File:The_Circus_(1928)_-_Hap_Hadley_poster.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
The Circus is a 1928 American silent film written, directed, produced, and composed by Charlie Chaplin. The cast includes Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, and Henry Bergman. Roland Totheroh served as the director of photography, while Charles D. Hall was the production designer. The film was produced by United Artists and Charles Chaplin Productions, with distribution handled by United Artists and Netflix. It is presented in black-and-white with a 4:3 aspect ratio and features English dialogue.
The movie runs for 69 to 72 minutes and is classified as a comedy, drama, and family romance. It received a Metascore of 90 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97%. On IMDb, it holds a rating of 8.1 based on 38,615 votes, while TMDb lists a vote average of 7.926 from 887 votes. The film has won three awards and carries a G rating. Its narrative is set in Los Angeles, and it was released on January 6 and January 29, 1928.
Synthesized by Vinony from 51 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, Firecrawl, IMDb, OMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.9Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.
Cast
- Charlie Chaplin as A Tramp
- Al Ernest Garcia as The Circus Proprietor and Ring Master
- Merna Kennedy as The Proprietor's Step-Daughter Merna, a Circus Rider
- Harry Crocker as Rex, a Tight Rope Walker
- George Davis as A Magician
- Henry Bergman as An Old Clown
Themes
- circus
- one-sided love
- tramp
- unrequited love
- black and white
- silent film
- employer employee relationship
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings
IMDb
8.1/10
38,179 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
97%
Metacritic
90/100
- Year
- 1928
- Runtime
- 72 min
- Genres
- Comedy, Family, Romance
- Rated
- G
- Awards
- 3 wins total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Charlie Chaplin
- Written by
- Charlie Chaplin
- Produced by
- Charlie Chaplin
- Starring
- Charlie Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia , Merna Kennedy , Henry Bergman
- Cinematography
- Roland Totheroh
- Music by
- Arthur Kay , (1928 version) , Charlie Chaplin, (1967 version)
- Distributed by
- United Artists
- Release dates
- January 6, 1928 ( 1928-01-06 ) (New York) January 27, 1928 ( 1928-01-27 ) (Los Angeles)
- Running time
- 70 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Languages
- Silent film , English intertitles
- Box office
- $3.8 million (worldwide rentals)
via Wikipedia infobox
Official website
Charlie Chaplin : Filming The Circus
charliechaplin.com →Link to the official site · 8,227 chars · not written by Vinony
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Director
- Charlie Chaplin
- Screenwriter
- Charlie Chaplin
- Cast member
- Heinie Conklin
- Composer
- Charlie Chaplin
- Producer
- Charlie Chaplin
- Production company
- United Artists
- Cinematographer
- Roland Totheroh
- Narrative location
- Los Angeles
- Duration
- 69
- FilmAffinity ID
- 656790
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- The Circus (1928), screenshot 27'38''.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- publication date
- 1928-01-29
- film editor
- Charlie Chaplin
- title
- The Circus
- distributed by
- Netflix
- production designer
- Charles D. Hall
- aspect ratio (W:H)
- 4:3
- color
- black-and-white
- Commons category
- The Circus (1928 film)
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 8.1/10
- public domain date
- 2024-01-01
- copyright status
- public domain
Sources (10)
via Wikidata · CC0
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Circus is a 1928 silent romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film stars Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker, George Davis and Henry Bergman. The ringmaster of an impoverished circus hires Chaplin's Little Tramp as a clown, but discovers that he can only be funny unintentionally.
The production of the film was the most difficult experience in Chaplin's career. Numerous problems and delays occurred, including a studio fire, the death of Chaplin's mother, as well as Chaplin's bitter divorce from his second wife Lita Grey, and the Internal Revenue Service's claims of Chaplin's owing back taxes, all of which culminated in filming being stalled for eight months. The Circus was the seventh-highest-grossing silent film in cinema history, taking in more than $3.8 million in 1928. The film continues to receive high praise. The film's copyright was renewed, so it entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Circus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.