City Lights (1931) Meaning and Ending Explanation

In the American film City Lights (1931), Charlie Chaplin played the role of a tramp who wanders through various locations. He meets different people in each location and comes across several obstacles on his way. The movie ends with Charlie finally reaching home, where he finds his blind girlfriend waiting for him. The meaning of this film is about the importance of feeling love even though you have lost your sight.

All About Of City Lights (1931) Meaning and Ending Explanation

City Lights (1931) Plot

Citizens and dignitaries are gathered for the dedication ceremony for a new monument to “Peace and Prosperity,” followed by droning speeches, which reveal the Little Tramp resting in the lap of one of the carved figures. He manages to evade the assembly’s wrath after several minutes of slapstick by roaming the city. He rebukes two newsboys who taunt him for his shabbiness, and while coyly admiring a nude statue, he has a near-fatal encounter with a sidewalk elevator.

When the Tramp encounters the attractive flower girl on the street corner, he realizes she is blind. In his chauffeured sedan, the Tramp is misidentified as an affluent person.

A suicidal millionaire is saved that night. Next, a champagne party followed by a night on the town. He sees the flower girl the next morning on her way to her corner. And he follows her home in the Millionaire’s car. This is what La Rose tells her Grandmother (Florence Lee).

Meanwhile, the Tramp goes home to be forgotten by the sober billionaire and ejected. The next day, the millionaire re-drinks and invites the Tramp to a big party. The next day, the Millionaire is sober, and the Tramp is out.

A doctor tells her grandma that the girl has a fever and needs careful treatment, so The Tramp goes to her residence. To help, the Tramp sweeps the streets. Her grandma sells flowers while he delivers groceries. He tells her about a Viennese doctor’s blindness cure to entertain her.

What if she regains her sight and finds he isn’t the wealthy man she thought he was? The girl’s Grandmother’s eviction notice. He also promises to pay the rent. The Tramp gets fired for being late to work. They’ll stage a fight and split the prize money. Due to the Tramp’s smart movement, the boxer flees and is replaced with a formidable opponent.

The Tramp is welcomed back home by the intoxicated Millionaire. So, the Tramp informs the affluent. The robbers steal the Millionaire’s money. The police find the Tramp with the Millionaire’s money. Shortly after, The Tramp transfers money to the girl and assures her he’ll be gone for some time. The Tramp takes flight. The girl isn’t in her usual spot. The girl now runs a successful floral company with her blind Grandmother. She worries whether “he” has returned as an attractive young man arrives.

This is where the girl is arranging flowers—leaning into the gutter to pick one up. After a brief altercation with the newsboys, he walks to the store window and sees the girl who has been watching him. He hesitates briefly before bursting into a huge smile. “I’ve conquered it!” she beams to her team. She replaces the shattered flower with a fresh one and a penny through the glass.

When the Tramp turns away, the girl reappears with a flower, which he accepts timidly. She takes his hand and enters the penny but stops when she feels his palm. “You?” she asks, stroking his arm, shoulder, and lapels. “You see?” the Tramp asks. “I see now,” she replies, squeezing his hand tight—less stress for the Tramp.

The Meaning of City Lights

The film ‘City lights’ is most likely an adaptation of the play Manresa by Eugene O’Neill. It displays a strong theme of love and blindness/never giving up on someone else. To quote from the book “Thoughts”(1995) Written By: Maureen Barratt, I believe that Chaplin’s motivation to adapt it was because he wanted to make a definitive statement about loyalty and commitment between people. Which would lead him in making another movie called Modern Times (1936).

In doing so, his character gives you knowledge of how to get home safely and the importance of love. The film is about a blind girl/woman who waits for Charlie all night to know that he will eventually return.

However, by doing so, he has set up two different scenes (Dawn and Night) via Dawn’s relationship with him to show her how his mind works during both times of the day. This reminds us why City Lights was made in 1931, and it additionally gives an understanding of just what could be experienced through blindness.

Interestingly enough, the editing in CG films seems not at all too much different from what was done in film-making just a hundred years earlier, where the speed from one scene to another would be too fast for you to judge it easily, especially if that moment has only two or three frames.

The point about Lou’s facial expressions by Charlie Chaplin might not seem important as she can’t see, but her body language communicates most of the essential feelings/thoughts. Here is the comparison – this shows that direction and technicalities aren’t so different from the 1910’s era.

