The Circus (1928, Charlie Chaplin) (Patreon)

72/100

Second viewing, last seen 1995. Peaks a bit early, perhaps—viewed in isolation, the opening 15-20 minutes, up to the point where the Tramp auditions to be a clown, would rank among Chaplin's very best two-reelers. (I get a headache just thinking about how much painstaking geometry, or at least trial and error, must have gone into working out the angles for the mirror maze sequences.) Circus-specific material isn't quite at the same stratospheric level, and also suffers from Chaplin's odd decision to disregard the sure-fire comic premise he'd established, viz. that the Tramp can only be hilarious by accident. Being informed that he's the star attraction should theoretically ruin his act; instead, it appears (I'm only hedging because it's unclear how much time elapses) that he continues to be a sensation—now creating havoc on purpose—until he becomes depressed about Merna's attraction to the new tightrope walker. Not nearly as potent, but Chaplin's sentimental streak (which in this case implausibly involves an abrupt change of heart verging on romantic martyrdom) thankfully doesn't get in the way of monkeys biting the Tramp's nose while he's walking the rope himself, etc. And we do get a refreshing glimpse of the character's more spiteful side, as at one point he actively (if implicitly) roots for his rival to plummet to his death. Had I been around in 1928, this likely would have felt like something of a letdown following The Gold Rush, but only in the relative sense that e.g. Barcelona constituted something of a letdown following Metropolitan. Still far superior to most.