The Greatest Showman (2017) - Stars soar in spirit-rousing musical

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Hugh Jackman promises joy, magic and show on this poster for Michael Gracey's The Greatest Showman

P.T. Barnum grew up in poverty but had a family and a dream to dazzle, which made him create the New York circus with a multitude of American oddities, winning him renown the world over.

The Greatest Showman is written by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City (1998-2004)) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls (2006)), based on the life of P.T. Barnum, and directed by debuting Michael Gracey (Ned Kelly (2003), digital compositor).
Although based on reality, The Greatest Showman offers glittering fantasy from beginning to end, it seems, or more accurately, it wraps the reality it loans from in bright colors and costumes, eye-popping visuals and, most crucially, a barrage of pop songs, stars and upbeat showmanship with current themes of inclusion and diversity underpinning its plot.
It is a film it is easy to scoff at, - indeed its effervescent, unreal glamour and style nears the ridiculous and phony at times, - but it nevertheless bound to make your feet go ticking to the rhythms of its catchy songs and your heart race at its audacity and pathos-packed stretches, unless it is carved of stone. Because this imaginative take on Barnum is fueled with an undeniably likable sincerity, enthusiasm and spirit.
It is delivered through the engaged, sympathetic performance by Hugh Jackman (Logan (2017)), a performer with tremendous skill and range. Michelle Williams (Species (1995)) plays his mighty pretty housewife, who puts him right, while Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)) and Zac Efron (High School Musical (2006), TV movie) enjoy sweet chemistry and both have a luminescence that rockets their scenes upwards. Rebecca Ferguson (Life (2017)) is excellent in the dramatic part as opera singer Jenny Lind, lip-syncing her swelling Never Enough convincingly, while Keala Settle (Ricki and the Flash (2015)) as the bearded lady sings for real and has the film's best song, the truly fantastical This Is Me.
The music is a box of delights, and the costumes, hair and makeup help make the film's wealth of characters come to boisterous life. Seamus McGarvey's fluid cinematography is a joy, and the film is ripe with visual knockouts, unhindered by constraints of realism or convention.
Musical fans will adore The Greatest Showman with glee for although modern and hip, it is also a throw-back to some of the genre's greats from many decades ago. The Greatest Showman is a big, loud, infectious - and rare - spectacle, brimming with heart and soul.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 84 mil. $
Box office: 104.9 mil. $
= Too early to say
[The Greatest Showman premiered 20 December (Taiwan, South Korea and North America) and runs 105 minutes. The project was announced with Jackman in the lead in 2009. Gracey was chosen to direct in 2011. Lyricists Pasek and Paul were hired in 2013. Jackman has revealed that the long development process was due to the studio being reluctant to finance an original musical. Shooting took place from November 2016 - ? in New York. Veteran filmmaker James Mangold was credited as an executive producer and directed re-shoots for the film. The film opened #4, behind holdover hit Star Wars: The Last Jedi and fellow new releases Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3 to an 8.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it rose to a 15.5 mil. $ second weekend, still at #4, one of the biggest second week increases for a wide release ever, testifying to its great word-of-mouth among audiences. The film is still missing a Chinese release date, but it is set to open in Norway, Finland, France and the Philippines later in January and in Japan in February. It is nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Gracey is set to return as director with ninja-adventure Naruto. The Greatest Showman is rotten at 56 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Greatest Showman?

Circus World/The Magnificent Showman (1964) - Hathaway and Bronston's grand, ill-fated curio

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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?