The Circus

Chaplin's Tramp hides in a circus, accidentally wins the audience and is hired as a clown, but people only laugh when he is not trying. All the pain in the film is there. The production was a catastrophe. A studio fire, the death of Chaplin's mother, a bitter divorce from his second wife Lita Grey and claims from the IRS arrived together, stalling filming for eight months. Shooting had begun in January 1926, and early on the negative was damaged, requiring separate restoration to repair the scratches. The Academy responded by giving Chaplin a Special Award for writing, acting, directing and producing rather than individual nominations. He never mentioned the film in his autobiography. Given what that period cost him, the silence is its own explanation. It succeeded anyway, grossing 3.8 million dollars worldwide and becoming the seventh highest-grossing silent film in cinema history. Who it is for: anyone curious about the least discussed of Chaplin's major films. The tightrope sequence alone justifies it. Who it is not for: viewers expecting the emotional architecture of City Lights. This one is looser and moves in episodes.