The Little Tramp brings his slapstick hijinks to the big top.

Charlie Chaplin's film The Circus begins in a fading circus, where the equestrienne (Merna Kennedy) can't jump the hoops and the clowns cant make the audience laugh.

Outside on the midway, The Little Tramp falls into a series of wonderful comic routines that end when, pursued by a cop, he bursts into the tents centre ring and wows the audience.

The circus owner ringmaster (Allan Garcia) auditions The Little Tramp as a clown but discovers he is only funny when he isn't trying.

He tricks The Little Tramp into joining the circus as a prop man who wreaks havoc with whatever he does and who unknowingly becomes the star of the show...