The Circus
Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” has the sweet-natured romantic soul and vaudeville spirit of the rest of his films where he played his iconic Tramp, but there were times as the Tramp is navigating life around a circus where it felt as though Chaplin was channeling Buster Keaton with the level of slapstick physical comedy at work, at times. I think Keaton was just better at that type of thing than Chaplin, but what he offers in “The Circus” is something he did better than anyone- a misfit in love, and how he navigates that in a world determined to keep him from accomplishing that.
The story is a simple one, as the Tramp begins to hang around a circus that has come into town, and he falls in love with one of the performers (Merna Kennedy), who just happens to be the daughter of the ringmaster. The Tramp starts out on the run from the cops after a case of mistaken theft, but when that chase lands him in the big tent, and part of the show, he brings a spark of entertainment to the show that the audience thought was lacking before. The catch, though, is that the Tramp can’t be trying to be funny- it has to happen spontaneously. The ringmaster trying to bring that to the show makes for almost as much comedic possibilities as when a high wire balancer is added to the show, and Kennedy’s equestrienne falls in love with him, ignoring the Tramp’s obvious affection.
Chaplin’s old-school sensibilities of comedy and romantic longing are dated, to be sure, but will always have a home in the annals of cinema because of how effectively he told his stories. The Tramp endures as a beloved cinematic character for the same reasons Disney and Looney Toons’s characters do- because they have a strong, definitive voice about them that can resonate for any age, any generation. The way the Tramp navigates through the circus, whether it’s an encounter with a lion or a chase that lands him in a mirror maze or him trying to be taught how the clowns’s comedy routines work, the result is always amusing because of how Chaplin brings the character to life with his simple formula of sweet manner, a smile, and trying to please at all times. The love story is what really makes “The Circus” unique within Chaplin’s filmmography, though, as it doesn’t quite end up the way you expect, but still satisfactorily, nonetheless, even as the circus pulls out of town, and he is left to venture off to his next adventure.
