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I watched "The Circle" last night on TCM. It was a pleasant film, but I did not understand the ending with the two old men laughing. What did I miss that was the joke?

Thanks

I wasn't too impressed with the score. I think they were laughing because the circle was completing itself, and that the excitement wasn't going to last that long for the young couple.

Much of the score was so bombastic that I almost could believe that
the composer thought THE CIRCLE was a melodrama instead of a
witty Maugham comedy. Mind you, any film that ends with Creighton Hale
getting the girl has a certain element of tragedy for my tastes.

Much of the score was so bombastic that I almost could believe that
the composer thought THE CIRCLE was a melodrama instead of a
witty Maugham comedy. Mind you, any film that ends with Creighton Hale
getting the girl has a certain element of tragedy for my tastes.

You prefer maybe he should get the goat?

I've seen THE CIRCLE before. Compiled my own score a couple years back. The print was very nice if nothing else. Eleanor looked lovely in several scenes. I thought that the Composers Main-title theme was good, but used way to many times during the course of the film. Don't know for sure how to spell his name? Err, Garth Nudester? Something like that. The same guy who did the score for THE WHITE SISTER a few years back. Let's just call him Nudey! Only a couple of Nudey's other melodies were notable. The rest of it seemed to frantic. At first I had great hopes for the score, but it would turn out to be rather a let down. Still have no clue why this movie was selected? I liked it allot better with the music I chose myself. Seemed to fall flat last night. At least we are finally getting some new Silents.

Mind you, any film that ends with Creighton Hale
getting the girl has a certain element of tragedy for my tastes.

You prefer maybe he should get the goat?

Either that, or be given the gate... I'm flexible.

I watched the premiere showing of what (according to host Robert Osborne) was Joan Crawford's first credited role.
I soon realized this would be a challenge for me to follow the story. While not all that complicated, it often left me wondering what was really going on. In the end, the two old farts were in stitches with laughter and I could not for the life of me understand why?

At the end, nothing was resolved? If there was any message, it certainly went over my head. I enjoyed the story's humor but had problems understanding the conclusion.

The score, made especially for TCM by Garth Neustadter (I think he's still in his twenties). The music kept pace with this bitter sweet, romantic comedy that seemed to keep changing direction and the picture quality was quite good.

It seems everyone has their own tastes when it comes to proper scores. While this was just adequate here, Neustadter's score for "The White Sister" remains my most favorite score, with everything synced to match the film perfectly.

I remembered Harry Chapin's song "Taxi" today and it's helped to better understand the story, but not completely.

It's a story of the very rich and privileged who always seem to attract beautiful wives without any need to pursue them romantically. In the world of those with wealth, what has love got to do with anything?

Like in the "Taxi" song, Eleanor Boardman's character has found her life unbearable in a loveless marriage to a man who doesn't understand the first thing about pleasing a woman. When she discovers her husband's mother had run away from the family fortune 'for love', she wonders if 'love' really can endure? She's already met someone who she thinks she loves enough to leave all this wealth and privilege behind, but wants to know if 'love' can last?

She hosts a dinner party for her extended family, her father-in-law and the estranged ex-wife with her husband. After meeting the older couple who at first seem so unhappy, she discovers that Love truly has survived even if not always apparent. She decides to escape with her lover.

In a cleverly done scene, the husband foils the escape and brings her back home to the same loveless marriage (you never see them kiss or embrace), while the two older men laugh uncontrollably at what they think is happening.

That was my interpretation as well. It didn't appear either of the husbands (father and son) were trying. They almost seemed to be OK with losing their wives to other men - or at least didn't want to put in any effort to retain their love. While the ending was strange and seemed inconclusive, it did show the son finally putting effort into his marriage. I think we all knew what was going to happen after he brought her back home and took her upstairs. Again, I thought the ending was a bit strange, but it was nice to watch a film without knowing exactly how the story was going to conclude.

One would never known that this was a Borzage film. No director in movie history convincingly invested his work with such starry-eyed lovers whose passion literally transcended time and space. Yet in The Circle, the heroine is made to settle for a man who is in no way her equal, condemned to a loveless marriage -- and, disturbingly, with the film's endorsement. To think that Eleanor Boardman would end up with an utter twit (Creighton Hale), an aristocrat with no redeeming qualities, rather than the ardent, handsome Teddy (Malcolm McGregor), makes no sense. The last thing that could ever be said of Borzage's philosophy was that it upheld the socially conventional in matters of love. But the fact that that's precisely the end message of this film renders it in what can only be expressed as an "anti-Borzage" work. Strange.

On the other hand, knowing that Joan Crawford got her first screen credit for this film does make sense. This is because Borzage would work with Crawford again on different movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s -- all within the usual aesthetic of his singular (and truly masterful) film art.

Nonetheless, it was great to know that this film still exists and the picture quality was excellent.

I watched "The Circle" last night on TCM. It was a pleasant film, but I did not understand the ending with the two old men laughing. What did I miss that was the joke?

Thanks

I've returned to this 67 minute film at least four times and the story has become more interesting with each viewing.

If you remember "Hitchcock Presents" or "The Twilight Zone," you should remember most stories always ended with a bizarre twist and often with a rather dark ending instead of a happy one. Both is true for "The Circle," although it may be so subtle that it's not always apparent in a single viewing.

At the end of the story most (including myself) were puzzled seeing both Clive Cheney and Hughie laughing uncontrollably. We wondered what the joke was, when in fact there really wasn't one. Actually, Hughie was laughing simply because after all these years, Clive is still so dense that he doesn't have a clue what's actually going on in his own house. Clive was laughing because he was thinking how clever he was. The more he bragged, the more Hughie could not control his laughing at this "downy old bird" (quoting one of the titles).

In the final scene, Hugh Porteous asks Clive, "What are you laughing at?" and Clive answers, "I'm laughing at Lutton! He tried to induce Elizabeth to elope with him." As soon as this title ends, we watch Elizabeth and Lutton leaving the house together at the very same time.

Clive actually believes this wasn't happening and since Hughie knew Elizabeth did indeed leave with Lutton, he's laughing because after all these years, poor Clive still doesn't have a clue! He's as ignorant today as he was 30 years ago when Hughie ran away with Clive's wife Catherine. When Clive says, "Fancy that young whipper-snapper matching wits with me!", Hughie breaks up in laughter saying to Clive, "You’re a downy old bird, Clive." Clive doesn't have a clue that Hughie is laughing at his stupidity and the more Hugh laughs, the more Clive does.

The film began by telling us that the only scandal in this household was when twin beds were put in the master's chambers 30 years ago. The film ends by young Arnold telling his unhappy wife that it is time for bed, insisting that she follow.