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| This poster for Henry Hathaway's Circus World seems to promise John Wayne going through a flaming hell in the film |
QUICK REVIEW:
An American circus director, who loves the circus and hates superstition, wants to transfer his success to Europe, but after a peculiar ferry accident, he is left with nothing and has to fight his way to his goal using all his talents.
Circus World (The Magnificent Showman in the UK) has nice effects and a good Dimitri Tiomkin (The Guns of Navarone (1961)) score, but its plot is strangely unfocused, perhaps because it seems to have been constructed around the plan to capture the contemporary success of circuses and create a spectacular hit by doing this, rather than around a story which was interesting in and of itself. The film has three story credits and three different screenwriter credits, among them master screenwriter Ben Hecht (Notorious (1946)). It is a story that develops without much nerve into a rather convulsive melodrama.
- This along with seemingly endless circus performances, (the film is 135 minutes long.) Producer Samuel Bronston (El Cid (1961)) must have had an erroneous faith in the magic of circus, which I for one don't share. (And I don't seem to be alone, judging by the numbers below.)
The odd ending SPOILER about swinging around cements the dubious impression left behind by Circus World.
The film was haunted behind the camera during its laborious shoot, (lasting from September '63 to February '64), as star John Wayne (True Grit (1969)) was in the early stages of his lung cancer, which he would require an operation for soon after the film, and co-star Rita Hayworth (Gilda (1946)) was in her early stages of Alzheimer's disease, drinking heavily, missing her schedule and forgetting her lines.
It was directed by Henry Hathaway, who would direct Wayne some years hence in his career's golden swan song, the only movie he received an Oscar for, the great True Grit.
Related review:
Henry Hathaway: Airport (1970) or, A Genre Is Born (sequences)
In lieu of a trailer, - not available on Youtube, strengthening the impression of a brushed-away flop, - here's one of Dimitri Tiomkin's Globe-nominated songs from the film
Cost: Estimated 9 mil. $
Box office: 1.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Huge flop
[Unless Circus World was a flaming success internationally, (which would have almost certainly been reported somewhere), it turned out a gross miscalculation and was most likely a film that most involved were happy to put behind them as soon as possible. It seems even its rights holders still believe so, because it hasn't been released on DVD in America specifically, only on an all region DVD.]
What do you think of Circus World?
Other circus movies that you've seen?
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