The Circus (1928)
The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Charles Chaplin
Written By: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Tiny Sandford, George Davis, Henry Bergman, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Family/Kids
Country: USA
Where to Stream
Loading...
The Circus belongs to 46 collections
1. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 167 stars)
2. Roger Ebert: Great Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 80 stars)
3. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
6. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2014 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Jehan - 27 stars)
7. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)
8. Academy Award - Oscar - ALL Best Picture, Directing, Acting & Screenplay Nominees (collaborative - 22 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)
10. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
11. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
12. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)
13. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)
14. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2020 revision) (public: djross - 14 stars)
15. TimeOut's 1000 films to change your life (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 11 stars)
16. Cinema Discusso Yearly Consensus (2008) (public: PeaceAnarchy - 10 stars)
17. Silent (collaborative: moderated by Dorkovsky - 7 stars)
18. The Top 100 Silent Era Films (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 7 stars)
19. Best of criticker: Comedy (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 7 stars)
20. Circus / Carnival (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 6 stars)
21. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
22. Best of criticker: Romance (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 6 stars)
23. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2007 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 4 stars)
24. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)
25. Average Percentile >70 (collaborative: moderated by peyrin - 4 stars)
26. IMDb Top of The 1920s (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)
27. List: Best of 1917-1930 by Thompson & Bordwell (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 3 stars)
28. Roger Ebert's 4-Star Movies (collaborative: moderated by KirkJiggler - 3 stars)
29. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
30. Silent Greats (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 1 star)
31. Sight and Sound 2002 (Single Vote) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 1 star)
32. Music by director (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
33. circus (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 1 star)
34. Coheed's Celluloid Pit (public: Coheed - 1 star)
35. Every Film Nominated For An Oscar (public: cayh - 1 star)
36. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
37. Slapstick (collaborative)
38. Best of criticker: Family/Kids (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)
39. Films I watched in 2011 (public: jal90)
40. zae's DVDs & Blurays (public: zae)
41. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 38 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
42. Movies to See: Comedy (public: Lord Moe)
43. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)
44. 90+ (public: Daria)
45. C-1920 (public: cantahta)
46. My DVD Collection (public: mrblond)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 4 |  |
Icarus | 91 91st |
|
In terms of pure laughs, this is for my money Chaplin's funniest feature. The police chase, the fun house, the clown tryout, the tightrope, and that fabulous donkey. Chaplin works the rhythm of the film beautifully in terms of its comic timing. The film's underlying current of concern for women and the self-sacrifice of the Tramp combine for a wonderfully affecting conclusion--one that blends tragedy with comedy in the final walk of the Tramp.
|
|||
| 4 |  |
TimeCapsule | 84 88th |
|
Charming Chaplin feature with some great gags and an a quaint little story. The titular circus proves to be a fantastic setting for Chaplin's classic comedy, despite the notable lack of side show freaks.
|
|||
| 2 |  |
MartinTeller | 90 94th |
|
The gags come quickly and generously, and for the most part, they're really good gags. The tightrope stuff is amazing, and the hall of mirrors sequence is wonderful too. The circus is the ideal setting for Chaplin. Also, I find the Tramp to be a bit more sympathetic here than in most of the other films. I haven't enjoyed any other Chaplin film as much as this one.
|
|||
| 2 |  |
BillyShears | 90 92nd |
|
Chaplin puts a monkey's tail into his mouth and doesn't gag, yep he was into some wild stuff.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Alex Watkins | 4 70th |
|
Might be the funniest Chaplin I've seen, if nothing else. It's nonstop physical comedy, most if not all of which is fantastic (the only real "lull" coming during Chaplin's audition), and at only 68 minutes it's lean as hell too, with nary an extraneous moment. And how about Chaplin's pantomime skills when he pretends to be animatronic to hide from the police? Seriously impressive.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 87 87th |
|
Maybe not the most masterful Chaplin, but certainly one of his funniest. This is the best example I've seen of Chaplin doing pure comedy and it works really well, with some gags lasting minutes without loosing steam.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
joseywales | 84 92nd |
|
Charming and funny, but I didn't feel a connection between Charlie and any of the other characters. The running gag with the angry mule had me laughing every time.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Bojangles | 85 94th |
|
I can do nothing for her.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
frankswild | 90 94th |
|
Aside from this being funnier than the other Chaplin movies I have seen, I also appreciated that it was a little more melancholy and a little less outwardly hopeful. The monkey attack was a particularly strange moment when you consider the fact that the monkeys are publicly undressing him, biting him, forcing themselves into his mouth, and trying to kill him.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
sebby | 80 91st |
|
No one seems to mention The Circus when talking about Chaplin. What the fuck is up with that? This movie's funny as hell.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
KasperL | 80 86th |
|
Charming and amusing.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Luna6ix | 78 66th |
|
"The Cicrus" has some great gags, but ultimately it suffers from the fact that Chaplin put basically zero planning into it before starting. I, for one, really appreciated the song at the beginning sung by Chaplin himself, but as a whole this could have been a lot better.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
graveyardtan | 100 98th |
|
Chaplin is firing on all cylinders here. Plus Monkeys!
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Kadrian | 60 72nd |
|
How well Chaplin can communicate with his audiance despite a lack of words is best summed up by his flexing finger indicating a worm in the apple. This is my first time seeing most of Chaplin's films. This is the first one I've seen where he didn't win the girl, but gave her up to a better life with someone else. Well done!
|
|||
| 1 |  |
ribcage | 86 87th |
|
gags build up really well, and are strung together very nicely. felt it dragged a bit just before the ending.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
ratedargh | 85 75th |
|
One of Chaplin's funniest top to bottom. It has some interesting things to say about success in show business, especially at the expense of producers/promoters. The mule stole the show. It was a great gag that constantly paid off. And while the emotional payoff isn't as pronounced as in The Kid or City Lights or others, when you're rattling bits as consistently funny as this, that's not that big of a drawback.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Kowry | 20 30th |
|
Moderately entertaining throughout, but I prefer Chaplin when the humor is balanced with some drama - in this film only the pretty good ending has some depth to it. Plus for the cute animals.
|
|||
| 1 | Nepeta | 80 68th |
|
|
Charming and focusing almost entirely on the comedy. And to top it all off the comedy is actually really darn funny. Great stuff.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
MacSwell | 80 80th |
|
Chaplin performs some of the most impressive physical comedy of his career here, so despite a couple of overlong routines, most of the slapstick is tremendous. Two highlights include the Tramp's stunning high-wire sequence and his accidental entrapment in a lion cage, yet somehow it's still the touching, bittersweet ending that prevails as the film's finest moment.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
anilscn | 30 17th |
|
They had to act more artful than Recep İvedik 5. But they didn't.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
nobamba | 60 61st |
|
Watched w/'60s score. Wasn't too attached to this movie. Probably too many gags have been copied since then. Not enough emotion for me compared to his other films. Fav scene: mirror house.
|
|||
| Average Percentile 73.19% from 1018 Ratings |  |