Eye For Film >> Movies >> The Circus (1928) DVD Review
This film benefits from an excellent introduction by veteran film critic David Robinson. In its brief, five minute length, it presents a veritable info-dump concerning the film's troublesome filming process (encompassing everything from a fire to divorce).
The biggest feature is a 25 minute documentary about the movie. It contains some fascinating insights into the great man's working processes – even if it does skip about and, from time to time, shifts its focus away from The Circus.
There are also some 'out takes' (although this should really be entitled 'deleted scenes') comprising of around 25 minutes of various pieces. There is no soundtrack to these, and it does help if you watch the documentary to find out a little more – some of the scenes do not feature at all in the finished film. That said, for Chaplin completists it'll prove fascinating.
Ideally, we'd have a feature length audio commentary and some better menus (these, frankly, look cheap and tacky) but this is a package which promotes quality over quantity.
Reviewed on: 19 Jan 2011