Rating: 
Summary: A Problematic Chaplin
Review: "The Circus" (1928) is a decidedly strange effort from Charlie Chaplin. His last silent film focuses on the aspect of a clown's success and failure -- a theme that worked to better advantage in "Limelight" (1952). There are several highlights, particularly the classic funhouse chase, yet the overall movie seems forced and a bit too melodramatic. No wonder Chaplin kept "The Circus" out of circulation for more than 40 years -- he knew it was lacking. However, the DVD "special edition" includes some terrific extras, such as a deleted sequence originally shown in Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's "Unknown Chaplin" documentary.
Rating:
Summary: A Problematic Chaplin
Review: "The Circus" is a decidedly strange effort from Charlie Chaplin. His last silent film focuses on the aspect of a clown's success and failure -- a theme that worked to better advantage in Chaplin's "Limelight." There are a few highlights, particularly the classic funhouse chase, yet the overall movie seems forced and a bit too melodramatic. No wonder Chaplin kept "The Circus" out of circulation for more than 40 years -- he knew it was lacking. The same goes for the accompanying two-reeler, "A Day's Pleasure," which is one of the Chaplin's weakest shorts and a significant comedown from his groundbreaking work at Mutual. In retrospect, neither film shows Chaplin at his absolute best.
Rating:
Summary: A Problematic Chaplin
Review: "The Circus" is a decidedly strange effort from Charlie Chaplin. His last silent film focuses on the aspect of a clown's success and failure -- a theme that worked to better advantage in Chaplin's "Limelight." There are a few highlights, particularly the classic funhouse chase, yet the overall movie seems forced and a bit too melodramatic. No wonder Chaplin kept "The Circus" out of circulation for more than 40 years -- he knew it was lacking. The same goes for the accompanying two-reeler, "A Day's Pleasure," which is one of the Chaplin's weakest shorts and a significant comedown from his groundbreaking work at Mutual. In retrospect, neither film shows Chaplin at his absolute best.
Rating: 
Summary: Very funny.
Review: Along with Lucy, Chaplin is the only classic comedian I like. Okay, Three Stooges too. Anyway, alot of truth is shown in this movie, like when Chaplin is funny accidently as well as purposely. The donkey and the lion add humor to the film, as well as the horse and the pill. Chaplin does something most people wouldn't in this film, and that would be marry off the girl he loves to someone else because their in love. He works in the circus for awhile but then he believes he must go back to his tramp life. This is a funny side of Chaplin that classic movie likers will enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: The Great Unknown Chaplin Film
Review: Both "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights" are accepted as ciname classics, classic comedy films made by Chalrie Chaplin. In between is a much less known work, "The Circus"."The Circus" is less well known because the film was not available from shortly after completing it's first release in 1928 until the early 70's, when it was finally re-released. It's re-release brought it to a new audience, who had some knowledge of the film, but not enough to truly value it. The plot is rather simple - Chaplin's Tramp character stumbles into a failing circus, and is chased by police into the big top, where his chase is the funniest thing to have happened during the whole show. The Tramp is hired at the circus, who's cruel director doesn't let him know how popular he is. The director is generally cruel, abusing his daughter, yelling at everyone, and being generally mean. The girl is in love with a tightrope artist, the Tramp falls in love with the girl, and the film ends with the gril married to the tightrope artist and the Tramp staying behind. The plot is fleshed out by some of the funniest screen moments that Chaplin would ever come up with. He tries to be a tightrope walker. He gets caught in a funhouse with a crook who is trying to steal from him and a police officer who thinks that he is the real crook. He breaks up a magicians act in the middle of the big top. He gets stuck in a cage with a lion. Okay, I'm not doing ANY justice to this great film. My review is not funny - the film is. The film was meticulously restored by David Shepherd, and was released in 1999 on DVD. This DVD is now out of print, and a new on will be issued next year, though likely without the corrections and restorations by Shepherd. This is a shame, since the 1999 DVD includes outtakes and a properly restored opening. The quality is superb, and there are few hints as to the film's age. I highly recommend this disc!
Rating:
Summary: Chaplin's Greatest Film
Review: For my 'non-Chaplin' friends, I usually show this first (as another reviewer has said) and they soon become converts.
As far as I remember (and it's been at least five years since I've ready any Chaplin bios) this film was made during one of Chaplin's hardest personal periods. I believe he was in the midst of a divorce by his third wife, Lita Grey, in which their dirty laundry was dragged into public...a prolonged, grey period ensued, which turned poor Charles' hair more white than ever.
To top it off, I remember reading that this set burned down, not once, but twice, during the filming...then it's no wonder that Chaplin, perfectionist that he was, would decry this as his 'poorest' film.
I couldn't agree less.
The physical gags abound, with the little Tramp making his way to 'stardom' via pure accident...he enlivens a circus show with his cheekiness, accidentally stumbling and bobbing his way onto the boring 'clown show'...he subsequently joins the circus, taking a fancy to a poor overworked girl who is starved by her father, the circus-master, and doing everything he can to show that he loves her...
the tight-rope scenes are gut-splitting, from the beginning when he tries to convince her that he is *really* ok to do it, resulting in much hypermachinations when his rigged bodysuit touches an electrical livewire, to his real tribulations when he is up in the air, 'befriended' by some savage monkeys who like to bite his nose and tear his pants down...some of the most supremely comic moments on film are captured here...words don't do them justice...more than any other Chaplin film (and I've seen all the major ones), this one has real heart and poignance to match 'City Lights'...the ending, with Chaplin giving up the girl, has no match. The little Tramp sits, sun coming up on a glorious LA morning, and watches as the caravan rolls on without him...in the dusky, pale shadows of dawn...then, in little Tramp fashion, he gets up and wanders toward that dusky sunrise...it's a truly sad, yet uplifting, moment...on an additional note, Chaplin did the score himself (in perfectionist manner) and it fits the movie beautifully...no score of a silent (if one actually exists) does more justice to the mood of a film...
a GREAT movie...no one does it better!
