Classic Movies

Most excited for?

The TCM Festival in LA is just a few days away. A schedule so jam packed it is hard to find a suitable itinerary that doesn't still lead to many missed opportunities (as I spoke about in my last post)

But what about that one movie in which you look forward to the most...

Some might say Steamboat Bill Jr.

Or possibly The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Maybe it could be the conversation with the timeless Sophia Loren?

For me, while I am excited for all of the above, my favorite movie being shown at this years film fest is Limelight with Charlie Chaplin.

Sure he has other movies that were better

- Namely- 

The Kid 

City Lights 

The Great Dictator 

Modern Times 

The Gold Rush 

But that is the problem with a talented performer like Chaplin. He has so many iconic movies and all time greats that a wonderful movie like Limelight rarely get spoken about.
Made in 1952 the movie is without question Chaplin's farewell movie, an epilogue of sorts. While he did one more movie after this (A King in New York 1957). This was clearly his take a bow and walk off stage movie.

While the spotlight burned bright for Chaplin and Buster Keaton in prior years, they were thought of as legends but beyond their prime. The casting of Keaton in the movie was a nod from Chaplin to his greatness and a help to Keaton financially who was broke at the time.

When the spotlight dimmed for the last time on Calvero, the lead character, and for Chaplin himself there is a sense of melancholy at having to walk away. You can feel it coming through on the screen as you could with most of the emotions that Chaplin wanted you to feel. By this time, the way he was treated by a country Hell bent on a witch hunt, had simply worn him down, and the sadness of being forgotten is a theme that pops up in the movie and in Chaplin's own life at this point.

This will be my first time seeing the movie on the big screen. I hope the crowd has packed the theaters, nothing would please Charlie more than to know that people would be packing the theaters almost 60 years later to see this underrated gem.