Limelight Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: Limelight
Year: 1952
Director: Charles Chaplin
Country: US
Language: English

By the time 1952 had rolled along, the legendary comedic filmmaker Charles Chaplin had made a career out of political comedies that won over the hearts of audiences worldwide. Though he had killed his beloved character The Tramp over a decade earlier in The Great Dictator, he proved with Monsieur Verdoux (1947) that he did not necessarily need the character in order to make a competent picture. Limelight would be Chaplin's first motion picture in the "leave it to beaver" era of the 50's.

Chaplin's final American film is a somewhat autobiographical film which tells the story of a fading music hall comedian's effort to help a despondent ballet dancer learn both to walk and feel confident about life again.

Why was Limelight Chaplin's last American film? Because on September 19th, 1952 his long career was dealt a heavy blow by the House Un-American Activities Committee who blacklisted him for refusing to co-operate with the FBI and possibly being a communist. All of Chaplin's sentimental political film worked against his favor as they had a 2,000+ page file on him, fortunately this would not signal the end of his career.

Limelight is an incredibly moving autobiographical picture that is both a bittersweet melodrama and a mirror into the soul of its director. It is a great drama, with many comedic moments. Like Chaplin, his character Calvero knows how to make people laugh, but feels he has lost the ability to do so. He realizes he is at the end of his career, but he still hungers for one final moment in the limelight. It's philosophical yet can be preachy at times, however it does contain a lot of Chaplin's love for humanity and his desire for a loving world.

In conclusion, while Limelight is far from the type of film Chaplin became famous for, it is still pretty meaningful and entertaining. Perhaps the biggest problem with this film is that it can be too dramatic, Claire Boom tends to over-act and thus it makes her character a tad unlike-able. To counter this, the brilliant silent star Buster Keaton makes a coma-inducing cameo that one will not forget. Praise it! 4/5