The timing of the production of City Lights released for United Artists in 1931, came at a potentially 'difficult' period for Chaplin ..the essence of whose art was pantomime..., it's release occurring three years after that of the first all-talking film Lights of New York in 1928. As David Robinson explains, Chaplin realised he would have too much to lose if he were forced into talking pictures then, he therefore was determined that City Lights should be a silent film; although he realized that silent film was now an anachronism. As Katz recounts, Chaplin's ...only concession to the sound track were effects and a musical score....

Chaplin's use of the whistle in this film was particularly significant as here, for the first time, his famous Tramp has a gag which involves sound. The 'whistle incident' lasted for a duration of 84 seconds, the Tramp accidentally swallowing his whistle at a party, and consequently involuntarily blowing it continually, much to the irritation of the party's entertainer, a cab driver, and to the excitement of a pack of neighbouring dogs.

Despite warnings from his friends in the industry City Lights was an unqualified commercial success as well as an artistic triumph. The film's ending has been hailed as ..one of the greatest moments in films ever...


See: Souvenirs Chaplinesques - Un film de Simon Dargolls recontés par Maurice Bessy.