Weekend at Bernie's (1989) - Kotcheff's morbid gaga silliness

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One of the festive posters for Ted Kotcheff's Weekend at Bernie's

Weekend at Bernie's is a beloved dark comedy by writer Robert Klane (Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)) and director Ted Kotcheff (First Blood (1982)).

Two aspiring, young friends at a New York insurance company get lucky with a business find and get invited to their boss Bernie's luxurious vacation house. But when they find Bernie dead upon arrival, they decide to keep it a secret.

Bernie's allegedly started a trend of 'dead-person-comedies' and became a popular hit that attained near-cult popularity through endless TV reruns and video and DVD (and in 2014 Bluray) releases in the years following its theatrical release. A trivia note that is almost too obscure to mention is that it is revealed in one Friends' (1994-04) episode to be Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) favorite movie.
The film starts out great, and the two protagonists played by Andrew McCarthy (Less Than Zero (1987)) and Jonathan Silverman (Death Becomes Her (1992)) have good chemistry and energy. - In particular the scene of SPOILER Silverman's date, who comes home to his parents, (his father gets played by Kotcheff), is a riot.

One of the other upbeat posters for Ted Kotcheff's Weekend at Bernie's

The details:

The first scenes of the two friends' handling of dead Bernie are also quite funny, but then after a while it is clear that this will be the joke for the remaining more or less an hour of the film; their carrying, driving, boating and dragging poor, dead Bernie around everywhere. It becomes too silly and our two heroes become too idiotic at some point, losing our investment in them. Needless to say, the plot also becomes unlikely beyond any measure, and Bernie's develops from the farcical into a screwball-like crazy-comedy. Somewhere along the way, it begins to come off as a one-trick-pony, which squeezes every possible morbid variation out of its gimmick.
Terry Kiser (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)) plays Bernie, which must have been difficult. Unfortunately, it is hard not to focus on the jerks and other ways that his 'corpse' moves, which a real one naturally wouldn't. (His skin color also stays almost the same throughout.)
All these objections aside, Bernie's is a good enough time, if not entirely deserving of any classic status.

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 30.2 mil. $ (US only)
= Box office success
[Bernie's spun a 1993 sequel, and was reportedly financially successful, although its reputation would make one think it bigger at its time than the case actually was. I have not been able to find any international gross figures, (beside that it made 400k £ in the UK and that 600k paid admission to see it in Germany.) This Variety article reports that Kane and Kotcheff sued Fox and MGM about a year ago, claiming that they have lost "at least hundreds of millions of dollars" due to the companies' neglect to pay them profits for Bernie's. I have found no conclusion to this truly wild accusation yet.]

What do you think of Weekend at Bernie's?
Other 'dead-person-comedies' possibly inspired by it, or which may have inspired it?

Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York

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One simple poster for Woody Allen's Celebrity

QUICK REVIEW:

A travel journalist in New York leaves his wife through many years to explore. He subsequently looses his script for a novel and meets with different perplexing developments in his life. Meanwhile, his ex-wife changes her line of business quite happily.

It is certain that Celebrity is not among its master filmmaker Woody Allen's (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)) best films, but it isn't among his worst either. It has enough qualities to still be termed a good film in my opinion. But first the detracting elements:
Despite its master cinematographer Sven Nykvist (Persona (1966)), whose 4th and last collaboration with Allen this was, the visual side of Celebrity, which is shot in B/W, isn't completely satisfying, (among other things it has one truly horrible zoom.) The plot is a little scattershot, and the ceaseless parade of celebrities (Donald Trump, for instance) gives the film a smack of New York-centered show-off from Allen's then well-earned place as the city's King Kong of cinema.
But the lines and scenes of his script are again damned well-written, and Judy Davis (Barton Fink (1991)), Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)), Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic (1997)) and Charlize Theron (In the Valley of Elah (2007)) are all excellent. Celebrity is a romantic dramedy that takes a fine look at celebrity, love and life, with some welcome humor.

Related reviews:

Woody Allen:  2014 in films - according to Film Excess
Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presents Blanchett, a woman under the influence
To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date   
Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy  
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)

Instead of a trailer for the film, which was only available in French, here is Allen, talking about his personal experience of celebrity

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 5 mil. $ (US only)
= Big flop
[Celebrity didn't spin gold internationally, either. Audiences weren't, like critics, wooed much by the look of Allen's film, (B/W might also have kept many from it), and the theme of celebrity is one that he has arguably tackled better before as in Stardust Memories (1980). Celebrity was, however, a minor hit once it arrived in Spain (for some reason) five years (!) after the US release, where it made 2.5 mil. € in 2005.]

What do you think of Celebrity?

Cocktail (1988) - Cruise an iconic stand-out in Donaldson's masterful drama

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Young, clean-shaven Tom Cruise, ready to serve your drink of choice, for Roger Donaldson's Cocktail

Brian Flanagan has returned home from the military full of ambition to pursue his dreams, which lead him to bartending in New York City. But he must face complications in life as well as realizing that despite his tremendous drive, the millionaire life he dreams of doesn't come as he'd hoped.

