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The scenes between the cruel circus owner and his stepdaughter are melodramatic both in concept and in the actions. But there are flickers of pathos in those scenes and also in the Tramp's relations with the little bareback rider. Pathos is also rather neatly blended with humor in the conception of the tramp-clown who is funny when he doesn't intend to be, and pathetic when he tries to be funny. The tragic ending of the film is a variation of the classic "Tramp" fade-out.
"The Circus" is probably the first Chaplin film to show directly the influence of the intellectual critics. Slapstick, by now, had become "highbrow"; and Chaplin's pathos had been much praised. So it is possible he overdid both in this picture.
"The Circus," however, had enough comedy moments to make it a success. Its background offered many natural comic situations. Scenes like the chase in the fun house, the locked-in-the-lion-cage sequence and the high-wire episode where Charlie's safety appliance becomes detached, though no novelties in themselves, were made so by the originality of his treatment. Amusing and authentic are the bits where the older circus clowns try to teach the tramp how to be funny. And Chaplin makes the traditional circus clowning even funnier by capping it with novel twists. A virtue of the picture is the authenticity of its circus lore and atmosphere.
One interesting scene graphically illustrates the essential dualism in the Chaplin screen character. When Rex, the handsome tight-rope walker, joins the circus, Charlie, seated in a corner, appears melancholy and resigned as he watches the newcomer and the love-smitten Merna. But Charlie's "spirit" (thanks to double exposure) rises out of his body, knocks Rex down, and returns to inhabit the sorrowful creature in the corner (the "Strange Interlude" technique in terms of the silent film).
Chaplin himself played his tramp character in his