City Lights (1931)

Music composed by Charles Chaplin except “La Violetera” by José Padilla
Original musical Arrangement Arthur Johnston, Original musical Direction Alfred Newman
2004 restoration of Chaplin’s score by Timothy Brock

Synopsis

Wandering the city streets, the Little Tramp happens upon a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a rich man. The Tramp later saves a drunken millionaire who is attempting to drown himself in the river. The millionaire becomes his best friend. That is, until he sobers up and no longer recognizes the Tramp… In City Lights, friendship and social ranking are not always as they seem. We enter a world of a disenchanted bourgeoisie, where a tramp is king and a blind girl, queen.

Technical Specifications

• Screening time: 86 minutes
• 35 mm and digital formats available
• Projection speed for 35 mm: 24 frames per second. Cinemascope aperture (normal non amorphic lens) ratio 1.17 :1
• Optical soundtrack carrying occasional sound effects. Sound must be turned ON.
• State of the art projector essential

Instrumentation

• Flute (dbl. picc.)
• Oboe (dbl. e. horn)
• 3 Clarinets (III dbl. bass-cl.)
• Sax I (soprano, alto I, Baritone)
• Sax II (soprano, alto II)
• Sax III (soprano, tenor)

• Bassoon

• 2 Horns
• 3 Trumpets
• 2 Trombones

• Sousaphone (ad lib. Tuba)

• Percussion (2 players including Timpani)
• Harp
• Banjo (dbl. Guitar)

• Piano (dbl. celeste)

• Strings: 6.4.4.2.1
• List of percussion: Timpani – Castanets - Drum kit (sd, bd, choke cymbal, crash cymbal)
  Tambourine - Temple Blocks – Chimes – Glockenspiel – Xylophone – Vibraphone
  (with fan at high speed)

Trailer of City Lights

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Listen to the Music

List of Films

• How To Make Movies
• A Dog's Life
• Shoulder Arms
• Sunnyside
• A Day's Pleasure
• The Kid
• The Idle Class
• Pay Day
• The Pilgrim
• A Woman Of Paris
• The Gold Rush
• The Circus
• City Lights
• Modern Times
• The Great Dictator
• With A Smile