Limelight (film)

Infobox Film
name = Limelight


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Charlie Chaplin
producer = Charlie Chaplin
writer = Charlie Chaplin
starring = Charlie Chaplin
Claire Bloom
Nigel Bruce
Buster Keaton
Sydney Earle Chaplin
Norman Lloyd
music = Charlie Chaplin
cinematography = Karl Struss
editing = Joe Inge
distributor = United Artists
Image Entertainment
released = Premiere
October 23, 1952
Wide
February 6, 1953
runtime = Theatrical cut
137 min.
Initial cut
141 min.
country = flagicon|USA
language = English
amg_id = 1:29384
imdb_id = 0044837

"Limelight" is a 1952 comedy-drama film written, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, co-starring Claire Bloom, with an appearance by Buster Keaton. In dance scenes, Bloom is doubled by Melissa Hayden. The film score is composed by Chaplin and arranged by Ray Rasch.

Plot

The movie is set in London in 1914, on the eve of World War I. 1914 was the year Chaplin made his first movie. Calvero (Chaplin), once a famous stage clown but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young dancer, Thereza, alias Terry (Bloom), from suicide. Nursing her back to health, Calvero helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. In doing so he regains his own self-confidence, but his attempts to make a comeback are less successful. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero despite their age difference, although she has befriended Neville, a young composer whom Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance Calvero leaves home and becomes a street entertainer. Terry, now starring in her own show, eventually finds Calvero and persuades him to return to the stage for a benefit concert. Reunited with his old partner (Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance but suffers a heart attack and dies in the wings while just a few feet away Terry, the second act on the bill, is dancing on stage.

Cast

*Charlie Chaplin as Calvero
*Claire Bloom as Terry
*Nigel Bruce as Postant
*Buster Keaton as Calvero's partner
*Sydney Earle Chaplin as Neville
*Norman Lloyd as Bodalink
*Melissa Hayden as Terry's dance double

Production

Although the film is set in London it was entirely filmed in Hollywood, mostly at the Chaplin Studios. The street where Calvero lives was a redressed set at Paramount Studios, the music hall scenes were filmed at RKO, and some exterior scenes use back-projected footage of London. Most of the cast are either British or have convincing British accents, a notable exception being Chaplin himself, who had after all been living in the US for decades. Chaplin prominently featured members of his family in the film, including five of his children and his half-brother Wheeler Dryden. Chaplin chose stage actress Claire Bloom for the role of Terry, her first major role in films. Chaplin told his older sons he expected "Limelight" to be his last film. By all accounts he was very happy and energized during production, a fact often attributed to the joy of recreating his early career in the Music Hall. Most people who have studied the life of Chaplin would assume that his character in the film was based on his father Charles Chaplin Sr who had also lost his audience and had turned to alcohol which led to his death in 1901. In both his 1964 autobiography, and his 1974 book "My Life in Pictures", however, Chaplin insists that Calvero is based on the life of stage actor Frank Tierney. Then, in contrast, "Limelight" was made during a time where Chaplin himself was starting to lose his audience. In many ways, the movie remains highly autobiographical.

The pairing of Chaplin and Buster Keaton in the final musical number is historic for being the only time the two appeared on film together. Chaplin at first had not written the part for Keaton because he believed that the role was too small. It was not until he learned that Keaton was going through hard times (before "Limelight", Keaton had gone through a disastrous marriage, lost most of his fortune in the divorce in the process, and had appeared infrequently in films over the previous years) that Chaplin insisted that Keaton should be cast in the film. A rumor has persisted, fueled by the intense rivalry among fans of the two comics, that Keaton gave such a superior performance that Chaplin jealously cut his scenes so he would not be upstaged by his rival. A close associate of Chaplin claimed that Chaplin not only did not feel threatened by Keaton's performance, but also heavily edited his own footage of the duet while enhancing Keaton's. According to Keaton's biographer Rudi Blesh, Chaplin eased his notoriously rigid directorial style to give Keaton free rein to invent his own comic business during this sequence. Keaton's widow Eleanor claimed that Buster was thrilled with his appearance in the film, and believed his business partner Raymond Rohauer started and fed the rumors. Chaplin's son Sydney, who also appeared in the film, said that even if some of Keaton's best scenes were cut (which he did not believe), it was because the storyline did not logically allow a supporting actor to suddenly appear and upstage the climactic comeback of Chaplin's character.

Reception

While touring Britain to promote the film Chaplin learned that he had been refused a re-entry visa to the United States because of his alleged communist sympathies. To add insult to injury, many American theaters refused to play "Limelight." Outside of cinemas in several East Coast cities, the film was not seen by the American moviegoing public. This was ironic, given that it is the most apolitical of Chaplin's films from this period. This was in part due to the lingering controversy over Chaplin's previous film Monsieur Verdoux (1947), which was a black comedy critical of capitalism. It was not until 1972 that the film was finally seen in wide American release, and Chaplin, Larry Russell, and Ray Rasch were awarded an Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score. The Academy subsequently changed the rules to prevent films more than two years old from receiving awards.

"Limelight", considered to be one of Chaplin's finest films, earns recognition and admiration for its philosophical thoughts about life, sentimentalism and mixture of tragedy and comedy. However, it remains one of Chaplin's less well-known films. "Limelight" is strongly autobiographical and provides some important insights into his personality and career. His own film career began in 1914, and in the story of an aging entertainer looking back over his glorious career Chaplin seems to be facing the fear that he himself may be all washed up. It is certainly significant that in the fading stage posters on Calvero's wall he is described as a "tramp comic", and indeed in some of his stage performances in the film he wears a ragged outfit that is clearly a variation on Chaplin's Little Tramp costume. The film was made at a time when Chaplin himself was losing--or had all but lost-- his audience, a clear parallel to Calvero's experience in the film. Terry's story - orphaned at an early age, her sister forced into prostitution - also has clear similarities to that of Chaplin's mother. The story of an older man and a younger woman falling in love and inspiring each others' lives closely mirrored Chaplin's marriage to Oona O'Neill, and other relationships in his life.

External links

*imdb title|id=0044837|title=Limelight
*amg title|id=1:29384|title=Limelight