There's a small sub-genre of circus-themed movies that has been a recurring theme in Hollywood history. If I had to give a reason why, I'd guess that part of it has to do with being able to show people circus acts that they might only have the chance to see once a year when the circus went through town. That, and the circus performers probably not needing to be paid as much as stars, since nobody knows who these trapeze artists or tightrope walkers are. Anyhow, some months back I recorded another movie in the genre, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus.
This is clearly a re-release print, since the opening credits are a different typeface with Chaplin singing over them. But soon enough we get into the action. The circus has come to town, and it's typically one that's struggling financially, with the owner/ringmaster (Al Garcia) treating his stepdaughter Merna (Merna Kennedy) like dirt and not giving her dinner after the show for screwing up. He even won't let the other performers give her some of their meals.
Meanwhile, Charlie Chaplin's Tramp is watching one of the related attractions when a pickpocket comes along. The pickpocket is spotted by the police, and having a very light hand, is able to put the stolen wallet and fob watch into the Tramp's pockets without the Tramp noticing. Eventually, however, he finds that he has money, and a watch, and this leads to the victim spotting the Tramp and sending to police to capture him. The Tramp goes on a chase through a funhouse mirror maze before running into the circus and screwing up the show.
Or, you'd think that a stranger running through the circus would be a problem. In fact, he shows up during one of the clown acts, and everybody in the audience thinks that he and the policeman chasing him are part of the act. Not only that, but he's the funniest thing in the circus, which presents problems for the ringmaster since he doesn't have anything else that the audience will like.
Still, the property master and others in the circus suggest to the ringmaster that he give this stranger a tryout. Unfortunately for the Tramp, he doesn't have any idea what made him so funny to the audiences in the first place, since he wasn't doing anything scripted. And if he's not able to be funny on command, he's not going to be able to get a job. But when he's not trying to be funny, he is, which gives the property master the idea to hire the Tramp on as an assistant, doing the things that will get audiences to laugh while the Tramp thinks he's just doing a different job.
Along the way, the Tramp falls in love with Merna, and she's friends with him. But the circus adds a new tightrope act, and Merna falls in love with that man, not realizing that the Tramp has an unrequited love for her.
To me, much of The Circus felt like a series of sketches hanging on a very threadbare plot. (Never mind that the whole pickpocket and Tramp-as-fugitive storyline is discarded.) However, in this case the various individual scenes mostly work, starting with the well-photographed mirror maze scene, something that seems like it would have been really difficult to pull off since you can't have the camera show up in any of the shots.
The Circus may not be as well-remembered as some of Chaplin's other movies, but it deserves to be.
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