The Circus (1928) / Sirkus The Criterion Collection

In the last film he made during the silent era, Charlie Chaplin revels in the art of the circus, paying tribute to the acrobats and pantomimists who inspired his virtuoso pratfalls. After being mistaken for a pickpocket, Chaplin’s Tramp flees into the ring of a traveling circus and soon becomes the star of the show, falling for the troupe’s bareback rider along the way. Despite its famously troubled production, this gag-packed comedy ranks among Chaplin’s finest, thanks to some of the most audacious set pieces of the director-performer’s career, including a close brush with a lion and a climactic tightrope walk with a barrelful of monkeys. The Circus, which was rereleased in 1969 with a new score by Chaplin, is an uproarious high-wire act that showcases silent cinema’s most popular entertainer at the peak of his comic powers.SPECIAL FEATURESNew 4K digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1969 rerelease version of the film, featuring an original score by Chaplin, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-rayNew audio commentary featuring Chaplin biographer Jeffrey VanceInterview with Chaplin from 1969New interview with Chaplin’s son Eugene ChaplinIn the Service of the Story, a new program on the film’s visual effects and production design by film scholar Craig BarronChaplin Today: “The Circus,” a 2003 documentary on the film featuring filmmaker Emir KusturicaExcerpted audio interview from 1998 with Chaplin musical associate Eric JamesUnused café sequence with new score by composer Timothy Brock, and related outtakes with narration by comedy choreographer Dan KaminNewly discovered outtakes featuring the Tramp and the circus riderExcerpts from the original recording session for the film’s opening song, “Swing Little Girl”Footage of the film’s 1928 Hollywood premiereRe-release trailersPLUS: An essay by critic Pamela HutchinsonNew cover by Mark Chiarello