Limelight

Allowed 137 minutes • 1952 • 8.0

Chaplin's film Limelight from 1952 is a tribute to an earlier entertainment era and is also a bittersweet story about an aging music hall artist who saves a young ballerina, played by Claire Bloom, from committing suicide. He also helps her recover some of her self-esteem. One of the highlights of the film is the unforgettable concert performance where Chaplin is accompanied on the piano by Buster Keaton, his biggest competitor in the genre at the time. In 1973, more than twenty years after its premiere, Limelight won an Oscar for Best Music. This was made possible since the film didn’t have its premiere in the United States until the year before. Claire Bloom had been awarded a BAFTA award in 1953 for Most Promising Newcomer to Film.