Director: Charlie Chaplin
Screenplay: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Henry Bergman, Harry Crocker
Country: USA
Running time: 72 min
Year: 1928 (re-released in 1969)
BBFC Certificate: U
By the time The Circus was released, cinema was entering a bold new era: the talkies had arrived and, with that coming of sound, the motion picture landscape would never be the same again. The place of The Circus in this time of change is fascinating, as is its production history.
It was superstar Charlie Chaplin’s final movie of the silent era (though he would go on to make two further silent films, City Lights and Modern Times) and should have been released long before the first sound feature. However, despite filming starting in January 1926, it didn’t premiere until two years later in January 1928. This lengthy gap was due to a protracted filming schedule as well as problems on the set, including issues with a damaged negative after just a month of filming and a major fire at Chaplin’s studios. Further delays were caused by off-set troubles, including Chaplin’s divorce from Lita Grey.
Starring, written and directed by Chaplin, the release of The Circus was well worth the wait – it’s among his funniest and best films, featuring some truly audacious and incredibly well choreographed set pieces. The Criterion edition is the 1969 re-release version which opens with Swing Little Girl, sung by Chaplin and a number he added for the re-release, together with a new score.
After the opening credits and song, we meet an oppressive circus ringmaster, whose circus is making a loss, and who mistreats his step-daughter, before the introduction of Chaplin’s character, his famed ‘the Tramp’, who we first see in a wonderful sequence where he is mistaken for a pickpocket and is chased by the police and the actual thief. The chase includes some incredibly funny and technically proficient set pieces, including a memorable sequence in a fairground mirror maze, which is a technical marvel for the time. Another great set piece during the opening pursuit sees Chaplin acting as an animatronic character at the fairground to try to evade capture, before the chase eventually sees the Tramp enter the circus Big Top where the hilarity of his encounters with a police officer lands him a job, as the crowd think he’s part of the act and consider his “routine” a hoot. From here, the Tramp eventually becomes the star attraction (unintentionally, due to the scrapes he gets himself into rather than his genuine ability) and becomes acquainted with the ringmaster’s step-daughter and some of the other stars of the circus.
The Circus features some of the most memorable sequences of Chaplin’s career. As well as that aforementioned introductory chase, standout sequences include three fantastic scenes involving animals. Firstly, a magic act involving chickens and piglets, bookended by the Tramp being chased by a donkey. It’s a lovely sequence that endears the character to the crowd, cementing his stardom. Secondly, the Tramp is locked in a cage with a lion, whilst a dog barks away outside the cage. This is a daring scene, and is possibly the most memorable of the film, due to the apparent danger (one of the extras outlines how it was created with split screen techniques). Finally, there’s a brilliant sequence involving Chaplin taking on a tightrope walk with some naughty monkeys making it incredibly difficult for him by standing on his head and shoulders. It’s this latter scene that, for me, is the highlight, filled with so much humour, with the monkeys pulling down the Tramp’s trousers and biting and pawing at his face. It’s a fitting final set piece of the film.
Film historian and Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance, who provides the commentary on the disc, describes The Circus as an autobiographical metaphor for Chaplin’s place in cinema at the time – joining the circus (Hollywood), showing others how to do comedy, becoming a huge star and, at the end, being left behind (it was a silent film released at the start of the talkies era). It’s an interesting analysis and one I subscribe to. The Circus certainly feels autobiographical at times, with the structure of the film following Chaplin’s career trajectory at that time – though he certainly wouldn’t be left behind; further masterpieces City Lights, Modern Times and The Great Dictator would follow.
I adored The Circus on this re-watch (I hadn’t seen it for 20 years). It features memorable scene after memorable scene, numerous laugh-out-loud moments and some incredibly proficient film-making techniques, with everything coming together, in just one of the many masterpieces Chaplin made during his career.
