Depressed over her failed dance career, Terry (Claire Bloom) attempts suicide, only to be rescued by Calvero (Charles Chaplin), an impoverished, once-famous stage clown. Together they must look to each other to find meaning and hope in their lives.
Departing from most forms of Hollywood stereotype, the film has a flavor all its own in the sincere quality of the story anent the onetime great vaudemime and his rescue of a femme ballet student.
Elements of self parody from the master of slapstick leave you yearning for the early work that made his name. But it's worth a watch to see Chaplin and Keaton in one of few on-screen appearances together.
With Limelight, for one last, brief moment, it's like old times even as the new age begins and Chaplin relinquishes his crown to the younger generations.
Intended as a tragicomedy, if not a tearjerker, it is a two-thirds bore that comes to life in the last half-hour or so, when the old-master clown stops trying to be pathetic and reverts to his inimitable proper stuff.
It was Chaplin's last great film, and it showcases not just a love for the performing arts (she's a ballerina, he's a vaudevillian), but also Chaplin's effortless sentimentality.
