The Circus (1928)

Hilarious

One can argue that Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in greater films than his neglected 1928 gem, The Circus, his last fully silent film, which he also wrote with Joseph Plunkett, but one cannot reasonably argue that he made a funnier film; nor can one argue that The Circus is not a great film itself. Yet, critics, fans of Chaplin, and even Chaplin himself, long overlooked this great film. The reason has more to do with the highly publicized divorce trial from Lita Grey that Chaplin endured while filming the feature over two years, as well as a host of other production disasters. Chaplin was so paranoid he felt his wife would try to steal the film, so hid the negatives. The film was not even mentioned in Chaplin's autobiography, nor was it screened in the years after its release, until, in 1970, Chaplin rereleased it with a new score that he composed.
As a Chaplin aficionado, I can state that no Chaplin film goes as long- 69 minutes, with such sustained laughter. There are more memorable gags in this one film than in any other film he made- or perhaps anyone has made since, and it deservedly won him his first Academy Award at the first ceremony in 1929. It was a special award for Versatility And Genius In Writing, Acting, Directing, And Producing. Obviously, these were the days before schlock like Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Monster, and Titanic were considered `great films,' worthy of such awards. Yet, even had Chaplin not buried the film in his vault for decades, the very fact that it was made between two of his greatest critical and financial successes, The Gold Rush and City Lights, two indisputable silent film era masterpieces, may have fated the film to its nearly forgotten status anyway.
As pure comedy, perhaps the only film that has as ceaseless a run of comic gags that all work is the 1960s all-star comedy classic It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but that film could lay no claim to great nor higher art. Perhaps the only downside to The Circus- or rather the DVD, is that it does not offer the original film from 1928, replete with a silent film organ score- say by the great silent organist Rosa Rio? Instead, we only have the overwrought, and didactic musical score Chaplin composed in 1970. His opening rendition of the saccharine Swing Little Girl, sung over the opening titles, is plain bad- both as music and as sung, but thankfully passes quickly. As with his unfortunate 1942 reissue of The Gold Rush- with added narration, this music guides the audience too much, although the film's main theme, I must admit, wins you over at the end. Fortunately, that film's DVD comes with both the 1942 reissue and the 1925 original- which is superior. Some artists never know when to leave greatness alone. Even so, The Circus is the purest and least flawed Chaplin feature film ever made, in that it distills every single aspect of his greatness and, yes, even that grossly overused term- genius. For anyone with a love of pure cinema, silent cinema, and its history, this film and DVD is a must to see and own. But, if you have heart problems, I advise you to be wary, because it is so funny it could literally hurt you....but wouldn't that be the best way to go?
September 18, 2008

Running Away FROM the Circus

This was the Chaplin film that almost didn't get made, and once it did get made, it still remained relatively obscure. Chaplin was going through various crises in his personal life (a divorce, tax problems). On top of that, there was lost footage (of the magnificent tightrope scene too!) that could not be re-duplicated. Somehow Chaplin & Co. overcame the obstacles to create a durable--if somewhat neglected--comedy classic.

For sheer comedy, it's hard to think of too many Chaplin film bits that top his tightrope act or the accidental sabotage of the magician's routine. Having the Little Tramp hook up with and play off of real circus clowns was a stroke of genius. The Tramp is a clown who has no need of a costume, other than his usual comic attire. He's funniest when he doesn't realize it. And that, of course, is the point. As in most Chaplin films, there are poignant moments as well, when he falls in love with a fetching young woman--in this case, the circus owner's abused acrobat daughter--who will never come to care for him in quite the same way.

One can speculate about how the typically "Chaplinesque" themes of being misunderstood, thwarted at every turn, and not fully appreciated interested reflected events in the filmmaker's own life. It was certainly a difficult film to make, and a certain melancholy comes through despite the many yuks. That's to be expected in a Chaplin film, of course, but THE CIRCUS seems especially whistful and the film's ending, with the Tramp's choosing to remain behind and to let the circus run away from HIM is haunting. February 16, 2008

Superb...One of Chaplin's Best.

