A Dog’s Life + The Circus

A Dog’s Life / USA / 1918 / 40 min

Charlie is awakened from his outdoor sleeping quarters by the tantalizing odor of steaming viands offered for sale by a passing hot-dog vendor. This leads to a number of spirited adventures with the police, who resent Charlie’s ambition to eat without paying the usual fee. Later, Charlie’s faithful dog, famishing for something to test his teeth upon, digs up a pocketbook “loaded” with money that crooks buried in the ground. And when Charlie tries to spend the money in a nearby café, he meets the big moment of his career, for it brings him into contact with a beautiful cabaret singer who is herself starved for love and kindness.

The Circus / USA / 1928 / 72 min

The Tramp finds himself at a circus where he promptly gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the big top, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The owner immediately hires him, but discovers the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls for the owner’s lovely acrobatic daughter, who is abused by her father. His chances seem good, until a dashing rival comes in and Charlie feels he has to compete with him.