Upon the film's release, critics' reception was divided; it was heavily boycotted in the United States because of Chaplin's alleged communist sympathies, and failed commercially. However, the film was re-released in the United States in 1972, which included its first screening in Los Angeles. This allowed the two-decades-old film to be in contention for the 45th Academy Awards where Chaplin won his only competitive Oscar. Today, the film is sometimes regarded as one of Chaplin's best and most personal works, and has attained a cult following.
Plot
Limelight (1952) was a serious and autobiographical film for Chaplin. His character, Calvero, is an ex–music hall star (described in this image as a "Tramp Comedian") forced to deal with his loss of popularity.
The movie is set in London in 1914, on the eve of World War I, and the year Chaplin made his first film, Making a Living. Calvero (Charlie Chaplin), once a famous stage clown, but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young dancer, Thereza "Terry" Ambrose (Claire Bloom), from a suicide attempt. 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 an attempt to make a comeback is met with failure. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero despite their age difference; however, she has befriended Neville (Sydney Earl Chaplin), a young composer who 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 an old partner (Buster Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance. He suffers a heart attack during a routine, however, and dies in the wings while watching Terry, the second act on the bill, dance on stage.
Oona O'Neill as Extra (Thereza's double in one episode, uncredited)
Eric Wilton as Major Domo at Dinner (uncredited)
Production
“In his youth he yearned to be a musician but he could not afford any kind of instrument on which to learn. Another longing was to be a romantic actor, but he was too small and his diction too uncultured. Nevertheless, he emotionally believed himself to be the greatest actor living. Necessity made him turn to comedy, which he loathed, because it demanded of him an intimacy with his audience, which he did not feel and which never came natural to him.” - From “Calvero’s Story” - a portion of the novel Chaplin wrote in preparation for Limelight.[5]
Although the film is set in London, it was entirely filmed in the Hollywood area, 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-Pathé studios, and some exterior scenes use back-projected footage of London. Filming took 55 days.[6] 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 film role.[7] 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. Chaplin biographers have assumed that his character in the film was based on his father, Charles Chaplin Sr., who had also lost his audience and became an alcoholic, 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 Tinney.[8]Limelight was made during a time where Chaplin was starting to lose his audience, too; in many ways, the movie was highly autobiographical.[9]
Chaplin and Keaton collaboration
The pairing of Chaplin and Buster Keaton in the final musical number is historic for being the only time the two performed together on film. 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 that Chaplin insisted Keaton be cast in the film: Before Limelight, Keaton had gone through a disastrous marriage, lost most of his fortune in the divorce process, and had appeared infrequently in films in the preceding years. [10]
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.[11] 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 said that he was thrilled with his appearance in the film, and believed that his business partner, Raymond Rohauer, started and fueled the rumors.[12] 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, the storyline would not logically allow a supporting actor to suddenly appear and upstage the climactic comeback of Chaplin's character.[13]
While filming was underway, Chaplin's friend and former publicist Harry Crocker invited a large number of reporters to the set to watch the actors work.[14]
Limelight was one the first collaborations between Chaplin and Jerome Epstein, who would share a 30-year professional relationship and friendship. A movie executive counselled Epstein not to take a credit on Limelight, because it was made during the period in which Chaplin had become a target of McCarthyism.[15]
Release
The film opened October 23, 1952 at the Astor Theatre and at the Trans-Lux 60th Street theatre in New York City and was shown for three months to good business.[16]
Contemporary reviews found much to admire in the film, but commonly faulted it as excessively long and verbose. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a brilliant weaving of comic and tragic strands, eloquent, tearful and beguiling with supreme virtuosity," though he conceded, "One tangible weakness of the film is the garrulous discussion of human foibles and paradoxes that Mr. Chaplin permits himself."[17] Gene Arneel of Variety wrote, "As the focal character on the screen, Chaplin is, at times, magnificent. He has departed from the baggy-pants but still manages to work in some sock pantomime stuff. However, the role he gave himself calls for too much talk, and some of this grows tedious."[18]Harrison's Reports called it "an excellent human drama... Chaplin does an outstanding job in every department, thus proving his genius. The one criticism that may be made is its excessive length; in some of the scenes Chaplin indulges in too much talk, preaching and moralizing in what impresses one as an attempt to get over his personal philosophy on life in general."[19]Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post declared, "Mr. Chaplin's gentle picture, over-long and under-disciplined it may be, restates the timeless lesson of human companionship that is the theme of philosophers and preachers. For all its shortcomings, 'Limelight' is a creative, distinguished film."[20]John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote, "Regrettably, Mr. Chaplin isn't as quick as Shakespeare in getting the point across. There are, however, rewarding flashes of the sort of comedy and pathos that distinguished Mr. Chaplin's work in the past, and his portrait of an eminent performer who has fallen out of public favor carries a sad conviction."[21]The Monthly Film Bulletin of Britain wrote that the film "is not perfect; it is perhaps ten minutes too long; there are moments when sentiment slips over into sentimentality. The weaknesses are slight and insignificant. The qualities of Limelight— the affection, the humour, the almost overpowering sadness in the portrayal of Calvero— are unerringly those of the screen's greatest humanist."[22]
While heading to 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 and the criticized nature of his recent personal life, and many American theaters refused to play Limelight.[16] Outside of cinemas in several East Coast cities, the film was not seen by the American moviegoing public. It was not until 1972 that the film was finally seen in wide American release. Limelight currently holds an excellent 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was massively popular in Japan.[24] It was enormously successful in Europe and around the world. However, in the U.S. it was a relative disappointment, only taking in $1 million.[1]
Limelight enjoyed a cumulative worldwide gross of $8 million.[25] Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance notes that the film's reputation has slowly grown over the decades. Vance maintains "Limelight is Chaplin's last great film, and it plays like a self-conscious summing up of his life and career. As a journey back to his beginnings and an often rapier-sharp self-critique, Limelight is Chaplin's most deeply personal and introspective film."[26]
The instrumental theme to the film, composed by Chaplin and titled "The Terry Theme", became a popular and often-covered song as "Eternally", with lyrics by Geoff Parsons and John Turner. In 1973, over 20 years after the film's first release, Chaplin and his musical collaborators Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell were awarded an Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score.[27] In the case of Larry Russell, JazzWax journalist Marc Myers has written that this was a case of mistaken identity and Russell Garcia was the actual composer who should have been awarded the 1972 Oscar.[28] Larry Russell's family denies the report. Regardless, it was the only competitive Academy Award that Chaplin ever received (he had previously received two Honorary Oscars).
