CHAPLIN C-LIMELIGHT (DVD/2 DISC) DVD

Limelight
London, 1914. Calvero (Charles Chaplin), a once-great music hall comedian, weaves drunkenly home to his shabby flat. As he arrives home, he is suddenly sobered by a bad smell. It isn't his shoes, as he originally assumes, but the smell of gas, emanating from behind a locked door. Calvero smashes his way in, finding the unconscious Terry (Claire Bloom). Carrying the girl to his attic apartment, Calvero revives Terry, then asks why she is so determined to kill herself. The girl explains that she has always dreamed of becoming a great dancer, but her legs are paralyzed. Calvero vows to raise enough money to help the girl. He goes back on stage, where his old-fashioned act is greeted with a riot of silence. Now it is Terry's turn to encourage Calvero to go on living-and in so doing, she regains the use of her legs. Hired by the Empire theatre corps de ballet, Terry arranges for the management to hire Calvero as a supernumerary. Impresario Postant (Nigel Bruce), not recognizing the famous Calvero in clown makeup, fires him. Only after Terry pleads with Postant to give Calvero another chance does the producer relent, securing a comeback appearance for the ageing comedian and his old partner (Buster Keaton). Calvero's antics bring down the house, just like the old days, but the effort is too much for the old fellow, and he collapses backstage. As Calvero dies, he proudly watches his protegee Terry carry on the "show must go on tradition" by dancing for the crowd. Thanks to the political climate of the time, Limelight was denied a wide distribution; in fact, it didn't play Los Angeles until 1972, twenty years after its completion. At that time, Chaplin's theme music, which had gained popularity on the "hit parade," was honored with an Academy Award. While the film has moments of unmatched hilarity (especially during the fabled Chaplin-Keaton teaming towards the end), the elegiac tone of Limelight was best summed up by critic Andrew Sarris: "To imagine one's own death, one must imagine the death of the world, that world which has always dangled so helplessly from the tips of Chaplin's eloquent fingers." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Charles Chaplin as Calvero Claire Bloom as Terry, a Ballet Dancer Nigel Bruce as Postant, an Impressario Sydney Chaplin as Neville Andre Eglevsky as Harlequin Melissa Hayden as Columbine Buster Keaton as Piano Accompanist Norman Lloyd as Stage Manager Wheeler Dryden as Clown Marjorie Bennett as Clown

Crew Charles Chaplin - Choreography Andre Eglevsky - Choreography Melissa Hayden - Choreography Robert Aldrich - First Assistant Director Charles Chaplin - Director Charles Chaplin - Composer (Music Score) Larry Russell - Composer (Music Score) Raymond Rasch - Musical Arrangement Karl Struss - Cinematographer Charles Chaplin - Producer Charles Chaplin - Screenwriter

Limelight
If not his final film, this is certainly Chaplin's swan song as well as a tribute to the British musical-hall tradition from which he had sprung. At the time of its release, the director had not had a success in over a decade and had been vilified as a Communist by McCarthyite zealots whose pressure tactics would soon result in the revocation of his U.S. passport. All of this is reflected in the melancholy countenance of the aged performer Calvero, who has nightmares about playing to empty theaters and is only sporadically in command of his former comic genius. In a story reminiscent of the high-minded sentimentality of the silent era, the comedian forgets his woes by ministering to a young ballet dancer suffering from hysterical paralysis. An artist of physical rather than verbal gifts, Chaplin displays his vaunted graceful mimicry, but the script is wooden, ponderous, and studded with cringe-worthy dialogue, despite occasional flashes of wit and insight. A departure from the director's previous work in its somberness, it often evokes the sentimentality of DeSica without his accompanying realism. Yet the performance of the radiant young Claire Bloom is a wonder; that she could revive the comedian's spirits is beyond question. And in the pantomime of the music hall numbers, and especially the final musical-duo routine with former rival Buster Keaton, Chaplin shows why so many have regarded him as the medium's greatest performer. If the film as a whole may rank below the level of his best work, its moments of honest pathos and comic epiphany make it a moving farewell. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
 

Charles Chaplin: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Dramatic Score (winner) Larry Russell: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Dramatic Score (winner) Raymond Rasch: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Dramatic Score (winner)

British Academy of Film and Television, Best Film - Any Source (nominated) National Board of Review, Best Picture (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish, Por, TH, KO Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: cc All-new digital transfer from original Chaplin family vault picture and audio elements Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 as well as original mono Interactive menus Scene access Languages: English & Français Subtitles: English, Français, Español, Português, Chinese, Thai & Korean Chaplin Today - Limelight: documentary by Edgardo Cozarinsky with the participation of Bernardo Bertolucci Introduction by David Robinson: Chaplin's biographer sets the film it its historical and cinematic context Deleted scene: cut by Chaplin after the film's premiere, this scene contains a conversation between Calvero (Chaplin) and a one-armed man Original score: complete musical soundtrack from Limelight Footlights: two excerpts from the original novel, read by Charles Chaplin The Professor (1919): in this uncompleted short, Charles Chaplin played the role of a flea-trainer for the first time Home movies: the Chaplin family in the United States in the early 50s; Chaplin's return to the places of his London chlidhood in 1959 Photo gallery: 200 production stills, preparatory sketches, Chaplin and Keaton by W. Eugene Smith Poster gallery Theatrical trailers Scenes from films in the Chaplin Collection DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: G DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 132 min Part of Series: The Chaplin Collection   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- The Film 1. Directed by Charles Chaplin [1:13] 2. Gas and Poison [8:29] 3. Mrs. Alsop [4:51] 4. Performing Fleas [7:08] 5. Mrs. Calvero [6:18] 6. Love Love Love Love [5:20] 7. Kippers! [5:52] 8. The Manager [2:33] 9. The Story of Terry [8:57] 10. The Middlesex [11:06] 11. Life Isn't a Gag Anymore [5:46] 12. A True Artist [4:35] 13. Columbine [4:56] 14. What's Happened to Calvero? [12:20] 15. You've Done It! [5:18] 16. The Streets [5:55] 17. Gala [6:19] 18. Violin and Piano [9:11] 19. This Is a Wonderful Evening [7:59] 20. The End [5:42] Side #2 -- Special Features 1. Chapter 1 [1:25] 2. Chapter 2 [1:19] 3. Chapter 3 [1:21] 4. Chapter 4 [:27] 5. Chapter 5 [5:09] 6. Chapter 6 [:35] 7. Chapter 7 [1:49] 8. Chapter 8 [1:39] 9. Chapter 9 [:22] 10. Chapter 10 [:33] 11. Chapter 11 [1:12] 12. Chapter 12 [:25] 13. Chapter 13 [:25] 14. Chapter 14 [:40] 15. Chapter 15 [:30] 16. Chapter 16 [1:23] 17. Chapter 17 [:44] 18. Chapter 18 [1:22] 19. Chapter 19 [:22] 20. Chapter 20 [:31] 21. Chapter 21 [1:24] 22. Chapter 22 [10:03] 23. Chapter 23 [1:35] 24. Chapter 24 [1:41] 25. Chapter 25 [:40] 26. Chapter 26 [:36] 27. Chapter 27 [:17] 28. Chapter 28 [1:06] 29. Chapter 29 [2:34] 30. Chapter 30 [1:48] 31. Chapter 31 [1:18] 32. Chapter 32 [1:18] 33. Chapter 33 [5:12] 34. Chapter 34 [2:05] 35. Chapter 35 [2:28] 36. Chapter 36 [1:33]