Saw Limelight, nearly the last film starring and directed by Charles Chaplin. It's a talky but is full of the sentimental gentility and mugging of old silent films. It's a very indulgent film - it follows an aging , alcoholic vaudeville comedian, played by Chaplin of course, who happens upon a ballerina mid-suicide-attempt. Together, they re-forge their artistic sparks and try to make it in the world.
This film is nakedly about Chaplin giving a victory-lap to his greatly successful career. The central comedian is perpetually beloved and everyone who comes upon him is shocked that he's not working anymore. Everyone loves him, even his cruel, bullish landlady. His alcoholism is never that serious or realistic. The film starts out with the aging comedian lying in bed, listening to beautiful music played by tramps on the street-corner. Everything's so precious.
That said, it's fun to be swept away by a sentimental film once in a while. And while the sentiment is omnipresent it's only occasionally cloying. I enjoyed the movie overall. The ballerina character has not aged super well however. She is fairly wooden, even the throws of her failed suicide attempt. In addition to being a somewhat slight character, she's often sidelined or ignored. Her pre-show stage-fright is slapped away and her love-life is stage-managed by her fairy godfather, Chaplin.
I'm being really harsh here, and know that this is by no means a bad film. There's a few bum notes, definitely, but it's a winning film that's slightly creaky, showing its age a bit. It is like the career of the central comedian, of Charles Chaplin himself - an ouroboros of a film.
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