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The Circus

1928

Charles Chaplin

Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Betty Morrisey, Harry Crocker ...

8.0

8,168

Comedy Charlie's Tramp character finds himself at a circus where he promptly gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the big top, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The owner immediately hires him, but discovers the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"One of his funniest films and certainly the most troubled (...) Yet a delightful movie emerged from the turmoil (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Mordaunt Hall The New York Times	"'The Circus' is likely to please intensely those who found something slightly wanting in 'The Gold Rush' (...) [but] it will prove a little disappointing to those who revelled in the poetry, the pathos and fine humor of his previous adventure"	NEU
United States	Christian Blauvelt Slant	"'The Circus' may be the film that most definitively silences critics who claim that Charlie Chaplin’s movies aren’t cinematic (...) [It] never feels maudlin or self-pitying (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Almar Haflidason BBC	"The classic sight of the little tramp accidentally stumbling into the big top of a circus only to become its leading attraction is always amusing (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	"Chaplin manages to work a miracle, exploiting the various circus activities to richly comic effect."	POS
United Kingdom	Alan Morrison Empire	"Never a dull moment from beginning to end (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Though it seems less ambitious than 'The Gold Rush', it's ultimately more satisfying, with its perfectly pointed pathos, its sustained bits fully integrated into the dramatic development, and its poetic imagery."	POS
United States	J. Hoberman Village Voice	"Chaplin’s last pure silent is also his most formally complex (...) The movie has never fully achieved its stature with audiences."	POS

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