How sad is this?

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Charlie Chan and family are invited to attend a circus performance by one of the owners, Joe Kinney. Kinney wants some help from Chan on some threatening letters he's been receiving. However, when Chan pays Kinney a visit in his trailer, he discovers Kinney's dead body. The killer appears to be a gorilla that briefly escaped from its cage. Chan, however, is not so sure and starts to investigate.Despite what I'm about to write, I do not dislike Charlie Chan at the Circus. The 6/10 rating means that I consider it a better than average film – not great, but not horrible either. There are several issues I have with this one that that keep me from rating it higher. 1. As I've written before (most recently in a "review" of a Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries episode), I'm not a fan of the circus or movies/TV set in a circus. It doesn't work for me. 2. While I appreciate the use of real circus-type performers, Colonel Tim and Lady Tiny get old real quick. George and Olive Brasno might not be the best actors, but that's not my problem. It's the constant jokes about little people smoking cigars or cooking breakfast that I can't stomach. Once or twice might have been okay, but we see Colonel Tim with and/or offering up cigars in just about every scene he appears. Not funny. 3. BIG SPOILER – The way the film handles the fact that the killer is a man in a gorilla suit and not a real gorilla is ridiculous. The "gorilla" is shot dead, but no one but Chan notices it's not a real gorilla. These people are standing literally inches away from the dead body. Impossible. END BIG SPOILER 4. When watching a mystery, I really enjoy playing along with Chan or whoever the detective might be. But Charlie Chan at the Circus has so many clues that the viewer would have no way of knowing, there's no way you can figure out "who done it". It's cheating. Normally, I give Chan films a pass on this, but with everything else that bothered me, I thought I'd mention it. 5. Lee Chan's hijinks are especially annoying in parts of the film. Going undercover as a woman pushing a stroller with Colonel Tim posing as a baby (complete with cigar, naturally) is plain old stupid. I realize that everything I've written is negative, but this is still Charlie Chan and I find the series highly entertaining. Despite the numerous issues I have with the movie, I've rated it a respectable 6/10. The movie doesn't work as well for me as some of the others in the series.

I liked this movie, lots of mystery and more. First time Chan's wife is in a movie that I saw I think there were other wives in other movies but this is the first time I saw her and their 13 kids all going to the circus. The lady that played Chan wife Annie Mar only says a few words. She is listed as uncredited which is sad. All Chan's movie kids were cute.There was a small couple, about 3 or 4 feet tall that did a dance at the circus and were excellent. I believe were married in real life. There real name is George & Olive Brasno. Soon after a man from the circus approaches Chan for help regarding threatening letters. He is murdered hours later. There are a lot of people that can be suspect. Everyone seems to dislike each other for some reason.What I did not like about this movie is the way animals are treated and caged at the circus. I started seeing and thinking about how animals are treated and now from watching old black and white movies I feel sorry for the animals.I don't like the circus any more after tweets I got on Twitter and the info with it.It was kind of hard to figure out the people that were culprits.In this movie a gorilla named Caesar is violent when in the cage. He gets whipped from outside the cage by a man to stop the bad behavior. There are lions in a cage that are roaring and poked with a pole by someone outside the cage to "quiet them". There were also elephants.I don't know if these animals were real or not but I felt offended by the care and treatment of animals.Chan played by Warner Oland is good his son played by Keye Luke wants too much attention. The movie is good though if you get a chance to see it.

Even the most dedicated of sleuths likes an occasional day off and Warner Oland as Charlie Chan wanted just such a day to spend with his family at the circus. But it actually turns out that one of the partners who owned the circus had hired him to look into some veiled threats he'd been receiving from unknown sources. So the Chan family, all 14 of them, go to the circus and wouldn't you know it, the guy who hires Charlie winds up murdered. And Charlie's got a whole circus full of suspects. Oland enters the case at the behest of the performers, especially two midgets played by George and Olive Brasno. The police are holding the circus up until the murder is solved, but that in itself will bankrupt the show if they miss scheduled dates.It was nice to see Charlie on a family outing even if he couldn't escape the need for his services. As usual Keye Luke is the bumptious number one son who Charlie has to keep dispensing fortune cookie wisdom all the time to. This is a good, if average entry in the Charlie Chan series.

If you are like me, you'll watch these old things because detective story films from the 30's are important. You could also be genuinely charmed by cultural notes from another world.But for me, it got higher on my viewing list because movies about the circus are special in the tricks they pull, and the special cinematic vocabulary they bring.This one has almost no real circus content or feel, except that there are midgets, a gorilla, and one attack on a trapeze.The gorilla thing is almost obligatory in these cheap movies. The humorous thing in this case (spoiler) is that the animal is clearly a guy in a gorilla suit. The murderer it turns out is a guy posing as the "real" gorilla and who wears a slightly cheaper gorilla suit.Its all a waste, that part. But you might want to see the siblings who play — and are — the midgets. Brother and sister, they became rather successful on Broadway I read.The girl here is 18 and really very pretty. She's not an accomplished actress, but as she is playing herself in all respects, she really seems true and endearing, especially next to the old white guy aping what he thinks are Chinese mannerisms.Their bit is a ballroom dance, not anything circusy. But their very presence after Browning's 32 "Freaks," forebodes Lynch and all that means.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.