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Limelight
Limelight is a 1952 American comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, based on a novella by Chaplin titled Footlights. The score was composed by Chaplin and arranged by Ray Rasch.
Plot
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 an ambiguously triumphant comeback performance. At its end, he suffers a heart attack onstage and is placed on a cot. Anticipating his imminent death, Calvero asks to see Terry, who is the next act, dance. Carried to the wings, he appears not to open his eyes, and then dies as she dances.
Awards
Cast
- André Eglevsky
- Billy Curtis
- Buster Keaton
- Charles Chaplin
- Charley Rogers
- Charlie Chaplin
- Claire Bloom
- Colin Kenny
- Cyril Delevanti
- Edna Purviance
- Florence Wix
- Frank Hagney
- Frank Mills
- Geraldine Chaplin
- Harold Miller
- Josephine Chaplin
- Leonard Mudie
- Marjorie Bennett
- Melissa Hayden
- Michael Chaplin
- Nigel Bruce
- Norman Lloyd
- Oona O'Neill
- Snub Pollard
- Sydney Chaplin
- Wheeler Dryden
More details
| author | Charlie Chaplin |
|---|---|
| award | Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | London |
| director | Charlie Chaplin |
| editor | Joe Inge |
| genre | comedy-drama |
| keywords | age difference benefit concert first film heart attack making a living music hall nurse street entertainer suicide attempt sydney earl chaplin world war i |
| musicBy | Charlie Chaplin |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score |
| producer | Charlie Chaplin |
| productionCompany | Celebrated Productions |
| publisher | Columbia Pictures United Artists |
| theme | dance |