Average Rating: 8.5/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0
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Average Rating: 4.2/5
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The Circus is generally considered to be a lesser Charlie Chaplin effort, coming as it does between two unquestioned masterpieces, The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). To be sure, the film is not one of Chaplin's best, but it has a lot going for it. Director Chaplin casts star Chaplin in his traditional "Little Tramp" role, who when first we see him is on the lam from the law. He takes refuge under the tent of a failing circus. Unintentionally, Charlie disrupts the show's big clown act,
G, 1 hr. 15 min.
Action & Adventure, Classics, Comedy, Drama, Kids & Family, Special Interest
Jan 6, 1928 Limited
Feb 8, 2000
Allied Artists
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (0) | DVD (11)
It's a brilliant combination of light and darkness, tenderness and violence and, yes, laughter and tears.
Innovative and timelessly hilarious.
It is the political subtext and discussion of capitalism vs. communism that is the saving grace of The Circus, since the surface material, comprised of frantic slapstick mixed with maudlin and melodrama, is very standard for Chaplin.
sort of B-grade alternative to City Lights
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.
The Circus may be the film that most definitively silences critics who claim that Charlie Chaplin's movies aren't cinematic.
In some ways The Circus is Chaplin's Stardust Memories, his reflexive self-observation in which Woody Allen's line, 'We like your earlier, funny movies,' flashes subliminally among the frames.
The restored imagery is free of scratches and blemishes.... This is one of the less impressive transfers in The Chaplin Collection, yet consider that only as a comparison to the extraordinary quality exhibited throughout the set overall.
Chaplin's slapstick comedy worked to great effect.
Chaplin's most underrated, consistently hysterical, and imaginative picture.
Receiving his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, Chaplin is brilliant in this slapstick comedy, set in a milieu that fits him like a glove.
It's a beautiful film and perhaps more personal that anyone might have suspected at the time.
most overlooked film . . . contains some of the Tramp's best comic moments
The Circus is quite a charming little film from the silent era, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. He of course plays the "little tramp" character who, while being chased by the cops, stumbles into the middle of a three ring circus where his antics draw the attention (and laughs), of the audience. The crowd's
November 28, 2011Super Reviewer
This movie is really fun, cute, and humorous, I enjoyed it, and I recommend it.
December 1, 2010Super Reviewer
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