The Circus (film)
"The Circus" is a 1928 silent film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, renowned for his iconic character, "the tramp." In this comedic tale, the tramp inadvertently becomes the star of a circus, where he takes on the role of a clown while navigating a love triangle with the circus director's stepdaughter and a tightrope walker. Despite facing numerous challenges during production—including tax investigations, a highly publicized divorce, and natural disasters that damaged the set—Chaplin managed to create a film that balances emotional depth with slapstick humor.
The film showcases a variety of ingenious visual gags, such as the tramp's mishaps during a magician's act and his comical failures in clown performances. Although it received critical acclaim upon release, Chaplin later allowed "The Circus" to fade into obscurity, not even mentioning it in his autobiography. The film was not re-released until 1970, but has since gained recognition as a significant example of Chaplin's mastery of comedy. Notably, it earned Chaplin a special Academy Award in 1929 for his multifaceted contributions to the film, affirming his status as one of the greatest comic filmmakers of his era.
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Subject Terms
The Circus (film)
Identification: A silent film about circus performers, featuring Charlie Chaplin’s tramp character
Director: Charles “Charlie” Chaplin
Date: 1928
Though he was beset with every type of problem during the film’s production, Chaplin managed to create a well-balanced masterpiece and perhaps one of his funniest features, in which the emotional aspects of the story and the acting mesh perfectly with the film’s slapstick comedy.
Charlie Chaplin believed that great comedy can emerge from tragic or traumatic circumstances, which seems to be true of his little-known comedic masterpiece The Circus (1928). Its production suffered many delays because of Chaplin’s tax investigations, a highly publicized divorce suit, and natural disasters that destroyed the set, among other obstacles. In spite of its critical acclaim, Chaplin allowed this motion picture to sink into obscurity, not even mentioning it in his 1964 autobiography nor rereleasing it until 1970.
In the film, Chaplin’s popular character known as “the tramp” appears alongside actors Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker, and Al Ernest Garcia. The tramp stumbles into a circus performance and unwittingly steals the show. He is hired as a clown, only to fall in love with the circus director’s stepdaughter, whose heart ultimately belongs to the circus’s tightrope walker. Defeated as a suitor and a professional clown (he is only unintentionally funny), the tramp encourages the circus girl to marry the tightrope walker, at which point he leaves the circus.
The quality and pace of this feature-length film’s visual gags is astonishing: The tramp inadvertently ruins a magician’s act, hilariously botches the comic acts of other clowns at his tryout, and is even attacked by monkeys as he loses his harness, pants, and almost his balance on the tightrope. While there are touches of drama, pathos, and sentiment, the pace of the many ingenious and remarkable gags, jokes, and visual gems of humor never slackens.
Impact
Though a relatively unknown and underrated feature film, The Circus stands out as a minor masterpiece of the pure slapstick comedy Chaplin perfected throughout his career, and it has recently been reevaluated as even more of a critical success than when first released. The first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 gave Chaplin a special award for his “versatility and genius” as an actor, writer, producer, and director of The Circus, cementing Chaplin’s status as the top comic filmmaker and star of his time.
Bibliography
Robinson, David. Chaplin: His Life and Art. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994.
Schickel, Richard. The Essential Chaplin: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006.
Vance, Jeffrey. Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003.