City Lights was released three years after talkies were introduced to movie theatres and were a great hit with the public. Chaplin was taking quite a risk when he decided to go ahead and release the silent film. He had considered revising it to a talking film, but decided it would not be an enhancement, so it was shown as originally planned. Chaplin knew what he was doing, evidently, because the film met with rave reviews.

The music played as background in City Lights was written by Chaplin, himself, who could not read a note of music but could play whatever he wanted, totally by sound. He was a man of many talents; he directed, produced, wrote, and edited the film. He also starred in the film as the Tramp.

Silent films were much different than those we see in theatres today. They relied...