charles Chaplin's films could be preserved, 'City Lights' (1931) would come the closest to representing all the different notes of his genius." - Roger Ebert (1997)
"We're exhausted because we laughed so much and so heartily at "City Lights" that we feel considerably weakened. Here's praying that we fast regain our strength so that we may journey to the theatre to see Charlie again - and again - in this new heart-breaking masterpiece of comedy which he offers pantomimically to a worldful of movie-goers. - Irene Thirer, New York Daily News (1931)