It has been fifty years since I watched City Lights, which was a brilliant movie in my point of view (I think at least after finding out more about it), but it still makes me wonder, as some people have stated, if Charlie Chaplin had put into such an obscure film just because there wasn’t enough time to do something “big” like The Great Dictator (1940) or Modern Times.

I suppose that there is nothing wrong with what Charlie Chaplin did in modern times because I like the movie so much, especially The Blind girl and her dog. This scene would make people appreciate not only what 20th-century filmmakers have achieved but even their early days for getting out of poverty at a young age into a very good situation, amongst other things. So from A to Z, it would be paying respect, admiration and appreciation.

Charlie Chaplin’s Role in the Film

Charlie is a bit tight-lipped about where he carries on his apprenticeship; it does seem like he doesn’t have an exciting time working for Max. I think that later on when we come to know more about him and lose some of our preconceptions (or just plain forget them), we’ll be encouraged to see what looks quite unfair as submissive and depressing. This can help us with seeing things from our point of view if ever needed by future generations.

In conclusion, The movie is NOT so informative or educational as it is entertaining. I think that still, it was quite a remarkable adventure, even if the character of Charlie’s father (another key man) in this movie should have been shown as more important than what he is – not only to me but also many other people who loved him and cheered his brilliant acting which attracted much attention on Chaplin everywhere during the latter part period.

The message of the film City Lights (1931)

I am not going to write an interpretation of the film, but I want to add some observations after reading many things about it and exploring its internet presence.

The main message seems quite clear – don’t give up life, be determined! Don’t let other people’s opinions affect your behavior or choices regarding problems related to feminism and female rights in general, even though you may have a bad experience with them at first.

You just need time to inform yourself about the further development of a social movement which was so important for those times BEFORE taking valuable decisions without putting everything beyond feeling into question beforehand. The era had done enough harm in this regard.

And the next generation benefited from it already around the late forties, with the help of numerous experiences: during the last world war huge efforts were devoted to making all young women capable of performing routine jobs at factories and providing them social support which was necessary as well as possible.

We can see the very first results on this subject everywhere nowadays even though in the 1990s many less formal universal social situations emerged and got into the picture (also thanks to some private initiatives). I think such a solution would have been long delayed if attention had not focused on feminist demands towards equality between men and women as it crosses generation boundaries.

City Lights (1931) Music

City Lights represented Chaplin’s first time writing a piece of film music for one of his movies. While Chaplin favored live sound in his films, by the 1930s, most cinemas had abandoned their orchestras. Many of his detractors felt he was doing it to get more attention. Chaplin, whose parents and many members of the Chaplin family were musicians, was having difficulties with the professional musicians he hired and decided to create the score himself.

The main melody utilized as a leitmotif for the blind flower girl is José Padilla’s song “La Violetera” (“Who Will Buy My Violets”). Chaplin could not cast the original song’s artist, Raquel Meller, in the starring part but incorporated her song as a significant motif nevertheless. Padilla sued Chaplin for not crediting him in litigation in Paris, where Padilla resided. Carl Davis’s new recording is included in several recent video versions.

City Lights (1931) Ending Explanation

The Tramp sleeps on a city’s new statue. He is ejected and left homeless, abused by two newsboys. Unaware that Virginia Cherrill is blind, he buys a flower from her. As though the Tramp had departed, a man enters a neighboring luxury car and drives away. The Tramp flees. On the docks that night, The Tramp encounters a drunken Millionaire (Harry Myers).

I sent for his wife. The Tramp saves the Millionaire. In his mansion, he alters the Tramp. On a night out, the Tramp unwittingly causes havoc. They return early the next morning and encounter the Flower Girl hawking her wares. The Tramp then takes the girl home in the Millionaire’s Rolls-Royce.

The Flower Girl then notifies her Grandmother (Florence Lee). Butler orders Tramp out when Millionaire wakes up and doesn’t recognize him. The Millionaire invites the Tramp to a spectacular party later that day. The Millionaire ejects the Tramp again the next morning, ready for a trip.

The Tramp observes a doctor examine the Flower Girl. To assist her, he becomes a street sweeper. The next day, the Grandmother and her daughter are evicted, but she hides it. He reads an article about a Viennese doctor who created a cure for blindness over lunch. Then reads her the eviction notice. He promises to pay his rent. But he’s late and fired.

Later, he meets the boozed-up Millionaire from Europe. Upon learning the girl’s circumstances, the Millionaire gives her $1,000. The Millionaire and the Tramp found two burglars lurking in the house. They kill the rich and take his money. In this case, it’s the butler who phones the police. The Millionaire has forgotten the Tramp. The Tramp narrowly escapes and leaves the girl. Soon after, he is arrested in front of the mocking newsboys.

I finally released Tramp! Her normal street corner, he can’t find her. The girl and her blind grandma operate a prosperous flower business. This makes the girl think the affluent customer is her mysterious benefactor. His absence confirms her error. He was getting a flower from the shop’s gutter. As he turned away, he saw the girl in the window. He forgets his joy’s blossoming.

So, the girl offers him a fresh flower and a penny. The Tramp reaches for the flower. She recognizes his hand and knows he is no stranger as she takes it to insert the coin. “You?” she says, nodding. “Did you?” “Now I see,” she sobs. A bashful Tramp apologizes to the girl.

City Lights (1931) Hidden Meaning

Chaplin was a man of hidden meanings. The plot is much simpler than the Shakespearian treatment but has poetic depth and beauty. Whereas the reins in melodrama, we sense beneath its very simplicity something warmer and more complex–the giver’s “lovely treasure house well stocked.”

Though mere subtlety is little subtlety in the film, I think Chaplin captures raw humanity that only happens when we see these outsized emotions through the eyes of someone who identifies closely with them.

A tavern owner’s penny-farthing pokes him funny knee-deep quagmire between his innovative advances and vulgarities on highbrow refinement. One hot day, Tramp ventures into town for water to cool down. The air bites at us as our hero affirms to himself his new constitution by capping liquor from one canoed clay pipe to another–tramps don’t mess up or trade what they shouldn’t; we don’t see them in flackery handouts where no principle is of worth.

A fellow dime-novelist switches the context on our Tramp–and the untroubled possibility to reset any today’s world problem with a rhyme like: “How would things turn out if/That this ubiquitous common asset was seen as problems from yesteryear” versus… “They need to throw your thoughts not beyond but within, old chap!” That’s an answer for you! He passes in front of Mission San Francisco de Solano and refers to a glowing religious statuary: “That’s what hits through when / I look for comfort.”

Conclusion

In this charmingly simple narrative, the Little Tramp encounters a pretty blind lady selling flowers on the sidewalk who mistakes him for a rich duke. When he discovers that a procedure may restore her sight, he sets out to obtain the funds she needs for the surgery.

He finally succeeds in a sequence of comedic exploits that only Chaplin could carry off, despite his efforts putting him in prison. The girl undergoes the procedure while he is present and wants to see her sponsor afterward. The tear-jerking last sequence, in which she finds he is not a rich duke, but just The Little Tramp, is one of cinema’s finest moments.

FAQs

1.Why Does the Tramp Go to Jail City Lights?

Ans: There is no one answer to this question as it depends on the individual’s interpretation. However, some possible reasons why the Tramp goes to jail city lights could include:

• He may have committed a crime and been sentenced to prison.
• He may have been caught stealing something and been sent to jail.
• He may have argued with someone and decided to take his anger out on the city by vandalizing it.

2.When Did City Lights Take Place?

Ans: The movie City Lights was written and directed by Charlie Chaplin from 1924-to 1925. It is set in San Francisco and centers around a blind flower seller (Edna Purviance) who has lost her eyesight due to a mysterious fire that destroyed her home while she slept one night.

A cynic named Harold Lloyd introduces himself at the door, looking similar to Charlie Chaplin with a close resemblance of his natural teeth -that’s how he became known as “Gumby .

“The girl becomes friends with Gumby until eventually they fall in love but don’t proceed because Jeffrey Jones wants Jerry to be with his much younger sister Kathleen because she was sacrificing her own life for Jerry and has done a great deal of learning in the meantime to make up for him.

3.Where Was City Lights Filmed?

Ans: City Lights was filmed on Chaplin’s stages and backlots in Hollywood, California.

4.Can a Blind Person Perform Such Dangerous Stunts as the Tramp?

Ans: The special effects used to illustrate Charlie Wilson’s blindness were not real prosthetics. The main stunt of “City Lights” (city lights are streetlights) did take place at night. Still, most took place on studio backsides that had been squared into two parallelepipeds with flat paving stones placed so they could be moved like chess boards without destroying the hillside overhanging it from above.

5.Do City Lights Have Sound?

Ans: The film City Lights does not have any sound for the Mark Twain story, and it contains two short bedtime skits before and after the movie that feature Chaplin’s voice.