022: The Circus (1928) - released 1/6/1928; viewed 8/28/05.<br /><br />Gandhi visits Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Leon Trotsky is expelled from The Soviet Union, leaving Stalin in undisputed control. The Holland Tunnel opens in Manhattan. The Ford Model A is unveiled. 1600 people are hospitalized in London due to the icy streets. Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat hits Broadway and is a huge success.<br /><br />BIRTHS: Steve Ditko, McLean Stevenson.<br /><br />KEVIN: As expected, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus was extremely funny. The single funniest bit is definitely the high wire bit. That was a piece of physical hilarity worthy of Keaton or Lloyd, and it's in a Chaplin movie. What I found most surprising about this film was the ending. At the end of both The Kid and The Gold Rush, he gets the girl and he gets rich. But at the end of The Circus, he doesn't get the riches or the girl. Instead the little Tramp just keeps going.<br /><br />DOUG: As '27 ends and '28 begins, Charlie Chaplin releases his latest Tramp adventure, The Circus. Naturally I didn't enjoy this as much as the other Chaplin films we've watched. I did enjoy the high wire sequence; you can't go wrong with monkeys. I did find the ending a little strange; usually, the Tramp ends up with the girl and gets rich and all is well. But here, he marries his potential sweetheart off to his rival and goes on his merry way to his next adventure.<br /><br />Last film: My Best Girl (1927). Next film viewed: Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). Next film chronologically: Speedy (1928).<br /><br />The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each and every film. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.