The Circus
The Circus • 1h 12m
Directed by Charles Chaplin • 1928 • United States
Starring Charles Chaplin, Allan Garcia, Merna Kennedy
In the last film he made during the silent era, Charlie Chaplin revels in the art of the circus, paying tribute to the acrobats and pantomimists who inspired his virtuoso pratfalls. After being mistaken for a pickpocket, Chaplin’s Tramp flees into the ring of a traveling circus and soon becomes the star of the show, falling for the troupe’s bareback rider along the way. Despite its famously troubled production, this gag-packed comedy ranks among Chaplin’s finest, thanks to some of the most audacious set pieces of the director-performer’s career, including a close brush with a lion and a climactic tightrope walk with a barrelful of monkeys. THE CIRCUS, which was rereleased in 1969 with a new score by Chaplin, is an uproarious high-wire act that showcases silent cinema’s most popular entertainer at the peak of his comic powers.
Up Next in The Circus
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THE CIRCUS Commentary
The following commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance was produced in 2019.
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Eugene Chaplin on THE CIRCUS
The following interview with Eugene Chaplin, the fifth child of Charlie and Oona O'Neill Chaplin, was recorded at Chaplin's World in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, in 2019.
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In the Service of the Story
In this interview, produced in 2019, film scholar Craig Barron sheds light on the care taken in creating THE CIRCUS's visual gags and the skills of the Chaplin Studios' dedicated lead technicians.
