The Circus : Charlie Chaplin

 

Two things that had made Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus [1928] very inimitable and grand. First the narrative style and second keeping the film silent in the advent of talkies. Another aspect that is very unusual and still mysterious to me as I have not finished my reading of Chaplin’s Autobiography. It is infamous that The Circus is the only Chaplin’s film which he didn’t mention in his autobiography. It should be researched well resourcefully whether it is that he went through the great turmoil in his private life during its production or it is that he faced an adversary in the professional settings and took the most risky decision not to go with the flow to uphold the aesthetic excellence and integrity of cinema.

 

All the erstwhile feature films he followed the identical formula for dramatic structure of love triangle. In The Kid [1921], the woman was abandoned by the artist, Millet shot himself after being refused by Marie in The Woman of Paris [1923] and in his third feature, The Gold Rush [1925], Tramp made his love with Georgia successful. But, in The Circus [1928], Tramp did an unusual thing where Merna was not in love with him but with Rex, a tightrope walker. Tramp did not even express his love to Merna, but also sacrificed everything he had in his hand and left it in an empty field despite having the chance to be with them afterwards. The telling style of romantic drama is very new in the cinematic form.

 

The scene of the mirror maze with the thief and the police, the double vision of Tramp of attacking Rex when he was romancing with Merna in front of him, the locking up with a lion and a tiger in the cage, the awkward incident and ludicrous movements with monkeys on the wiggling tightrope are some of the pioneered cinematic compositions and innovative but bold shots in the silent era.

 

I think what Shakespeare had done in drama through his tragedy, Chaplin did the same in film though comedy.

A strange but splendid thing has happened. I was watching the movies from the no-color no-sound period but all of them were synchronized with musical scores. Today I have started watching The Circus on the way to my office in the bus, but I haven't taken the ear phone with me. Thus I have bounded to watch the movie  on mute mode. That means in complete silence. 

Generally, I am used to read where ever I got a chance to read, even while I walk in the midst of crowd. When one  reads, one just uses one's eye to read and mind to imagine. Similarly, I noticed, when one watches a silent movie, one just uses two sensory media. One is  the eye to watch and the other is the mind to think. Here watching is more like reading a film closely. Is that the reason, Chaplin preferred silence than sound cinema.

 

 

The Circus [1928]

Charlie Chaplin

English, USA