سیرک/ The Circus 1928 شاهکار چاپلین تراژدی هنرمند تنها
سیرک۱۹۲۸- شاهکار ساخته و پرداخته چارلز اسپنسر چاپلین
تراژدی هنرمند تنها و آواره چونان انسانی یگانه در در کانون جهان
فیلم سیرک ساخته چارلی چاپلین بزرگ را بسیار دوست می دارم ، نه تنها بخاطرشیرین کاری های چارلی یا کمدی ترکیبی سرشار از خلاقیت چارلی که مجموعه ای از طنز در بازیگری ،طنز در موقعیتی که داستان می آفریند و اثر را بی نیازاز گفتار می سازد(فراموش نکنیم که فیلم صامت است)و نه تنها اینکه از سال هزار و نهصد و بیست و هشت تا کنون می تواند عبوس ترین آدم ها را بخنداند .این ها همه به جای خود درست اما چیزی که مرا شیفته این فیلم ساخته طنزتراِژیک فیلم است.
سیرک نمایش نمادینی از جهان هستی است .جهانی که برای اداره اش مشتی دلقک و بند بازوشعبده باز باید تن به هرتکرار یا لودگی دهند تا بتوانند شکم خود راسیر کنند اما دو نفر باید همواره گرسنه بمانند.نخست ولگرد آواره ( چارلی) و دیگر دختر بندباز که نباید بقدر کافی بخورد مبادا چاق بشود!
نکته ی تکان دهنده ی فیلم آنجاست که هنگامی که از چارلی می خواهند تامسخرگی راازدلقک ها بیاموزد نمی تواند اما موقعیت وجودی او در زمانه ی بی رحم او را در شرایطی قرار می دهد که به دلیل خروج ازچارچوب های متعارف و روزمرگی رایج خنده دار به نظر می رسد.
آنجا که پلیس دنبال اوست سر از سیرک در می آورد و فرار او از دست پلیس موجب تفریح تماشاچیان می گردد یا هنگامی که آن قاطر چموش سردر پی اش می گذارد یا آنجا که در جریان رقابت عشقی اش و جلب نظر دختر تن به بندبازی و گذر از طناب می دهد تا میمون های شیطان در آن ارتفاع آویزانش شده و دمار از روزگارش در بیاورند تا من و توی تماشاگر از دیدن این نمایش تلخ روده بر شویم!
سیرک چارلی چاپلین نمایش رو در رویی هنرمند در جامعه و اثر موثری که او در جهان هستی می گذارد اما در عین حال تنهایی غم انگیزش درهمین جهان .
سیرک چارلی چاپلین روایت دردناک همزیستی به ناچار هنرمند با جامعه و دوام در شرایط دشوار زندگی و همه ی عشق و شور وآمال سرکوب شده ی اوست . اثر موثری که او در جهان هستی می گذارد اما در عین حال تنهایی غم انگیزش ؛چرا که او از جنس این جهان، از جنس این سیرک نیست .
نگاه فلسفی چارلی چاپلین در پایان فیلم ستودنی است . جایی که دختری را که دوست می دارد به رقیبش واگذار می کند تا برود وبا آوارگی او نماند ؛ در دایره ای که از برچیدن خیمه ی سیرک بر جای مانده ، چونان انسانی یگانه در در کانون جهانی که از شدت فاجعه بار بودنش باید به آن خندید تنها و آواره ….
نیما خسروی
خردا نود ودو
The Circus 1928
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Produced by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chaplin
Starring:Charles Chaplin-Al Ernest Garcia
Merna Kennedy
Henry Bergman
Music by:Charles Chaplin
Distributed by:United Artists
Release date(s) January 6, 1928
Running time:70 minutes
Country United States
Language:Silent film
English intertitles
The Circus is a 1928 silent film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin with Joseph Plunkett as an uncredited writer. 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, not on purpose.
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 owed 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 dollars in 1928.
At a circus midway, the penniless and hungry Tramp (Chaplin) is mistaken for a pickpocket and chased by both the police and the real crook (the latter having stashed a stolen wallet and watch in the Tramp’s pocket to avoid detection). Running away, the Tramp stumbles into the middle of a performance and unknowingly becomes the hit of the show.
The ringmaster/proprietor of the struggling circus gives him a tryout the next day, but the Tramp fails miserably. However, when the property men quit because they have not been paid, he gets hired on the spot to take their place. Once again, he inadvertently creates comic mayhem during a show. The ringmaster craftily hires him as a poorly paid property man.
The Tramp befriends Merna (Kennedy), a horse rider who is treated badly by her ringmaster stepfather. She later informs the Tramp that he is the star of the show, forcing the ringmaster to pay him accordingly. With the circus thriving because of him, the Tramp also is able to secure better treatment for Merna.
