History Film / Limelight

''Limelight'' is a 1952 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Creator/CharlieChaplin, co-starring Creator/ClaireBloom, Sydney Chaplin, Nigel Bruce, Creator/NormanLloyd, and Creator/BusterKeaton. The music score was composed by Chaplin and arranged by Ray Rasch.

''Limelight'' is a 1952 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Creator/CharlieChaplin, co-starring Claire Bloom, Sydney Chaplin, Nigel Bruce, Creator/NormanLloyd, and Creator/BusterKeaton. The music score was composed by Chaplin and arranged by Ray Rasch.

UsefulNotes/{{London}}, 1914. Calvero (Chaplin), once a famed stage clown but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young ballet dancer, Thereza "Terry" Ambrose (Bloom), from suicide. Nursing her back to health, Calvero also helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. While so doing he begins to regain his own self-confidence, but his attempts to make a comeback are less successful. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero in spite of their age difference, although she has befriended Ernest Neville (Sydney Chaplin), a young composer who Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance together, 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 (Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance but immediately suffers a heart attack and dies in the wings... while just a few feet away from him Terry, the second act on the bill, dances on stage. This represents the end of one generation and the coming of another, the fading of age and the emergence of youth under the [[TitleDrop Limelight]], as said during the initial credits.

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UsefulNotes/{{London}}, 1914. Calvero (Chaplin), once a famous stage clown but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young ballet dancer, Thereza "Terry" Ambrose (Claire Bloom), from suicide. Nursing her back to health, Calvero also helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. While so doing he begins to regain his own self-confidence, but his attempts to make a comeback are less successful. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero in spite of their age difference, although she has befriended Ernest Neville (Sydney Chaplin), a young composer who Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance together, 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 (Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance but immediately suffers a heart attack and dies in the wings... while just a few feet away from him Terry, the second act on the bill, dances on stage. This represents the end of one generation and the coming of another, the fading of age and the emergence of youth under the [[TitleDrop Limelight]], as said during the initial credits.

Chaplin's last Hollywood film, ''Limelight'' was released amidst public controversy, and passed over by many theaters, as at this time Chaplin was refused re-entry to the United States on alleged grounds that he was a communist sympathizer. It was re-released in the United States in 1972, and because the film played in a Los Angeles theater for the first time that year, Chaplin was honored with the only competitive UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}} of his career (for Best Original Score) two decades after the film's initial release.

Chaplin's last Hollywood film, ''Limelight'' was released amids public controversy, and passed over by many theaters, as at this time Chaplin was refused re-entry to the United States on alleged grounds that he was a communist sympathizer. It was re-released in the United States in 1972, and because the film played in a Los Angeles theater for the first time that year, Chaplin was honored with the only competitive UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}} of his career (for Best Original Score) two decades after the film's initial release.

The film was released amidst public controversy, and passed over by many theaters, as at this time Chaplin was refused re-entry to the United States on alleged grounds that he was a communist sympathizer. It was re-released in the United States in 1972, and because the film played in a Los Angeles theater for the first time that year, Chaplin was honored with the only competitive UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}} of his career (for Best Original Score) two decades after the film's initial release.

UsefulNotes/{{London}}, 1914. Calvero (Chaplin), once a famous stage clown but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young ballet dancer, Thereza "Terry" Ambrose (Claire Bloom), from suicide. Nursing her back to health, Calvero also helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. While so doing he begins to regain his own self-confidence, but his attempts to make a comeback are less successful. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero in spite of their age difference, although she has befriended Neville (Sydney Chaplin), a young composer Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance together, 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 (Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance but immediately suffers a heart attack and dies in the wings... while just a few feet away from him Terry, the second act on the bill, dances on stage. This represents the end of one generation and the coming of another, the fading of age and the emergence of youth under the [[TitleDrop Limelight]], as said during the initial credits.