I may be a lonely voice in the wilderness on this one, but I was greatly disappointed by "The Circus". I love silent films but if you compare the films the other two great silent clowns were doing at the same time, "The Circus" does not compare. Lloyd was doing films like "The Kid Brother" and "Speedy" while Keaton was doing "The Cameraman"--all films that show how really great silent pictures can be.
When the Tramp is chased into the circus by the cop the audience immediately goes wild! They scream with laughter, yell and applaud, despite the fact the Tramp has done NOTHING remotely funny at this point. In fact, his run on the turntable is pretty much what the "unfunny" clowns just did. Keaton or Lloyd never would have cheated this way. They'd have given themselves something funny to do and won over the audience and SHOWN us how funny their characters were, even if it was inadvertent.
Chaplin also misses a daring comedy moment when his Tramp character ISN'T funny and the ringmaster threatens to fire him. Chaplin could have shown us how with a lack of timing and lack of inspiration a funny bit could fall flat, but he fails to seize the moment.
The bit in the lion cage and the high wire scene are undeniably funny and great sequences in and of themselves. But the rest of "The Circus" is not. Perhaps if this had been made around 1924, it would compare favorably to films of that era. But compared to the previously mentioned films (and classics like Keaton's "The General") Chaplin is backsliding here. Adding the title song years later doesn't help it.
When the Tramp is chased into the circus by the cop the audience immediately goes wild! They scream with laughter, yell and applaud, despite the fact the Tramp has done NOTHING remotely funny at this point. In fact, his run on the turntable is pretty much what the "unfunny" clowns just did. Keaton or Lloyd never would have cheated this way. They'd have given themselves something funny to do and won over the audience and SHOWN us how funny their characters were, even if it was inadvertent.
Chaplin also misses a daring comedy moment when his Tramp character ISN'T funny and the ringmaster threatens to fire him. Chaplin could have shown us how with a lack of timing and lack of inspiration a funny bit could fall flat, but he fails to seize the moment.
The bit in the lion cage and the high wire scene are undeniably funny and great sequences in and of themselves. But the rest of "The Circus" is not. Perhaps if this had been made around 1924, it would compare favorably to films of that era. But compared to the previously mentioned films (and classics like Keaton's "The General") Chaplin is backsliding here. Adding the title song years later doesn't help it.