Rating:
Summary: Lost love that was never truly found.
Review: In this classic romantic comedy, Charlie stumbles upon a circus in which he finds employment through some silly bits of mishaps. Upon his inept and clumsy employment, he finds himself the saving grace of the floundering circus by accidentally becoming the hit comedy act and main audience draw. Meanwhile, he falls desperately in love with the beautiful equestrian who also happens to be the daughter of the abusive circus owner and ring master. Charlie has dreams of a wonderful life with her away from the circus until the reality of her heart's true desire is learned. A heart-wrenching story which displays the joy, the horror, and the grace of love.
Rating:
Summary: Chaplin's finest "pure" comedy
Review: It doesn't have the raw sentiment of CITY LIGHTS or the social relevance of either MODERN TIMES or THE GREAT DICTATOR, but for pure laugh-out-loud moments, THE CIRCUS is probably Chaplin's finest straight-ahead comedy. The plot is fairly straightforward -- Tramp joins circus, falls in love, tries to vanquish a rival suitor, then (in an ending of typical Chaplinian pathos) arranges for the rival suitor to get the girl. However, Chaplin packs the story with enough gags, extended jokes, and visual tricks to keep the film moving at a frenetic pace, even in its moments of sweetness. The setting of the circus naturally lends itself to plenty of comic elements, and Chaplin makes the most of them in some unexpected ways. For example, there's the expected Locked In The Cage with The Sleeping Lion joke (which has subsequently and successfully been played to the hilt in Bugs Bunny cartoons), but Chaplin gives it a graceful twist with the addition of a pan of water that'll have you on the edge of your seat as he tries frantically not to drop it. But Chaplin doesn't just use the circus to showcase gags -- he also uses the trappings to advance some extended and complicated jokes. The opening moments of the film, for example, feature the Tramp being mistaken for a pickpocket. After a full-out chase, the Tramp, the real pickpocket, and a policeman finally end up in a funhouse, complete with animated figures and a hall of mirrors. At this point, there are two wonderful visual jokes -- the first involves the Tramp's inability to pick up a dropped hat in a hall of mirrors(in what must have been an excrutiatingly technical shot to avoid reflecting the camera.) Chaplin, ever the perfectionist, executes the scene brilliantly. The second joke -- and the one which gets the biggest belly laughs -- involves the Tramp and the hapless pickpocket pretending to be animated figures to avoid being nabbed by the policeman. When Chaplin conks the crook over the head with his own cosh, then rotates mechanically to laugh giddily . . . well, there's hardly a funnier moment in film. Suffice it to say, the crook is caught, but only after ten minutes of gags to neatly bring the extended Mistaken Identity Joke to a neat end. Chaplin also plays out a jaw-dropping tightrope walking scene (and remember while watching that Chaplin actually taught himself to walk a tightrope for the film -- there are no stuntmen involved) which becomes all the more entertaining through the addition of some uncooperative monkeys. The impromptu results are funnier than anyone could have scripted. While the film stays free of social commentary, there is one telling bit of artistic elbow-nudging at one point in the film, when the Tramp, who has been hired as a clown, is lectured by the crabby Ringmaster on How To Be Funny. When the Tramp participates in the hackneyed skits himself, things go wrong from the start, making the skits funnier than imagined, but remarkably UNfunny to the know-it-all Ringmaster. The message is a subtle, but clear one on Chaplin's part -- don't tell ME what's funny; let me show YOU what's funny. While MODERN TIMES and CITY LIGHTS are the more effective films in terms of storytelling and blending humor and pathos, THE CIRCUS stands as Chaplin's funniest film in terms of successfully executed gags, jaw dropping visuals (including a remarkably advanced dream sequence), and some fall-over-laughing moments. This is the film I show to my friends who have never seen a Chaplin film (apart from some highlighted moments from MODERN TIMES or CITY LIGHTS) to give them an idea of Chaplin's talent. While it has sometimes (though rarely) failed to elicit a "Wow!", it has never failed to generate a room full of laughter -- the true testimony to Chaplin's art.
Rating:
Summary: Very funny-underrated Chaplin movie
Review: Like Brian Jones, this is the Chaplin movie I show friends who've never seen a Chaplin movie. They are always amazed at how funny and clever it is. There are so many big laughs in this movie I don't know where to start. Just thinking about Chaplin in the cage with the sleeping lion and the little dog jumping up and down barking like crazy cracks me up. And the scene where Chaplin is riding a bicycle on the highwire and the monkeys attack him-they pull down his pants and one monkey even sticks his tail in Charlie's mouth! I just love this movie from beginning to end. It holds up to many viewings.
Rating:
Summary: Still Chaplin
Review: May not be the best work he ever did, but mediocre Chaplin is still great acting. The Master of Movies Chaplin was, people should see every movie he made, regardless.
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