Charlie Chaplin (1951)

cc 212 other and competing for the same girl); and the greatest team of all — Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, screen veterans who never really caught on until they joined forces. Despite all this competition, Chaplin held his own. It may be remarked, parenthetically, that Chaplin maintained his position for many more years, while most of his competitors have long disappeared. After "The Gold Rush" he was at the very height of his fame and popularity. Hence "The Circus," although not one of his best pictures, was a box-office success. The setting of "The Circus" is "somewhere in the sticks." The film opens with a paper star in a hoop which a bareback rider rips through, disclosing a circus framed within its jagged rim. The little equestrienne misses a hoop but takes her bows anyway. The Circus Proprietor, her stepfather, bawls her out, and knocks her down through another hoop. "For that you don't eat tonight!" The clowns, back from their turns, come in for their share of abuse. The empty house and the tepid applause are blamed on them. A Tramp joins the carnival crowd before a funhouse, taking a place next to a pickpocket who has just snatched a wallet and a watch. As the victim turns toward the crook, the latter slips the loot into the Tramp's pocket, then shows that his pockets are empty. Meanwhile the tramp ambles to a hot-dog stand. Hungry and without funds, he makes friends with a baby, possessed of a frankfurter. The child, hanging over its father's shoulder, is induced to hold out the roll. The hungry tramp takes a bite, and manages to have mustard added before a second bite. A cop nabs the crook in an attempt to retrieve his loot; and the tramp is startled to receive money from the law. He doesn't enjoy his affluence very long. As Charlie is preparing to dine, the pickpocket's victim sees