The Circus

Name: The Circus
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: January 1, 1929
Duration: 72 min
Rating: 90
Cast: Al Ernest Garcia, Albert Austin, Charles Chaplin, George Davis, Harry Crocker

1929

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 7 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 22 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 22 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: January 1, 1929 | G

Starring: Al Ernest Garcia, Albert Austin, Charles Chaplin, George Davis, Harry Crocker, Henry Bergman, John Rand, Merna Kennedy, Steve Murphy, Tiny Sandford

Summary: The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.

Director: Charles Chaplin

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance

Rating: G

Runtime: 72 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Charlie Chaplin was a perfectionist in his films and a calamity in his private life. These two traits clashed as he was making The Circus, one of his funniest films and certainly the most troubled. Read full review

100

Keith Uhlich

There’s an edge to The Circus that suggests a man gazing deep into the void, laughing at the darkness and urging us to do the same. Read full review

100

Christian Blauvelt

It is Chaplin’s great elegy to the lost art of music-hall pantomime and, for that matter, the soon-to-be lost art of silent-film comedy. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

Mixing sweetness, darkness, violence and delirious gags, this 1928 must-see showcases film's greatest comic. Read full review

Josh Larsen

Mostly the movie registers as a comedy flag being planted, a claim being made. Anything your average clown could do, Chaplin could do better. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

In clinging to a tale of logical sequence, without the expected interpolations or detached incidents, Chaplin's Circus for speed, gags and laughs has not been equalled on the sheet. But it's very broad, for Chaplin makes no attempt at subtlety in this one. Read full review

Mordaunt Hall

There are passages in The Circus that are undoubtedly too long and others that are too extravagant for even this blend of humor. But Chaplin's unfailing imagination helps even when the sequence is obviously slipping from grace. Read full review

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User Reviews

April22

Jun 13, 2019

Chaplin is a genius. Stop. Don't say more. Chaplin is a genius. Stop. Don't say more.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

amheretojudge

Aug 25, 2019

A classic love track, sound track, gag reel and simply smart filmmaking.

The Circus I think I can go ahead and say that this is my favourite Chaplin feature. I wish I knew why and I don't either. The writer, director, actor and composer Charlie Chaplin has struck gold in this adventure.A classic love track, sound track, gag reel and simply smart filmmaking.

The Circus

I think I can go ahead and say that this is my favourite Chaplin feature. I wish I knew why and I don't either. The writer, director, actor and composer Charlie Chaplin has struck gold in this adventure. The germ of the idea was definitely the change in location and spreading still the same humor, humility and belief. And yet, it remains unfiltered for its sweetness. No matter how accurate and magnanimous your vision is on pulling off a dark gritty drama, it would rarely add to the "I wish.." list for its "beware" and "wit" tingling sensation in you. While this sweet love story like this has legs that goes for decades and even centuries for it catches you with big fluffy pillows as you fall down with gullible likeness in mind.

A bread and an egg, the story starts from and it is where it ends. And yes, I get that some might even find this heartbreaking, but Chaplin's genius in the last act of the film, was that he satisfies you with such absorbing themes, that by the end you don't really care how The Circus will finish the show. The product is gift wrapped and delivered to your doors as soon as the last act begins.

The key is to never go beyond anyone's perspective other than Chaplin's. And this was all drama. The rest of the fill in, are fabulous gags that looks like Chaplin has installed to test himself as an actor, a performer. From enacting like a robotic puppet to multiplying himself on screen to bossing around his opposing co-star like a mentor. Over the years, the only issue I had was with the do over process of the interview of his job, until I realized this time that those mandatory gags were not actually for the laughs, but a showcase of his commitment on the hard work that he inadvertently cares for.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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