Additional Information
Chaplin directed and stars in his traditional Little Tramp role in THE CIRCUS. On the lam from the law, he takes refuge under the tent of a failing circus. Unintentionally, Charlie disrupts the show's big clown act, and the crowd roars. The ringmaster decides to hire Charlie as a clown, building the whole circus around him. Charlie has many an adventure and close shave while performing under the Big Top, the best of which involves a tightrope, a broken support wire, and a playful monkey. The standard Chaplin pathos rears its head when Charlie falls in love with pretty tightrope walker Merna Kennedy. The film contains several excellent setpieces, including a Hall of Mirrors sequence which anticipates Orson Welles' more serious LADY FROM SHANGHAI climax by twenty years. THE CIRCUS won Chaplin a special Oscar in 1928.
