THE CIRCUS
starring Charlie Chaplin
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
April, 1928
Charlie's new comedy is good, as comedies go. Much of the time it is just mild entertainment, some of the time it isn't funny at all, but there are moments that are simply the ultimate in that kind of humor. People have grown self-conscious about comedies. They're so nervous for fear they won't laugh as hard as they hope to, that they can't laugh at all. This state of things is pretty hard on Chaplin and Lloyd. But if you go to this not expecting anything magical, you're sure to love it. Charlie, in his old get-up, is a tramp who blunders into the circus and turns out to be the hit of the show. There is practically no pathos in this, and in between gags, Charlie is always a great actor, with his uncanny sense of timing. What I missed most was the great personal appeal he used to have. I mean that, because of time and trouble, or maybe too much to eat, he hasn't got quite as much It as he used to have.
THE CIRCUS
starring Charlie Chaplin
PHOTOPLAY
January, 1928
Charlie Chaplin turns circus performer in a story which teems with spontaneous humor and yet maintains the plaintive heart interest we have learned to expect from Chaplin. here is the same old inimitable Charlie of he baggy pants, the well worn derby and the capable shoes who wanders penniless onto the circus grounds hungry for just one hot dog to allay his several-day famine. he gets his first bite at the ands of a baby hanging over the shoulder of an unsuspecting father. This is a gag, of course, but a typical Chaplin gag, touched with humor an humanness.
A pickpocket complicates the situation by disposing of his lot in Charlie's pocket. In escaping the police the comedian is forced into the tent where he saves the one ring circus from the boredom of its audience by his unintentional humorous antics. The cries of the crowd for "the funny man" give him his chance to play in the show.
In doubling for the tight-rope walker, who is his rival for the petite equestrienne's affections, Charlie finds a splendid outlet for not only his fun-making, but his daredevil stunt acting. A fortune-teller reveals that the girl favors the rope walker and Charlie - but that is the secret of the human interest plot which will hold your attention to the end of the story.
Merna Kennedy, a find of Charlie Chaplin's, makes a screen debut which augurs well for her future. Harry Crocker as the wire walker and Alla Garcia as the circus owner, give splendid interpretations.
But the story is all Charlie's and, it's for the whole family.
THE CIRCUS
starring Charlie Chaplin
PICTURE PLAY
April, 1928
Abandoning symbolism and subtlety, Charles Chaplin offers broad comedy of the old days, in "The Circus." It will go down in the history of his achievements as one of his superlatively successful pictures, though the careful student will find it lacking the inspiration of "The Gold Rush," nor is it comparable to "The Pilgrim," or "The Kid." However, it embodies better showmanship than the first-named film and is certain to give keen pleasure to any one who has ever responded to Chaplin's artistry.
Chaplin, in the role of the tramp he has made familiar to the world, blunders into a shoddy circus, and largely through accident, becomes its star clown. In protecting the bareback rider from the brutality of her stepfather, The Tramp first pities and then loves the girl. Her admiration for Rex, the tight-rope walker, leads The Tramp to practice rope-walking in secret, that he may win the admiration, and perhaps love, of The Girl. Rex rejoins the circus and does his act with spectacular success, whereupon The Tramp tries to outshine him.
This is the highlight of the picture. Chaplin has never devised a sequence in which comedy and pathos and the unexpected were more evident. The rope holding him becomes undone, and he clowns in mid-air, unmindful of danger; monkeys swarm over him as he labors through his stunt, one of them getting his tail in The Tramp's mouth and nearly strangling him and, of course, his trousers become unloosened in the process of balancing himself under such enormous difficulties. But he finishes in a blaze of glory, mounts a bicycle and dashes down the inclined wire with such enthusiasm that he crashes through a building outside the tent. All this will never be forgotten. The conclusion of the picture is typically Chaplinesque. The Girl, blissfully ignorant of The Tramp's love, promises to continue with the circus if her stepfather will take The Tramp back, but as she leaps into the wagon and is driven off with Rex, The Tramp is unknowingly left behind, a pathetic helpless little figure against a misty background of uninhabited space.
For more information, see "The Circus" as our "Feature of the Month"