I’m so immersed in catching the best of contemporary cinema that sometimes it makes a refreshing change to take a fresh look at a classic movie. This week I caught the newly restored ‘LIMELIGHT’ released for the first time on HD Digital at the newly restored Miami Beach Cinematheque. Two treats in one.
This is Chaplin’s last US made masterpiece from 1952 due to the House of Un-American Activities who were hounding him as a suspected Communist sympathizer at the time. In fact when Chaplin returned after attending the Limelight Premiere in London , he was denied re-entry into the US. The movie was only shown then in New York and did not get a fuller US Release until 1973 when it picked up Chaplin’s only Oscar (aside from his two Honorary ones), and oddly enough it was for the musical score that he wrote.
In many ways Limelight is very autobiographical. The story of a washed-up old vaudevillian at the end of his career rescues a young ballet dancer from suicide. He takes care of her until she is healthy again, and restores her spirits and her will to live. As the dancer, Theresa, is recovering, Calvero is not only rebuilding her confidence but also his own. Because of his kindness towards her, Theresa eventually believes she has fallen in love with him, even going so far as proposing marriage to him. The relationship between the two is complex to say the least, and never really ends until the final credits role.
This bittersweet movie is totally captivating and reminds one of what a sheer genius Chaplin was. Amidst all this heart-tugging pathos is his unsurpassable talent as one of the world’s outstanding slapstick comics, and the piano playing scene with another giant comic virtuoso the great Buster Keaton is beyond hysterical. And add to the mix, a very young Claire Bloom playing Theresa in the exaggerated melodramatic method of the day, and Chaplin’s handsome son Sydney as the young beau who chases Theresa. Completely mesmerizing.
Lest I should ever forget, seeing his work again, or in this particular case for the first time, is a reminder of the fact that Chaplin was indisputably one of the greatest filmmakers of all time One that truly deserves the title of Icon. Catch the new release of this, one of his tour de force movies, now.
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