The Circus (1928)
DVD5+DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 4:3 | Cover | 01:11:54 | 3,52 Gb + 6,32 Gb
Two Musical Scores AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps with English intertitles
Subtitles: German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic,
Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian
Genre: Comedy, Family, Drama
DVD5+DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 4:3 | Cover | 01:11:54 | 3,52 Gb + 6,32 Gb
Two Musical Scores AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps with English intertitles
Subtitles: German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic,
Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian
Genre: Comedy, Family, Drama
harlie's Tramp character finds himself at a circus where he is promptly gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the bigtop, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The ringmaster/owner immediately hires him, but discovers the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor just happens to always in the Bigtop at showtime. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls for the owner's lovely acrobatic daughter, who is abused by her father. His chances seem good, until a dashing rival comes in and Charlies feels he has to compete with him.
IMDB
Chaplin's 1928 release, The Circus, remains his most overlooked film–so ignored that Chaplin doesn't even give it a single mention in his autobiography! The only logical explanation for Chaplin's omission seems to derive from the extreme hardships and challenges he faced during its two-year production, because the final product contains some of the Tramp's best comic moments. Between messy divorce litigation with second wife Lita Grey, a torrential rain that destroyed the circus set, a fire that destroyed the set a second time, and high school hooligans stealing the props for the final scene, Chaplin ignored the project for many years.
Chaplin formed the plot around its climatic scene with the Tramp high above the crowd on tightrope, being attacked by voracious small monkeys that climb on his head, bite his nose, and pull off his pants. Beginning with that image, Chaplin fashions a plot that has a floundering circus troop struggling to eke out a living under its frustrated and overbearing ring master/proprietor (Al Ernest Garcia). He berates his humorous sad sack clowns for not bringing in the crowds and punishes his horse riding step-daughter (Merna Kennedy) for not jumping through the right hoops. The Tramp is charmed by the daughter and ends up joining the circus as property master after inadvertently throwing the audience into hysterics through his naturally funny mannerisms.
To get the Tramp on the tightrope, Charlie brings in a handsome rival suitor, Rex (Harry Crocker), who thrills the girl with his death defying high wire acrobatics. Natural jealousy develops quickly, but the good hearted Tramp recognizes Rex's sincerity and his own fear of commitment to provide a suitably appropriate finale and traditional walk into the sunset.
Along the way, Chaplin achieves some of his top comic scenes. Among them: a hilariously complicated chase scene through a Fun House maze of mirrors that confuses various parties, a perfectly executed Chaplin animation of a moving clockworks that allows him to bash a pickpocket, and a close encounter with a lion and tiger. As with any Chaplin vehicle, the meticulous producer/director/actor demanded numerous takes to achieve perfect timing and the precise nuances he desires. The tightrope sequence alone required 200 takes! Although this always ensures that Chaplin's feature films required record numbers of shooting days per footage, the lasting rewards are ours with virtually perfect comedy.
Often criticized for his sentimentality, The Circus contains noticeable heart tugs between the Tramp and his love interest, but Chaplin achieves an edgier tone this time with their first meeting. He first is angered that she has taken his bread unasked, and then scolds her for gobbling her portion (the Tramp always maintains dignity despite his poverty). But in the end he recognizes her hungry plight and his coming good fortune with a circus job offer, and patronizes her with all of his meager meal.
Not as episodic as many Chaplin productions, the tightly constructed plot mirrors City Lights and The Kid. This may be the reasoning behind why Chaplin eliminated a long cafe sequence that features a technically dazzling (for its era) pair of boxing twins. Mercifully preserved in several takes as part of the Warner Brothers two-disk DVD set, the scene contains standard chair removal tricks and features a great set-up where the Tramp attempts to impress the girl with his physical prowess before an unexpected fine "punch line" by Rex. Another short scene with the Tramp innovatively practicing the tightrope with only a rake prop is also included. Its deletion for the final cut remains a mystery.
The camerawork demonstrates a growing maturity as well. Although steady Chaplin cinematographer Roland Totheroh continues the same static camera shots from Chaplin's early work, more variety in both the editing cuts and angles provides more dynamic photography. Especially effective are the virtuoso combinations of low angle, high angle, and close-ups in Chaplin's climatic tightrope sequence. Obviously shot in pieces, so smoothly are they put together that the techniques are only noticeable in post analysis since Chaplin involves us with his suspenseful story so well.
Although rarely ever mentioned alongside Chaplin's great works, The Circus is well worth seeking out and viewing. Despite its infrequent screenings, the lightly regarded film is a real gem. Even Chaplin may have come to better terms with the project before moving on the great beyond, as he composed a new musical score and even sings the opening song when he was 81 years old. The hired singer just wasn't as good as the old man–a perfectionist to the end!
Special Features:
DISC 1:
- The Film
DISC 2:
- 2003 David Robinson Introduction (5:09)
- 2003 documentary Chaplin Today: The Circus (26:30)
- Deleted Sequence (9:47)
- October 7-13, 1926 (Outtakes) (26:28)
- 3 Mountbatten home movies: At Charlie Chaplin’s studio (1:22), Douglas Fairbanks (1:44), The Sacrifice (3:21)
- Documents: 1928 reportage The Hollywood premiere (6:24), Camera A, camera B (1:16), 3-D test footage by Roland Totheroh (2:27), 1923 film excerpts Circus Days with Jackie Coogan (12:28)
- 8 Photo Galleries: The Circus (5:28), The rope (1:56), Deleted sequence (0:32), Sketches (0:32), Sets (1:20), After the fire (0:20), Merna Kennedy (1:04), Miscellaneous (0:56)
- Film posters (12 Stills)
- 2 Trailers (5:20)
- The Chaplin collection (10:43)
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