I heard it won the 1972 Academy award for Best Score. It wasn't elible before because it had never played in a Los Angeles theatre. Anybody know why it took 20 years for this to play in California? I thought all movies were shown there first back then.
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Hi!
The simple answer is... politics!
He was accused in the US "McCarthy era" of being a communist. He went to the UK, in 1952, for the premiere of "Limelight", and when he tried to return to the US, he was denied entrance. Only in 1972 (20 years after the premiere of the film!!), was the movie seen in a wide American release. That is why the movie was only nominated in 1972 by the academy for Best Score.
In 1952 he moved to Switzerland and only returned to the US in 1972 to receive the "Best Score" oscar and another special oscar "Academy Honorary Award" for "for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". When he received this oscar, he received the longest standing ovation in Academy Award history, lasting a full five minutes...
Hope this answers your question.
Sérgio
Not to put too fine of a point on it, but Chaplin never tried to return. He was told shortly after he left the US that his re-entry permit had been revoked, and he would need to be interviewed about his political views and what many considered to be his "immoral" behavior. The fact that he never applied for US citizenship despite living there for 40 years left him open to this. If he had wanted to come back, it was doubtful he would have been denied, he just chose not to return. His popularity had faded, and the US public had a largely negative attitude towards him...and he of them:
"Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better, that I was fed up of America's insults and moral pomposity".
It was largely Chaplin's decision not to release Limelight widely in the US.
Theatre chains banned it in parts of the country and LA was one of those. It did play (and did well) in New York City. It also played here in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Tower Theatre where I saw it at least three times. I loved the film at the age of 15 and have continued to care for it over the years. LIMELIGHT did play at another theatre here in Salt Lake and then disappeared. I would see it again while serving in the Army (Germany) while in Paris, France in 1962. Three of us went to a matinee showing and couldn't get seats together it was so crowded. At the climactic scene where Chaplin does a routine with Buster Keaton the laughter was so great from the packed audience that I thought the row of seats were coming loose from the floorboards. Seldom have I ever heard laughter from a movie audience to match that screening.
shareNice memories.
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