Watch The Circus For Free

Let's be realistic.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Generating laughs after inadvertently interrupting a big top routine, a tramp is offered a job by a circus in this Charlie Chaplin silent comedy. The film is mostly a series of circus-themed skits thrown together, but there are several interesting ideas at hand as the manager avoids telling him he is their biggest attraction (to avoid paying a handsome salary) and as the tramp is only ever able to make the circus audiences laugh when he is not trying to be funny at all. There is also a touching subplot in which he tries to help an abused circus worker and the film creates an authentic relationship between the pair that never once feels sentimental. If there is one thing to hold against the film though, it is the fact that the first fifteen minutes (before Chaplin is invited to join the circus) is far funnier than anything else afterwards with the subsequent movie never quite recapturing the hilarity of Chaplin running amok in a house of mirrors, running in synchrony with a thief and repeatedly whacking the thief on the head when pretending to be mechanical. Still, this is an amusing movie from start to finish, and one with something surprisingly intelligent to say about how the best humour is spontaneous rather than rehearsed.

I am still of the time when parents would trot out Chaplin short reels and project them on a wall for kids to see the Tramp overcome the vagaries of life, and the mortal coil of poverty. In Mozambique, then a Portuguese colony, in 1972, there was a retrospective of Chaplin's work, and I chose to watch two movies, my favorite Chaplins ever since: THE CIRCUS and MODERN TIMES.THE CIRCUS obviates Chaplin's incredibly athletic abilities, and his ballet-like sense of the comic. The scene where he mimics a clockwork figure that keeps hitting one of Chaplin's pursuers and laughing as part of the mimicry, all to fool a watching policeman, is one of the most brilliant comedy pieces ever, and I shall always feel humbled by the genius that pervades that sequence. The Tramp is the ultimate survivor and he picks up his paycheck by tending to animals and engaging in circus acts, all rather mechanically, until he meets the female lead played by Merna Kennedy, and suddenly he finds a meaning to things, and develops the type of generosity toward a fellow human being that love alone can generate.In between, there are many wonderful moments to enjoy, as Chaplin's acting and directorial skills have seldom been more inspired. Unfortunately, the film ends all too soon but - its ending is one of the most truthful I have ever seen - and Chaplin's reaction perhaps the greatest closing shot ever.At the time of writing this review, THE CIRCUS is about to turn 90 years old, but its themes, views, and comic touches remain fresh, thought-provoking, and a pleasure to return to. Congratulations, the great Master!

Although "The Circus" is nearly 90 years old, it still holds up today as not only a great silent film, but a great comedy film. I believe that this is due to the fact that since most of the humor is non-verbal, it can be appreciated by just about anyone - although the intertitles definitely help.From start to finish the movie is entertaining - not that it's all laughs all the time, but the plot is interesting enough so that you're never bored (which is more than you can say for some comedies). Chaplin's performance as the "Tramp" is witty and plays well with the rest of the cast; when the Tramp is trying out for the circus, he consistently messes up the bit he's supposed to be doing, creating chaos among the other clowns.The ending of The Circus actually came as a bit of a surprise to me - in most movies, the protagonist would've gotten the girl, but instead Merna and Rex are married, and they go off with the rest of the circus, the Tramp having chosen to stay behind. It leaves you with a mixture of both happiness and melancholy that is only accentuated by the soundtrack - which was written by Chaplin himself.

Nowadays, silent movies are simply forgotten. While I wouldn't encourage people making more of them now, I still love watching the truly great ones. This isn't one of Charlie Chaplin's most famous films, but definitely deserves to be mentioned. This may in fact focus on comedy more than any other film he made at the time. The only spoken audio is some recorded voice at the beginning. It was made one year after the first talkie "The Jazz Singer". Boy, did it take a short time to every movie to have sound! The best parts are probably the opening bits. You can get so much humor out of the bizarre funhouse the Tramp is caught in. The best part is easily when he imitates an animatronic and then hits a guy with a billy club over and over. This is comedy that holds up. Another great part is near the end with the tightrope walking. It's great to see how this scene escalates in slapstick. For such a goofy movie, it actually does have a pretty heartfelt ending. The story makes sense too.I was watching this film hoping to see this scene where a woman is using a large machine that some people thought was a cell phone, meaning that the woman was a time traveler. It turns out this was only in the DVD version. I only saw the TCM one. This probably sets a record for oldest video used as an Internet meme. I eventually found out that no, she's not a time traveler. She was just using a large hearing aid. Our wild minds! ****