After overhearing a fortune teller inform Merna that she sees “love and marriage with a dark, handsome man who is near you now”, the overjoyed Tramp buys a ring from another clown. Alas for him, she meets Rex (Crocker), the newly hired tightrope walker. The Tramp eavesdrops as she rushes to tell the fortune teller that she has fallen in love with the new man. With his heart broken, the Tramp is unable to entertain the crowds. After several poor performances, the ringmaster warns him he has only one more chance.
When Rex cannot be found for a performance, the ringmaster (knowing that the Tramp has been practicing the tight rope act in hopes of supplanting his rival) sends the Tramp out in his place. Despite a few mishaps, including several mischievous escaped monkeys, he manages to survive the experience. However, when he sees the ringmaster slapping Merna around afterward, he beats the man and is fired.
Merna runs away to join him. The Tramp finds and brings Rex back with him to marry Merna. The trio go back to the circus. The ringmaster starts berating his stepdaughter, but stops when Rex informs him that she is his wife. When the traveling circus leaves, the Tramp remains behind. He picks himself up and starts walking jauntily away.
Cast:
•Charlie Chaplin as A Tramp
•Al Ernest Garcia as The Circus Proprietor and Ringmaster
•Merna Kennedy as His Step-daughter, A Circus Rider
•Harry Crocker as Rex, A Tight Rope Walker (also a disgruntled property man and a clown)
•George Davis as A Magician
•Henry Bergman as An Old Clown
•Tiny Sandford as The Head Property Man (as Stanley J. Sandford)
•John Rand as An Assistant Property Man (also a clown)
•Steve Murphy as A Pickpocket
Production
Development
Chaplin first began discussing his ideas for a film about a circus as early as 1920.[3] In late 1925, he returned from New York to California and began working on developing the film at Charlie Chaplin Studios. Set designer Danny Hall sketched out Chaplin’s early ideas for the film, with Chaplin returning to one of his older films, The Vagabond (1916), and drawing upon similar story ideas and themes for The Circus.
Chaplin was a long time admirer of French comedian Max Linder, who had died in October, 1925, and often borrowed gags and plot devices from Linder’s films. Some critics have pointed out the similarities between The Circus and Linder’s last completed film The King of the Circus[5]
Filming
Filming began on January 11, 1926 and the majority was completed by November
After the first month of filming, it was discovered that the film negative had been scratched; restoration work was able to eventually adjust the negative.
A major fire broke out at Chaplin’s studios in September, delaying production for a month.
Chaplin was served with divorce papers by Lita Grey in December, and litigation delayed the release of the film for another year.
Release
The Circus finally premiered in New York City on January 6, 1928, at the Strand Theatre, and in Los Angeles on January 27 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
It came right at the beginning of the sound film era, with the very first feature sound film, The Jazz Singer (1927), having been released just months earlier.
Chaplin composed a new score for the film in 1967, and this new version of the film (see below) was copyrighted in 1968 (to “The Roy Export Company Establishment”) and released in 1969/70.
Reception
The Circus was well received by audiences and critics, and while its performance at the box office was good, it earned less than The Gold Rush (1925).[13] Many critics consider it and The Gold Rush to be Chaplin’s two best comedies.[14]
Analysis
Film historian Jeffrey Vance views The Circus as an autobiographical metaphor:
He joins the circus and revolutionizes the cheap little knockabout comedy among the circus clowns, and becomes an enormous star. But by the end of the movie, the circus is packing up and moving on without him. Chaplin’s left alone in the empty circus ring…It reminds me of Chaplin and his place in the world of the cinema. The show is moving on without him. He filmed that sequence four days after the release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ (the first successful talkie) in New York. When he put a score to ‘The Circus’ in 1928, Chaplin scored that sequence with ‘Blue Skies,’ the song Jolson had made famous, only Chaplin played it slowly and sorrowfully, like a funeral dirge.[15]
Musical rescoring
In 1947, Hanns Eisler worked on music for the film. Eisler then used the music he composed for his Septet No. 2 (“Circus”) for flute and piccolo, clarinet in B flat, basson, and string quartet. Eisler’s sketch of scene sequences and rhythms is in the Hans Eisler Archive in Berlin.[16]
In 1967, Chaplin composed a new musical score for the film and a recording of him singing “Swing High Little Girl” playing over the opening credits.[17] A new version of the film opened in New York on December 15, 1969, with the new score.[18] It was released in London in December 1970.]
Awards
Charlie Chaplin was nominated for four Academy Awards, but the Academy took Chaplin out of the running by giving him a Special Award.
The Academy no longer lists Chaplin’s nominations in their official list of nominees, although most unofficial lists of nominations include him.
Academy Award Nominee
Best Production
United Artists (Charlie Chaplin, Producer)
Best Director of a Comedy Picture
Charlie Chaplin
Best Actor
Charlie Chaplin
Best Writing (Original Story)
Charlie Chaplin
The Academy took him out of the running for the Awards and gave him a Special Award.
Special Award
Charles Chaplin
