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Chaplin, United Artists, released 6 January 1928 after two difficult years. The Tramp, chased into a circus, becomes an accidental clown and falls for the rider (Merna Kennedy). A studio fire in September 1926 destroyed sets and negatives; Chaplin's divorce and a tax case stopped the shoot. He finished it and then barely mentioned the film for decades. The Academy gave him an honorary award in 1929 for acting, writing, directing, and producing The Circus. The tightrope business, with monkeys, was shot after the fire on a rebuilt tent.
In two programmes
The tightrope with monkeys, shot after the fire on a rebuilt tent. The Tramp is funny only when he does not know he is being watched, and the film knows it. Chaplin barely spoke of it for decades. It is the one where the method looks at itself.
Funny only when he is not trying. The Tramp becomes a clown by accident and is fired the moment he does it on purpose. A fire, a divorce, a tax case, and an honorary award he did not discuss for forty years. The last shot is the road again, a circus ring left in the dirt.
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