Rating: 
Summary: One of Chaplin's masterpieces
Review: LIMELIGHT is an essential film for anyone who loves Chaplin or the cinema. END
Rating:
Summary: The Show Must Go On
Review: LIMELIGHT must serve as the ultimate "love it or hate it" film. If you fit into the "hate it" category, then you'll find this a silly, self-serving, self-indulgent, over-long piece of megalomania. You may think of it as overly sentimental and possibly emotionally manipulative, with Chaplin pitying himself at every turn and pitching all his neuroses onto the big screen. On the other hand, I absolutely adore it. Sure, it's melodrama, but it's the purest and best form of melodrama. It comes straight from Chaplin's heart and the autobiographical feel gives the sad moments just that much more of a kick.
Set in London in 1914, the story and its characters are very simple. An old music hall clown at the end of his career turns to alcoholism and a young ballerina loses her confidence and attempts suicide. If that sounds depressing, you're right; and that's only the film's opening sequence. The movie isn't an out and out downer though; it has its emotional highs and lows as the pair pursues the only thing that brings meaning to their lives -- the stage. It's interesting to note that during the dream sequence where Calvero (Chaplin) performs alone, the audience disappears; when his dream places Terry (Claire Bloom) alongside him, the applause echoes. And, of course, without Calvero to encourage her, the ballerina cannot perform.
Odd to say this about a Chaplin film, but the dialog is marvelous. It shouts out to be quoted, with Chaplin's character opining on everything up to and including the meaning of life. Sure, it isn't realistic, but the speeches are great and fit in with the movie's bombastic attitude.
It's the relationship between the young ballerina and the old clown that brings me back to this film. The documentary touches on this briefly and raises the right questions. Are they in love? Can they be? Are they fooling themselves as well as each other? They both clearly need each other, but how self-destructive is the relationship? Calvero tries to teach Terry to be optimistic while standing on the cliff of depression himself and Terry praises Calvero's abilities while unable to come to terms with her own. The questions and contradictions make for a very thought-provoking experience.
Much has been made about Buster Keaton's extended cameo near the film's conclusion. I've read that during the filming Keaton was much funnier in their comedy scene together and Chaplin (being director) edited the result in such a way as to throw the spotlight back on himself. I've also read denials that this ever happened, and I've even read that even if this were true, it makes sense in the context of how the film is progressing (Calvero being upstaged at this moment would have wrecked the whole point of the scene). I honestly don't know what's true, but Keaton's presence is more than welcome, serving as a grumpy counterpoint, anchoring the film before it floats away in schmaltz. It seems oddly fitting that he is present in the background as a witness to Calvero/Chaplin's farewell.
The DVD extras work well, with a whole second disc devoted purely to features. The "Chaplin Today" mini-documentaries have been the highlights of these Chaplin DVDs and the one on here continues that tradition, a nice balance being struck between contemporary analysis and interviews with the surviving cast. In addition, included is all that exists of a short film from 1919 in which Chaplin plays the headman in a flea circus, a gag which he would eventually use in LIMELIGHT.
The film's Oscar winning soundtrack is also available on the second disc, though one can only select tracks and cannot rewind or fast forward through individual selections. Also included are two homemade movies from the Chaplin estate, the first being the family running around enjoying themselves in the US in 1950, while the second documents Chaplin returning to his childhood London neighborhood in 1959. They're about as dull as one would expect watching someone's vacation films to be. The selections are silent (the only noise is the gentle whirring of the projector) and the second piece could really have used some narration to explain what we are looking at.
LIMELIGHT works on so many different levels. It's the story of two fictional characters. But it's also the story of the end of the music halls. And it's also clearly autobiographical, with Chaplin sensing the end of his career and his life. And, ultimately, it's a comment on humanity, the old fading away and their place being taken by the young. It's a bittersweet movie, with even the final tragedy somehow giving us hope for the future. An excellent film if you allow yourself to become caught up in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Chaplin's Last Film Made In America
Review: Many people see Chaplin's "Limelight" as a semiautobiography, while, true, there are similar traits among the characters, "Limelight" none-the-less is a very enjoyable piece of work by the "king of comedy". Written & Directed by Chaplin this is the story of a once great comedian who has come to a decline due to old age and drinking, but mostly drinking. He tells us he still has ideas. He wants desperately to make one big finally comeback. After that he can die a happy man. Through his suffering and feeling of worthlessness he meets a young women, Terry (Claire Bloom). She herself was once a dancer, who says she just simply can't dance anymore. She even tried killing herself. Which is how these two met. So basically, one man who seems to have little hope for the future convinces a women that great things will happen in the future. It could be seen basically as a story of rediscover in one's self. A lot of people...hate when Chaplin talks (preaches) about the meaning of life. They don't like to hear his ideas, they say it's over-dramatic. I don't know about that one. I think his words hit the right spot to make this a tragedy. It's as if Chaplin is crying out for help. All of the acting in this movie is nicely done from Chaplin and Bloom to Nigel Bruce (Postant) who plays an old friend of Calvero (Chaplin). The hightlight scene as we should all know by now is the last scene with Buster Keaton & Charlie Chaplin. A majority of people say that was Keaton's shining hour. Watch for yourself and see. It is said Chaplin deleted several minutes from that scene between them. If your a fan of strickly Chaplin's comedies like "Modern Times" and "City Lights" I think it's pretty safe to say you'll enjoy this movie. Now here's some trival for all of you big shots out there. Did you know that Claire Bloom was unavailable for some re-shoots for the movie? And at a certain scene (I'm not going to give it away) Chaplin's wife can be seen.