Home media
In 2000, Limelight was released in the United States on DVD from Image Entertainment, which later went out of print. In 2003, it was released on a special edition two-disc DVD set from Warner Home Video, which also later went out of print.[29] The Criterion Collection released the film on both Blu-ray and DVD in the United States on May 19, 2015.[4] A four-minute scene, featuring Stapleton Kent as an armless violin player, had been cut for the film's worldwide release, but was included in the set as a bonus feature.[30] This scene was also included as an extra on the Image DVD release. The only home video release that contains the full-length uncut American theatrical premiere version with the deleted scene intact is the 1993 laserdisc release on the CBS/Fox Video label, which was prepared by film restorationist David Shepard.
↑ Eyman, 2023 p. 246: “...more than a trace of Chaplin’s father in the character…” and a remark on Frank Tinney origin.
↑ Eyman, 2023 p. 245: “...a story about a once revered comedian who tries to win back the audience that has abandoned him.” And p. 249: “Chaplin was quite aware of the autobiographical elements [of Limelight], psychological and otherwise.”
↑ Eyman, 2023 p. 259: Eyman reports that Keaton had in fact “been working steadily, mostly in television…[Chaplin] was unaware of Keaton’s tentative comeback after years of alcoholism.” And p. 262-263: See here for Bloom’s insights on the working relationship between Chaplin and Keaton on the set and Keaton’s social reticence.
↑ Eyman, 2023 p. 262-263: Eyman offers comments from Bloom and Jerry Epstein that Chaplin was even-handed and considerate in his editing of Keaton’s artistic contributions to the project.
↑ Keaton, Eleanor and Jeffrey Vance. Buster Keaton Remembered. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001, p.203 ISBN0-8109-4227-5.
↑ Vance, Jeffrey. Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003 pg. 292. ISBN0-8109-4532-0.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and stunts with a stoic, deadpan expression that became his trademark and earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director. and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
The Great Dictator is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.
City Lights is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl and develops a turbulent friendship with an alcoholic millionaire.
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The Circus is a 1928 silent romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker, George Davis and Henry Bergman. The ringmaster of an impoverished circus hires Chaplin's Little Tramp as a clown, but discovers that he can only be funny unintentionally.
A Woman of Paris is a feature-length American silent film that debuted in 1923. A United Artists production, the film was an atypical drama film for its creator, written, directed, produced and later scored by Charlie Chaplin. It is also known as A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate.
The Kid is a 1921 American silent comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his foundling baby, adopted son and sidekick. This was Chaplin's first full-length film as a director. It was a huge success and was the second-highest-grossing film in 1921. Now considered one of the greatest films of the silent era, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2011.
Charles Spencer Chaplin III, known professionally as Charles Chaplin Jr., was an American actor. He was the eldest son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey, and is known for appearing in 1950s films such as The Beat Generation and Fangs of the Wild.
Pay Day (1922) is an American short film made by First National Pictures. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in the film. It is Chaplin's final two-reel short film.
A King in New York is a 1957 British comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, which co-stars, among others, his young son Michael. The film presents a satirical view of the McCarthy communist-hunt era and certain other aspects of United States politics and society. The film, which was produced in Europe after Chaplin's exile from the U.S. in 1952, did not open in the United States until 1972.
Sydney Earl Chaplin was an American actor. He was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. One of his major roles was in his father's film Limelight (1952). In theater, Chaplin won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his 1957 performance in Bells Are Ringing.
The Pilgrim is a 1923 American silent film made by Charlie Chaplin for the First National Film Company, starring Chaplin and Edna Purviance.
The Idle Class is a 1921 American silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin for First National Pictures.
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Hard Luck is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton, written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. It runs 22 minutes. For sixty years it was Keaton's only major lost film until it was partially reconstructed in 1987, with the critical final scene—which Keaton called the greatest laugh-getting scene of his career—still missing. It was later discovered in a Russian archive print, and now the full film is available.
(Sir) Charlie Chaplin (KBE) (1889–1977) was an English internationally renowned Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, filmmaker and composer who was best known for his career in Hollywood motion pictures from his debut in 1914 until 1952; he however subsequently appeared in two films in his native England. During his early years in the era of silent film, he rose to prominence as a worldwide cinematic idol renowned for his tramp persona. In the 1910s and 1920s, he was considered the most famous person on the planet.
Moses Rothman was a Canadian-born, American studio executive who persuaded Charlie Chaplin to return to the United States in 1972, ending Chaplin's twenty year, self-imposed exile. Chaplin's return to the United States restored his popularity and public reputation.
Jeffrey Vance is an American film historian and author who has published books on movie stars including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Seeing Stars is a 1922 black-and-white eight-minute one-reel "trailer" film notable for a scene shared by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Seeing Stars was one of just two times the great silent comedians appeared together onscreen; 30 years later, Limelight (1952) was the second occasion.
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