Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)

Absolutely Fantastic

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This film was a bit of a disaster at the box office...and rightfully so. It demonstrated that even a top star like Doris Day has to make wise career choices...and this was Day's last musical.There are some good things here. There's never a reason not to revel in the antics of the beloved Jimmy Durante, here playing the owner of the circus. And not far behind is his girlfriend -- Martha Raye, playing a circus performer. Durante and Raye are simply classic here. And, you will see some awfully good circus performers here.But beyond those things, this film is fluff...the kind of clean-minded fluff that is so typical of Doris Day. But this is so sweet that it's almost sickening...because circuses just weren't this clean heartwarming. And, if you think about it carefully, these circus people are cheats who who bilk local vendors out of deserved pay for their products. But that is quickly brushed aside here.Doris Day is just too pristine here. If you like that, she's good, but it's so unrealistic. She does have a couple of great songs -- "This Can't Be Love" and "My Romance".Stephen Boyd does well here as the son of a rival circus who is secretly plotting to buy the circus from under Durante and Day...but feels darned guilty about it. His main song is "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World", though he is simply lip-sinking. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much chemistry between Boyd and Day; not sure that it's the fault of either one...it just didn't quite work.I can't say that I'm happy to see one of my very favorite character actors -- Dean Jagger -- as the bad guy here (the rival circus owner and Boyd's father). Although at least they give him the excuse of wanting to give the public the most wonderful circus experience that they will never be able to forget.If there is one thing I'll give top notch credit to here, it's the doubles that are used for the various stars, including Doris Day and Jimmy Durant on the high wire and trapeze , etc. Well done and quite convincing.This film has its moments, but the moments are too far apart to make an interesting whole. And the ending is atrocious and pretty much ruins whatever was good about the movie..

This film is, in a word, surreal. Even for a late-in-the-game musical. On the plus side, the R&H songs are excellent and Day is fantastic. Stephen Boyd's taken a lot of heat in these reviews and, yes, he's no outstanding leading man. But he does the one thing he needs to do very well - he looks gorgeous, and you understand Day's being crazy for him. But the story goes all over the place. It jumps from froth to dark treachery, then way back again, and what's worst of all is you feel you're watching a dreadfully low-budget extravaganza, especially as the betrayed circus stragglers hit the road to make a living. Even Boyd's reappearance to redeem himself is done too quickly and with no real explanation about the destruction of the family circus or his part in it. He just starts singing about circus fun and everything's lovely again. Finally, the last twenty-minute number is a...well, psycho musical comedy explosion. Yet - see it. Day doing 'Little Girl Blue' is worth it alone, with Boyd's studly hanging about on ropes coming in a close second.

Doris Day, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, and Great Songs. That's what makes this film so good. Other than that, this tale about life in the circus may seem predictable with a paper-thin plot. But, the stars boost it to a fun, non-stop rollick with elephants, high-wire acts, and clowns. There is also Stephen Boyd. But while he may seem fairly nice to look at, he doesn't quite have the star power to carry the viewer's interest his character should have, even if he really was singing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and didn't need to be dubbed. With Doris Day singing "Little Girl Blue" and "My Romance" as highlights, this pleasing musical should keep the viewer out of trouble for well over two hours and in the world of the greatest show on earth.

JUMBO is a very curious musical film to me for several reasons. It was one of the first musical films I ever saw. I watched it in the auditorium of my public school in Queens in the 1963 - not in a movie house. I suppose it was shown because it deals with a circus theme. Secondly, it is based on a musical by Rogers and Hart that was made in the middle of the 1930s, starring Jimmy Durante. In fact, the movie kept one of Durante's classic moments of stage comedy. He is trying to lure the elephant off the circus grounds, and is moving very quietly followed by Jumbo, and is being nonchalant while doing this. Then a guard stops them, yelling, "Where are you going with that elephant?!" Looking haughty and insulted, Durante stretches to his full height, and asks, " ELEPHANT? WHAT ELEPHANT?!"The original Broadway show was a real extravaganza, due to it's circus setting - produced by the legendary showman Billy Rose. If you are not old enough to recall Rose, you may remember that James Caan played him in the movie FUNNY LADY (the sequel to FUNNY GIRL, that starred Barbara Streisand as Rose's wife Fanny Brice).The real Jumbo was the elephant who is associated with P.T. Barnum's circus in the 19th Century. That Jumbo was originally a star of the London Zoo, very popular with children in England who were allowed to ride his back. Barnum bought him in 1882, and he was the last great star in the impresario's career. Unfortunately Jumbo got killed in Canada in 1885 in a tragic railroad yard collision.Here Jumbo is the star attraction at a circus that is run by Durante, Martha Raye, and Doris Day. But the circus has attracted the attention of Dean Jagger (in one of his villainous roles). Jagger wants to get control of the small circus and Jumbo, and slowly does just that. To confuse the matter, Stephen Boyd plays a trapeze walker who romances Day. Boyd turns out to be Jagger's son, and something of a spy on the competition. The romance between Boyd and Day adds to the tension of the film.The music is first rate, particularly the introductory "Over and Over Again", and the number which is the sweetest moment in Durante's movie career - when he is marrying Martha Raye, he sings "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World" to her. It is an adorable moment, as these two plain people glow with affection for each other. Well worth catching the film for that reason alone.