Rating:
Summary: Ken from Brooklyn
Review: So many aspects of this film are wonderful...not just Chaplin's relationship to his dwindling careet or to the drink he needs to revive the ecstasy of performance...not just the father/sister/lover/nurse(!) relationship he has with the dancer...not just the routine with Buster. There are so many important small moments in this film, my favorite are the scenes with the landlady and those with the tramp band. Chaplin lays it all bare here, but perhaps it is a difficult film for anyone who is not also a clown.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful film
Review: Some films leave me with a sense of wonder and amazement, and this was one of those films. Very beautiful, elegant, worldly, and emotional.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, moving--brilliant!
Review: That there are persons who dislike Limelight astounds me. My only conclusion (and this is well supported) is that the critics of Limelight don't get it. Chaplin's character, Calvero, doesn't philosophize endlessly because Chaplin is a blowhard; he overthinks life so that he doesn't lose his grip on it. Far from being indulgent, Limelight absurdly exaggerates ideas which must have been meaningful to Chaplin for the sake of characterization--it's sacrifical art. And it works. God! does it work. Limelight will make you cry if you have a soul and laugh if you have a sense of humor. This is one of Chaplin's best--up there with City Lights and The Great Dictator. "I like working on the streets," Calvero says; "I guess it's the Tramp in me." Sniffle.
Rating:
Summary: Chaplin's philosophy of life
Review: There is a review of this film by Scott Rivers'in this section and he states: "It's way overlong and suffers from Charlie Chaplin's phony philosophizing. . . . but Chaplin undercuts his admirable efforts with his indulgent monologues on life, death and failure. His screenplay could have used another rewrite or, even better, a 'BS detector.'" This film is not perfect, however, Scott Rivers misses the whole point of the film and Chaplin's message. Limelight is THE vehicle for Chaplin's giving us his thoughts on life and is his personal "summing up". It is a wondeful film to those who can appreciate the message.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant Ending
Review: This is a fascinating and complex film that, if you are a Chaplin fan, will hit you with many emotions and make you think. The movie is rather dreamlike, in the sense that it re-invokes memories of his father, the music halls of his youth, his no-longer-attainable desires for beautiful young ingenues, and nighmares of losing an audience. As the last film he ever made in the US before he was declared persona non grata, it is an apt bookend to a 38 year film career. If the tramp was killed off by Monsier Verdoux, Charlie's remaining avatars confront death with elegance and melancholy in this underrated treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant Ending
Review: This is a fascinating and complex film that, if you are a Chaplin fan, will hit you with many emotions and make you think. The movie is rather dreamlike, in the sense that it re-invokes memories of his father, the music halls of his youth, his no-longer-attainable desires for beautiful young ingenues, and nighmares of losing an audience. As the last film he ever made in the US before he was declared persona non grata, it is an apt bookend to a 38 year film career. If the tramp was killed off by Monsier Verdoux, Charlie's remaining avatars confront death with elegance and melancholy in this underrated treasure.
Rating: 
Summary: A flawed Gem
Review: This is Chaplin's swan song (though not his final film). He says goodbye to his audience,and, many would argue, to his good senses.
This is not Chaplin's Magnum Opus, but niether is it any embarassment. It might be high-handed, indulgent, and pretentious (I mean who are we kidding, a ballerina and a clown, he had to know this would be heroin to the New York film critics), but it is very honest, Chaplin still has his charisma, and, more often than not, he hits the bullseye.
If one can overlook the missteps, they will be handsomely rewarded with the many triumphs of the film. The dream sequence which features Claire Bloom is both witty and touching, with some of the dialogue reaching the heights of Oscar Wilde, while the scene in which Calvero's manager tells him, "your name is poison"... well it's a grim, unflinching, and completely honest look at exactly the tone Chaplin's life had taken at the time.
No, it's not perfect, niether was "the White Album", but I'll take this film over any other sound picture Chaplin made.
Stand not in trepidation.
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