Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker,
George Davis, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford, John Rand, Steve Murphy | Written by Charles Chaplin
UK Certification U | UK RRP £19.99 | BR Region B | Runtime 71 minutes | Directed by Charles Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin's 1928 classic The Circus has always had a bit of a mixed reputation. Some say it's among Chaplin's greatest films – one of the original taglines even goes as far as to say it's his best – while others seem to disregard it as nothing more than a slightly comedic 71 minutes that are promptly forgotten about as soon as your viewing ends. But I'm inclined to sit on the fence.
This slim-running comedy is exactly what you'd expect it to be and I'm sure it was a dream scenario for many fans prior to production: what would happen if you took Charlie's Tramp character and dropped him in the middle of a circus? Unlimited potential for unlimited chaos would no doubt always be the answer.
In the film, The Tramp finds himself working at the circus after becoming a huge hit with audiences for his wild displays of accidental calamity. Known to sell-out crowds simply as “the funny man”, The Tramp actually works as something of a stage hand rather than part of the actual show, yet always seems to end up as the centre of attention. Seeing just how prone the character is to bedlam, the particularly nasty circus owner unknowingly exploits him, paying him a meagre wage despite the fact the he's the star attraction. Meanwhile, The Tramp falls for the ringmaster's daughter, a trapeze artist who is abused and starved by her father, and slowly but surely realises that the cash cow is being milked purely at the expense of his bumbling idiocy.
The plot is really just an excuse to unlock the circus environment as what is essentially a huge playpen for Chaplin. Everything that you'd think happens does, from The Tramp walking the tightrope to being chased through a house of mirrors. And it's all very funny, especially the first 20 minutes. It's got the unbeatable slapstick charm of a Charlie movie and remains a sincere, sweet piece of film-making despite all its silliness and notorious production problems.
While this high definition remaster of the 1969 reissue of the film, complete with opening titles music sang by an 80-year-old Chaplin, does look nicely cleaned up, it probably won't bowl you over in amazement. But then again the film is 82 years old.
EXTRAS TBC.