The Circus is one of Charles Chaplin's most riotous comedies. Here Charlot is Pursued by the police, who take him for a pickpocket. Giving rise to a chase that initially leads him to a labyrinth of mirrors, where the real pickpocket demands the return of the loot that he had previously hidden in one of Charlot's pockets.
Leaving the labyrinth he tries to escape from the police and by chance arrives at a traveling circus in which he accidentally interrupts the performance of the clowns thus causing the jubilation of the public, let's take into account that at that time going to the circus was one of the greatest entertainments that existed.
Here for the first and only time Chaplin places his protagonist, the tramp, in the natural setting of a clown, the circus ring.
There is a beautiful scene at breakfast time, in which the tramp meets Merna (Merna Kennedy), a trapeze artist and daughter of the circus owner who lives enslaved by her tyrannical father. Chaplin gives us to understand all the couple's dialogue without the use of a subtitle.
Summoned by the circus director (Al Ernest Garcia) to demonstrate his comic talents, the tramp fails to elicit a single smile from the reduced audience.
After the failure of the test, and the resignation of the entire team of stagehands of the circus, Charlot will end up hired as a stagehand and will appear spontaneously in the ring, provoking for the second time the enthusiasm of the public. The owner and director of the circus will realize the gold mine he has in his hands and decides to exploit it without warning the tramp.
The protagonist must help a sick horse to take a pill, but he accidentally takes it and is run over by a donkey, unintentionally locking himself up in a brilliant sequence that has made history in film comedy.
Charlot is fleetingly aware of his success as a star of the show, however he also falls prey to love disappointment when the acrobat tightrope walker Rex (Harry Crocker) arrives and realizes that Merma the beautiful trapeze artist has fallen in love with him.
After this love setback he loses part of his grace and is threatened by the circus owner who forces him under threat to replace Rex in his act. This act does not go as he thought it would, as the safety rope that holds him in place breaks and he is attacked by a gang of monkeys, all this mounted on the wire where he was supposed to do a balancing act.
After this the tramp understands that his place is outside the circus, Merna also escapes and asks him to take her with him, however he has a better idea: to reunite her with Rex, his true love. They get married and Charlot is their only witness, the couple returns to the circus and Rex presents the marriage certificate to the circus director who asks them to stay and the couple accepts it on one condition, that Charlot also stays. In the final shot of the film the circus leaves for another town but our protagonist prefers to go in the opposite direction.
This film was written by Charles Chaplin and Joseph Plunkett, also among the highest grossing silent films, ranks seventh, with a revenue of over $ 3.8 million in 1928, the year of its release.
The Circus is Charles Chaplin's last silent film and it is also an excellent comedy in which its author shines every time he appears on screen. It is a simple and natural film in plot, very sincere in exposing emotions. There is poetry in this work, lack of love and nobility to the point that the hero renounces love for the sake of his beloved.
I love the wide collection of gags that show why Chaplin was the master of physical comedy, without words he manages to convey feelings and emotions that today many actors are unable to show.
The whole movie is funny, however I highlight the final scene in which Charlot decides not to join the circus caravan, in particular I think he would not stand to see his girlfriend next to someone else. On the other hand, it makes me laugh a lot the performance of the donkey that in the film always runs the protagonist.
I think the mirror maze scene inspired Orson Welles for his famous mirror scene in The Lady From Shanghai in 1947, and Robert Clouse for the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Han in Enter The Dragon in 1973.
This is my entry in the CineTV and LOLZ Best Comedy Movie Contest!!!.... Link Here
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