The Big Circus (1959)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Perfectly adorable

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Irwin Allen produced this circus melodrama for second-string Allied Artists Productions, from a screenplay he co-authored with Charles Bennett and Irving Wallace--did all three of them fall in love with 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth"? A financially-strapped traveling circus unknowingly harbors a killer amongst its troupe, revealed in a big climax under the tent with a full audience in attendance and at least one TV camera rolling! Allen did his best to round up colorful talents for this Big Top opus, and Victor Mature, Gilbert Roland and Vincent Price (as the master of ceremonies) each do good work. The weak supporting cast and even weaker attempts at humor are another matter. The song at the closing says 'it's a gay time at the circus,' which in this case is false advertising. ** from ****

The Big Circus is directed by Joseph M. Newman and jointly written by Irwin Allen (who also produces) and Charles Bennett. It stars Victor Mature, Red Buttons, Rhonda Fleming, Kathryn Grant, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. Plot sees Mature as Hank Whirling, the owner of The Whirling Circus, where, having seen his partner break away to form his own show, he finds he has to beg a loan off the bank to keep the Whirling show going. The bank agree to the loan but on condition that their financial whizz Randolph Sherman (Buttons) travels along with the show to keep an eye on the finances. He in turn hires publicity agent Helen Harrison (Fleming) to professionally sell the product, but both of them are not wanted by Whirling. However, there are more pressing concerns for the show, there is a saboteur at large and it seems whoever it is will stop at nothing to finish off the Circus.Looking for a Sunday afternoon time filler full of colour, vibrancy and delightful circus sequences? Then look no further than Irwin Allen's The Big Circus, an entertaining and tidy picture that seems to have been forgotten in the wake (fall out) of The Greatest Show On Earth. Making no bones about it, Allen follows the formula of the Cecil B. DeMille behemoth pretty much all the way, only the budget is considerably smaller so it obviously isn't as gargantuan as the 1952 Best Picture Winner. Fair to say there's some overacting, notably from Mature, but the mystery element is played close to the chest, with pretty much everyone under suspicion, and the high wire/trapeze antics are joyous. Nice cast, nice film and easy to recommend to the undemanding crowd. 6.5/10

This was all-too-obviously modeled by producer Irwin Allen on Cecil B. De Mille’s prestigious (and surprising) Oscar triumph THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952); consequently, the script is cliché-ridden, contrived and corny – but the end result is still professionally assembled and definitely not unentertaining for undiscriminating film buffs.The stars (Victor Mature, Red Buttons and Rhonda Fleming) are easily overshadowed by the character actors (Gilbert Roland, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price); the latter two’s casting may be construed as a red herring given the presence of a saboteur – a rival’s lackey – amidst the troupe. Incidentally, Lorre has the old James Stewart clown role and Gilbert Roland ably steps into Cornel Wilde’s aerialist shoes; his all-important “crossing the Niagara” stunt is a (back-projection) highlight. Similarly, the initial animosity between Mature and ‘interlopers’ Fleming and Buttons predictably blossoms into, respectively, romance and familiarity (due to Buttons becoming engaged to Kathryn Grant, Mature’s younger would-be trapeze artist sister).Along the way, the circus is hit by potential bank foreclosure, a lion set loose during a press conference, haystacks set ablaze, a fatal train-wreck, a trapeze artist losing his nerve during a performance, etc. The circus is also seen to move with the times – so that beleaguered owner Mature manages to bring his show to the people (rather than the other way around), via the nascent medium of television, when bouts of thunderstorms hit their scheduled stops!

A typical Irwin Allen spectacle, this has its moments--the daring publicity stunt involving a tightrope walker crossing Niagara Falls is genuinely exciting--but for the most part is just too prosaic and small-minded to be the blockbuster it was undoubtedly intended to be. It would have helped if Victor Mature's shifty circus owner were either less of a jerk or an out-and-out villain, and certainly if Vincent Price (who seems to have been cast as the ringmaster simply because of his moustache) had been given more to do than to stand around in unbecoming leisure outfits. On the other hand, Peter Lorre (whose presence as a clown alienates both Lorre fans who view it as the ultimate insult to that ill-used actor's dignity, and clownophobes who see it as a confirmation of their worst fears) gives the film a heart and humor it wouldn't have had otherwise.