Film:
The Circus is out on 4th December 2023 on Blu-ray in the UK, and is released by the Criterion Collection, who first released this disc in the US in 2019. The transfer is a 2019 4K restoration of Chaplin’s 1969 re-release of the film, and it looks outstanding. There are, understandably, some sequences that don’t look as sharp, due to the limitations and age of the print, but for the most part it is absolutely incredible, with minimal blemishes, rich details shining through and likely looking as good as it ever has. The audio of the re-release score by Chaplin is absolutely brilliant too.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1969 re-release version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New audio commentary featuring Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
- Interview with Chaplin from 1969
- New interview with Chaplin’s son Eugene Chaplin
- In the Service of the Story, a new program on the film’s visual effects and production design by film scholar Craig Barron
- Chaplin Today: “The Circus”, a 2003 documentary on the film featuring filmmaker Emir Kusturica
- Excerpted audio interview from 1998 with Chaplin musical associate Eric James
- Unused café sequence with new score by composer Timothy Brock, and related outtakes with narration by comedy choreographer Dan Kamin
- Newly discovered outtakes featuring the Tramp and the circus rider
- Excerpts from the original recording session for the film’s opening song, “Swing Little Girl”
- Footage of the film’s 1928 Hollywood premiere
- Re-release trailers
- PLUS: An essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson, in a foldout leaflet
Opening the on-disc package is an excellent 2019 commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance. Vance highlights how the film was made between two other masterpieces, The Gold Rush and City Lights, but went unseen for over 40 years until it was re-released in 1969. Vance rightly describes it as a self-reflective comedy and film deserving of more recognition and attention. He highlights the locations of the filming, gives an outstanding overview of the production history and delays that affected its release, focuses on some of the other actors, and also provides numerous scene-specific comments and details on some of the most celebrated sequences. It’s a first rate commentary that was a joy to listen to, incredibly informative and entertaining.
The Eugene Chaplin interview is a great 15 minutes with the actor’s fifth child, and includes some delightful photos and archival footage of Chaplin and the family, filmed at the family home in Switzerland (Corsier-sur-Vevey, which is now the Chaplin’s World museum) There are some lovely reminisces about Chaplin’s love of circuses, and Eugene talks about how Chaplin didn’t really like the film until revisiting it and adding a new score and song.
The 20-minute interview with film scholar Craig Barron provides a strong overview of the gags and technical aspects of the film, with a particular focus on how the lion sequence was filmed. There’s a lot of information and insight packed into the brief running time, and plenty to take away – it complements the commentary well.
The Chaplin Today documentary is from 2003 and appeared on the earlier special edition DVD of the film. The 26-minute piece provides an overview of the genesis and creation of the film. Like all the Chaplin Today documentaries, it’s well worth the time.
Next we get a series of outtakes from the film. First, Stepping Out is an edited sequence unearthed by archivists Kevin Brownlow and David Gill in the 1980s for the British television series Unknown Chaplin. Brownlow and Gill edited the sequence, essentially a deleted scene, and it’s wonderful with the Tramp taking on a bully in a restaurant.
In addition to the edited deleted sequence, we get 30 minutes of outtakes with commentary by comedy choreographer Dan Kamin, who essentially provides a scene-by-scene overview of the outtakes, including the restaurant scene. There’s a lot of insight packed into the runtime: areas covered include the performances, Chaplin’s sparing use of close-ups, the little behind-the-scenes moments that bookend the scenes, and details of how the outtakes were uncovered.
The final outtakes feature is called A Ring for Merna. This features more outtakes edited together into their possible place in the film, followed by further outtakes of Merna and the Tramp. All of the outtake footage on this disc is incredibly welcome and fascinating.
The Eric James audio interview runs for 10 minutes and sees Chaplin’s music collaborator reminiscing about working with the star. The interview dates from 1998 and features memories of how the collaboration between James and Chaplin began and their working relationship.
There’s five minutes of recordings of the song which was added in 1968 ahead of the re-release of the film and six minutes of silent footage of the star-studded premiere of the film at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Charlie Chaplin in 1969 features the star interviewed at his Switzerland home for Swiss television to mark the 1969 re-release of the film, and sees him giving his views on the movie. A brief but a nice addition.
Rounding out the on-disc package are five minutes of re-release trailers.
The disc also comes with a booklet by Pamela Hutchinson. I wasn’t provided with the booklet, but the essay is available online on The Criterion website and is excellent, as is to be expected from Hutchinson. It provides an erudite overview of the production troubles of the film, the effort it took to complete and release the film, its re-release, and Hutchinson’s take on the film and some of its scenes. Well worth a read.
The Circus is the latest Criterion edition of a Charlie Chaplin film to make its way to the UK following its previous US release. The film is a masterpiece – one of my personal favourite Chaplin features, packed with some marvellous set pieces gags – and the disc is outstanding ,with a brilliant restoration and hours of informative and entertaining extras, including some real treasures in the outtakes from the film.
Disc/package: