If I had seen this film a couple months ago, I doubt if I would have scored the film above a 7. I must admit that I was not a fan of his movies and generally felt he was a bit overrated. However, after having seen many of his full-length movies recently (CITY LIGHTS, MODERN TIMES, THE CIRCUS, THE GOLD RUSH and several others),I realize that I indeed had a strong prejudice that was not completely justified. While I still think his movies relied too heavily on pathos to try to pull the heart strings of the audience, his amazing talents as an actor, writer, director, producer AND composer are unparalleled--plus, in this film at least, the pathos was necessary for the plot.

The film is not a comedy, nor should anyone who reads this review begin watching it expect laughs. No, it's actually a very poignant drama that in some ways is quite philosophical. And, also in many ways the movie is like a combination of the films A STAR IS BORN and Chaplin's film THE CIRCUS.

Charlie is a down and out vaudeville performer who is way past his prime and drinks much too heavily. When returning home to his apartment, he finds that the downstairs neighbor (Claire Bloom) has turned on her gas and taken pills. Though drunk, he breaks open the door and gets help. When she is rescued from the brink of death, she has no place to go (since she can't live in the old apartment),so he reluctantly lets her stay. However, he soon grows very fond of her and she of him, though she has a lot of emotional baggage and believes she cannot walk (it's a hysterical illness caused by emotional problems).

Despite her practically being an invalid, he cares for her and he barely scratches out a living. Eventually, though, he pushes and pushes her--not out of cruelty but because she CAN physically walk and can't continue feeling sorry for herself. He's very upbeat and optimistic throughout this period, though, as she needs to have a reason to live. Eventually, she is able to walk and returns to her career as a stage dancer. At the same time, Chaplin's career continues to go from bad to worse. Now, she is much more optimistic and he is in a funk.

Claire gets her big break thanks to the coaching of Chaplin. And, in the show, there is a small part for him as well. She goes on to stardom and then announces she wants to marry the very significantly older Chaplin. He is aghast, as he feels this desire of hers is really due to her being grateful and fraternal love between them. But, she will not be dissuaded, so he disappears from the show and she is forced to continue without him. At first it's tough, but she becomes a major star.

A few years later, she returns to London and stumbles upon Chaplin. She continues to voice her desire to marry him, but he'll have none of it--especially since there is a nice young man on hand to marry her now (played by Chaplin's real-life son, Sidney). Despite this, she arranges a big comeback performance for Chaplin--as he WAS at one time a famous comedian. This comeback is part of a star-packed show and it's now Chaplin's chance to go out on top! The show goes on and in fact Chaplin is amazing. But, after putting his all into it, he has a heart attack and dies--thus freeing Claire to seek out a life for herself. Now THAT'S pathos! The total package, though a tiny bit slow and sentimental, worked for me. Chaplin's music, by the way, earned an Oscar when the movie was finally exhibited in the USA two decades later! A beautiful, sentimental and almost perfect film--a fitting end to a great career--too bad he went on to do two more lesser films in later years.

By the way, since writing this review, I have found that this film haunts me and I often think back about it and how touching the film was. While it isn't one of his more famous films, I think other than THE GOLD RUSH it is actually his best film--maybe not the funniest, but among the very best.

I have very little to fault Limelight. Is it Charlie Chaplin's best movie? Probably not, but it is very beautiful as a film. While The Kid gets my vote as Chaplin's most touching film, Limelight is every bit its equal in poignancy.

Limelight is exquisitely filmed, with the cinematography especially truly beautiful. The music is also gorgeous, the dialogue is beautifully written and the story is wonderful and is one of the main reasons why the film is as touching as it is. The acting is great, Claire Bloom I agree occasionally overdoes it but she is mostly very solid as the young dancer, while Chaplin handles the physical comedy faultlessly and manages the subtleties just as effectively. Nigel Bruce is terrific, and Buster Keaton is great in his small role. Seeing as five of his children featured here, Limelight is seemingly very personal for Chaplin and he puts a lot into this film and it shows.

Overall, beautiful and reflective. 9/10 Bethany Cox

After almost half a century in the USA for whom among other things he sold war bonds in two World Wars, Charlie Chaplin got his walking papers from our government. And maybe the unkindest cut of all was that he got them as Limelight was premiering.

Chaplin had retired his little tramp character after Modern Times and he conceded that sound was here to stay. But the tramp kind of made a comeback in this film. As for Chaplin this film is about the old age of a performer who knows nothing else and a last touch of romance in his senior years.

Making her debut in Limelight is Claire Bloom and she plays a fragile young thing with hopes of being a prima ballerina who tries to take her own life with gas. Charlie who also rents a room in the same boardinghouse saves her and the two begin a relationship of sorts. He's a once famous comedian who has seen his best days as public tastes change and takes solace in alcohol as the fuel to keep him going. But she provides him a reason to live other than to drown his sorrows and Chaplin provides Bloom with hope and tenderness.

Charlie who took a great deal of this story from A Star Is Born works some real wonders here. One thing about Chaplin films, they were his personal projects even more than Orson Welles. He wrote, produced, directed, did the music and starred in Limelight and unlike Welles never had to worry about who would release his films, he was a founding partner of United Artists. I was going to make a crack that he didn't do the choreography and then read as the film concluded he did have a hand in it. Was there no limit to this man's talents?

Limelight is most famous for Charlie doing a once in a life time duo act with his silent comic rival Buster Keaton. The two do a very funny routine with a violin and piano. Chaplin worked on his projects only, Keaton however was starting to come back if not as a headliner, as a reliable character player in a lot of films that were way beneath what he had been before.

The performance pieces were nice, but the real key to Limelight is Chaplin expressing his opinions on love and life and how precious both are. The only time I heard it expressed as well is by Burt Lancaster in Birdman Of Alcatraz. It's all quite profound for a clown.