Watched this very obscure but compelling movie made by the immortal Charlie Chaplin. A talkie, although he is widely more known for his silent movie career as the lovable hapless clown The Tramp. In this movie, he shows the man underneath the facade of the happy but ultimately sad clown. Slow at first but like a good novel, gradually brings you in as Chaplin masterfully lays the groundwork of background and character for a fuller appreciation which ultimately leaves you in awe of his enormous story-telling genius. Great cast, great dialogue(witty and philosophical at times), great great musical score(that Chaplin wrote and won an Oscar for 20 years later). Claire Bloom was perfectly cast as the suicidal ballerina that Chaplin saves and gives new hope too. Buster Keaton, Chaplin's comedic adversary all thru his silent career, makes a wonderful appearance at the end in a musical duet with Chaplin, a must-see. All in all, this movie was a sort of auto- biographical of both the Chaplin Tramp character he played to great success and his real life persona, which gradually suffered in contrast as cinema changed from silent to talking, black and white to color(movie is B&W) and his public disgracing as a Communist- sympathizer(untrue) in the early 1950's, when this movie was made but not released in America for that reason. It was finally released in 1972 and thus was awarded Best Oscar for the musical score, which strangely was one of the most popular instrumental songs of the 1950's!(it was called "'Eternally" on the pop-charts.) I highly recommend this masterpiece although it is a tough find. Try the torrent sites.
Review of Limelight
