The Circus

The Circus was released in 1928, and many consider it Chaplin's last comedy for comedy's sake. It was fraught with production problems, including Chaplin's divorce, the death of his mother, a fire, and the IRS breathing down his neck. The result is an amiable comedy but not anything near his greatest work.

The action centers around a struggling circus. The owner and ringmaster is a horrible man (Al Ernest Garcia). His step-daughter is a horse ride (Merna Kennedy). When she makes a mistake, he denies her food. Enter Chaplin, as the Little Tramp. He is chased by police, who think he is a pickpocket, and enters the Big Top. His antics are thought to be intentional, and the crowd loves him.

Garcia hires him, but Chaplin is only funny when he doesn't try to be. The clowns try to work with him, but he doesn't get it. Still, he sticks around, and falls in love with Kennedy. But she is in love with the tightrope walker (Harry Crocker), and ultimately, as in other films, he will sacrifice his own desires for others.

A few scenes stand out. One is a scene shot in a hall of mirrors, then Orson Welles must have remembered when he shot The Lady From Shanghai (how did they do this without the camera being reflected?). But some scenes fall flat, such as when Chaplin is trapped inside a cage with a lion. There's no real sense of danger, and it's not particularly funny, either.

What I enjoyed most has more to do with the passing of time. The feel of what it was like to be part of a circus at that time comes across strongly, especially the end, when the circus moves on to the next time in horse-drawn wagons. Of course Chaplin is left alone, walking off into the sunset, as his Little Tramp character can never fully be part of the society he intersects with.

Chaplin was initially nominated for four Oscars for this film--writing, directing, acting and producing, but the Academy decided to honor him with a special Oscar instead. He wouldn't win another until 1972, when he won an honorary Oscar and a dramatic score Oscar for Limelight (twenty years after its release--more on that when I get to Limelight).