"The Circus" is one of Charlie Chaplin's best and least-known films. It's got so many comic moments, so much poignancy, that it deserves to rank right up there with some of his best films like "City Lights" or "The Gold Rush." I was hesitant to see this film, not because I didn't think it would be good but because I was afraid that it wouldn't match up to the other films I've seen by him and it would cause me to think less of the man. About ten minutes into the film, I knew I was wrong. If "City Lights" proved how poignant and sentimental Chaplin's work could be, "The Circus" proves how funny he is. Chaplin's famous character The Tramp once again finds himself in a series of comic misadventures that begin when he's mistaken for a pickpocket. On the run from the cops (as is the man that has been pickpocketed), he finds himself in one of those all mirror rooms before running outside and posing as a mechanical figurine. Then he ends up at the circus, where he becomes the ailing shows main attraction...Even though he's not entirely aware of it. As the heads of the circus treat him like a slave, he falls for a young woman. As usual, he doesn't end up with her and, for the record, that is not a spoiler. The final shot is very symbolic and very well done. But there are so many great scenes in this film; The opening, the scenes where he is chased by a horse, the scene where he ends up in the sleeping lion's cage, and the tight-rope walking scene. In my opinion, "The Circus" is also one of Chaplin's most entertaining efforts. As a person who has never really found silent films that entertaining, from me that's saying a lot. Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, starred, and composed the music for the film and the transfer of the DVD is absolutely superb. If you're reading this and happen to be a huge fan of Chaplin, but haven't seen this I recommend you get it right now. If you've never seen a Chaplin film, I think this would be good to start with before you begin watching his masterpieces. This can also serve as a good introduction piece. When a silent film is so good that it makes you forget it's silent, than you know you've found a good one. Well, that's the case with "The Circus."

GRADE: A-
February 18, 2007

Possibly his most underrated

While perhaps not up to quite the same fine level as, say, 'City Lights' or 'Monsieur Verdoux,' this film is a small minor masterpiece in its own right, and frequently cited as Chaplin's most underrated film. Viewing the film, it's hard to believe that the filming experience was such a nightmare, what with things like fires, heavy rains, theft, and Chaplin's messy divorce from his second wife. Generally speaking, Chaplin's features seem to have a bit more drama than endless gags (not that that makes them any less powerful or classic), with the focus being on the narrative storyline and not just a series of funny incidents, but this film rather plays like one of his earlier short subjects, where the laughs were far more frequent. The storyline is simple enough: The Tramp, on the run from the police yet again, even though he didn't really do anything that terribly wrong, eventually stumbles into a circus that's come to town. He makes friends with the horribly mistreated daughter of the circus owner, and falls in love with her, but like in just about all of his films, this love too is unrequited. The pretty bareback rider really loves Rex, the new tightrope walker. While in the circus, Charlie has all sorts of comic misadventures, most famously in the scene where the monkeys are climbing all over him while he's on the tightrope after he's accidentally lost the hidden wire that was keeping him balanced. After this latest mishap, it seems as though his future in the circus is over, though with the scheme he then hatches, things might not be so lost after all.

The extras on the bonus disc are plentiful--movie trailers, a poster and picture gallery, a delightful excerpt from the cute 1923 Jackie Coogan film 'Circus Days,' three brief home movies, a whole extra sequence (26 minutes in length) that was deleted from the final cut of the film, the usual introduction by David Robinson, the trailer for all of the films in the Chaplin Collection, and the featurette on the significance and influence of the film today, footage of the Hollywood premiere in January 1928, a brief film shot by Chaplin's chief cameraman Rollie Totheroh, of 3-D test footage, and simulatenous footage from two different cameras during a scene from the deleted sequence. Unfortunately, none of these bonus films have any soundtracks, not even just some generic piano or organ accompaniment. With all of the care that went into assembling the DVDs in the Chaplin Collection, one would think that the producers would have cared enough to have found soundtracks for all of these bonus short films on the discs.

Quite possibly his most underrated silent feature, if not his most underrated feature period, this film is just as wonderful as all of his other features and, due to how it often plays like one of his shorts from the Teens instead of his more serious features, it could very well be an ideal introduction to Chaplin for a new fan. December 18, 2006

A Friend's Photo

The technical quality of the DVD is excellent. My interest in the movie is the result of seeing a photo on a friend's wall of Charlie Chaplin and an actor. The actor, Hugh Sasson, was the Uncle of my friend's mother. He appears early in the movie as the person who has his pocket picked. The photo is the shot in front of the hot dog stand when the victim sees the tramp paying for a hot dog out of his wallet. We set the photo on the TV and stepped through this scene on the DVD one frame at a time. It gave us all goose bumps as somehow the extreme slow motion made them seem alive in real time.
Additionally, the story of the production difficulties found on disk 2 are fascinating. October 2, 2006

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