On Saturday 16 May, the Musée d’Orsay is celebrating the 120th anniversary of cinematography, and will be transformed into the world’s most beautiful movie theatre for one night only. Projected on a giant screen installed in the nave of the former Orsay railway station, visitors will be able to watch for the first time or rediscover films from the great pioneers and illusionists of cinema, from Georges Méliès and his enchanting A Trip to the Moon to Charlie Chaplin, during a “Chaplin Festival” at 9 pm.
Charlie’s daydreaming silhouette will appear under the museum’s great clock.
The Gold Rush originally premiered at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 26th, 1925 as a silent film. Though Chaplin resisted including dialogue in films for some years after the introduction of sound, the advent of sound nevertheless enabled him to compose complete synchronized scores for his films, beginning with the release of City Lights in 1931. Chaplin returned to The Gold Rush in 1942, and revised it by replacing the silent-era title cards with a narration and by composing his own musical score. In the coming days, we’ll publish a new track from the full score once a day on youtube so you can listen from anywhere! Subscribe to our Youtube channel or follow @ChaplinOfficial on Twitter to keep up with our daily posts.
The Kid (1921) is perhaps Chaplin’s most potent marriage of comedy and high emotion. The story relates how an unmarried mother abandons a baby, which is found and unwillingly adopted by the Tramp.
Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, edited, and starred in the film, and in 1971, he composed a new musical score. In the coming days, we’ll publish a new track from the full soundtrack once a day on youtube so you can listen from anywhere! Visit our Youtube channel.
Criterion will release Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight on May 19th. Pre-order today!
Charlie Chaplin’s masterful drama about the twilight of a former vaudeville star is among the writer-director’s most touching films. Chaplin plays Calvero, a once beloved musical-comedy performer, now a washed-up alcoholic who lives in a small London flat. A glimmer of hope arrives when he meets a beautiful but melancholy ballerina (Claire Bloom) who lives downstairs. An elegant mix of the comic and the tragic, this poignant film also features Buster Keaton in an extended cameo, marking the only time the two silent comedy icons appeared together on-screen. Made at a time when Chaplin was under attack by the American press and far right, Limelight was barely distributed in the United States upon its initial release, but it is now considered one of his essential and most personal works.
Disc Features
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Chaplin’s “Limelight”: Its Evolution and Intimacy, a new video essay by Charlie Chaplin biographer David Robinson
- New interviews with actors Claire Bloom and Norman Lloyd
- Chaplin Today: “Limelight,” a 2002 documentary on the film, featuring director Bernardo Bertolucci and actors Bloom and Sydney Chaplin
- Outtake from the film
- Archival audio recording of Charlie Chaplin reading two short excerpts from his novella Footlights
- Two short films by Chaplin: A Night in the Show (1915) and the never completed The Professor (1919)
Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by critic Peter von Bagh
For those of you in the U.S.A. and Canada, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and Monsieur Verdoux will be on TCM on February 7th (4:15 am ET) and February 17th (9:15 am ET), respectively. Don’t miss them!
For French-speaking Chaplin fans, listen to a special episode of France Culture’s program “Carnet nomade” dedicated to Charlie Chaplin : http://bit.ly/1whO22e
Guests :
José Moure, co-author of Charlot : histoire d’un mythe (Champs / Flammarion)
Kate Guyonvarch & Charly Sistovaris of Association Chaplin
Kate Guyonvarch & Charly Sistovaris / COLETTE FELLOUS © RADIO FRANCE