"LIMELIGHT" NOT IN THE LIMELIGHT

Limelight was a movie starring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton which was made in 1952. It received an Oscar for its score in 1973. Normally, only new pictures from the prior year can win an Academy Award, but when Limelight came out, Chaplin was being accused of being a Commie, and only East Coast theaters would show it. For Oscar purposes, the official release date of a movie is determined by when it first plays in Los Angeles, and, in this case, that did not occur until 1972.

Limelight received outstanding reviews from high-brow film critics and was very popular in Europe and Japan. Its sales in the USA, however, were a lackadaisical $1 million--most likely because most theaters refused to screen it.

I have never seen the picture and thus cannot legitimately pass judgment on it. However, the descriptions of it I have read suggest to me that it may be one of those poignant, bittersweet, feeling-sharing type of treacle fests which would bore me to tears. 

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