Tom Cruise (Born on the Fourth of July (1989)) is Oscar-worthy in his best part yet here; Flanagan reflects dreams of greatness and the frustration of making mistakes and meeting obstacles that most will be able to relate to. Cocktail tells a universal story of dreams, believing in them and keeping them alive, and of finding something greater on the way to achieving them: Love. There is more than meets the eye to Cocktail, which is in fact an example of hugely focused storytelling at its best and most charming. The film features a young Gina Gershon (Bound (1996)), Bryan Brown (Gods of Egypt (2016)) is terrific as Flanagan's condescending business partner-friend, and Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas (1995)) plays Flanagan's love interest with grace, charm and intellect. The two have real chemistry, and the film also benefits from a wealth of great songs and elegant photography by Dean Semler (Appaloosa (2008)).
Cocktail is written by Heywood Gould (Fort Apache the Brown (1981)) and directed by Australian master filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days (2000)). It is funny, romantic, dramatic and uplifting, with great lines and no rough patches; a film that can be seen again and again, first-class storytelling.

Related review:

Roger Donaldson: Thirteen Days (2000) - Electrifying Cuban Missile Crisis thriller

The Cocktail trailer simply gives away nearly the whole movie, so here, instead, is a great scene from the film, for your viewing pleasure

Cost: 11 mil. $
Box office: 171.1 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Cruise was a lifestyle phenomenon and a teenage idol by the late 80's, (especially catapulted by the success of Top Gun (1986)), and Cocktail is a vehicle that exploits this status to great effect. It was a huge hit in the US, where it made 78.2 mil. $ (46% of the total gross), as well as internationally. It was Globe-nominated for Best Song and (in a ridiculous stunt of simply trashing what's popular) Raspberry-nominated for Worst Actor (Cruise) and Worst Director (Donaldson), winning for Worst Picture (producers Ted Field and Robert W. Cort) and Worst Screenplay (Gould).]

What do you think of Cocktail? 
Do you think it deserved any of the Razzie statuettes and nominations it received?

Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) or, Does She? Does He? - Oh, Love!

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A saturated poster for Michael Gordon's Cyrano de Bergerac

QUICK REVIEW:

Cyrano is a big-nosed, attention-seeking orator, who affronts and fascinates Paris with his genius. He is striving for love, but he can only experience it as a rhetorical stand-in for a beautiful man.

This the first English-language adaptation of the classic 1897 play features handsome sword fights and dated cannon battles. The dialog in Carl Foreman's (The Guns of Navarone (1961)) screenplay is, at times, too dense, but Puerto-Rican actor José Ferrer (The Caine Mutiny (1954)) is outstanding in the all-important title lead, - which is also the performance that won him his career's only Oscar.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a dated but entertaining action love-tragedy. It is available in public domain here, but in shabby quality. For a clearer image and sound, you can also buy it on DVD and Bluray.
It is directed by Baltimorean director Michael Gordon (Pillow Talk (1959)).

José Ferrer in the nose-prosthetics and costume get-up for the role that earned him his only Oscar, as Michael Gordon's Cyrano de Bergerac

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 1.1 mil. $
Box office: 1.9 (US rentals only)
= Minor flop
[Cyrano de Bergerac was made for a smaller budget than other costume pictures of the type at the time because of fear it could flop, which it then ended up doing. It reportedly resulted in a 300k $ loss.]

What do you think of this version of Cyrano de Bergerac?
If you've seen others, do tell about it/them

Coraline (2009) - Selick's otherworldly masterpiece

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

The fantasy-inspiring, great poster for Henry Selick's Coraline

Coraline's parents have moved her to a new, large house. There's only one nerdy playmate in the neighborhood, until Coraline finds that there is a different, wildly adventurous world hiding inside the house...

Coraline is not a conventional kids animation with a clear moral, but instead a visually magnificent, fairytale-like horror so crazily created that I almost couldn't believe that it existed, as I saw it first. - The colors (which go from B/W to color), the designs and the seamless mix of techniques (like puppet stop-motion, digital compositing and CGI) will knock you out of your couch in amazement.
Coraline is unusually rich on originality and real, nightmarish horror, (meaning also that it isn't appropriate for kids under age 6-8, depending on the child.)
The voices, by Dakota Fanning (The Motel Life (2012)), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives (2004-12)), Ian McShane (Deadwood (2004-06)), John Hodgman (Mozart in the Jungle (2014-)), Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2 (2004)), Keith David (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) etc., are also lively and inspired. Inspired is the word that most defines Coraline, which is also very odd and surreal.
Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach (1996)) adapted Neil Gaiman's (Stardust (1999)) 2002 novel and directed the film. He also directed the successful, (yet grating) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which many (wrongfully, also due to wrongful advertisement) think that Tim Burton directed, - he didn't.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 124.5 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Coraline came in 3rd in the US with a 16.8 mil. $ opening weekend. Its US run ended at 75.2 mil. $ (60 % of the total gross), - meaning that it was mostly outside America that Coraline should have been better welcomed. It was Oscar- and Globe-nominated as Best Animation, (unfortunately losing to Pete Docter's Up). Coraline eventually became commercially successful with DVD sales (45 mil. $ profit), a video game and soundtrack.]

What do you think of Coraline?

The Imitation Game (2014) - Great Cumberbatch, good movie

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Benedict Cumberbatch stares you right in the face on the poster for Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game is the much-hyped top-grossing independent movie of 2014, 8 times Oscar-nominated and starring one of the most happening actors alive right now, England's Benedict Cumberbatch (Hawking (2004), TVM).

Alan Turing is the arrogant, quaint mathematician, who claims that he will build a machine that can crack the Germans' enigma code during the distressful time of WWII. As Turing fights for his project, there is another code to be broken as well: the code of Turing himself.

I'll let it be said right off that the film is another Oscar favorite this year (like Birdman (2014)), which doesn't live up to its hype, and if it isn't clear to most people now, perhaps, then I think it will be clear in a few years, once the awards season dust has settled, so to speak.
The Imitation Game is a good period war movie that lives on mainly two qualities: Firstly, the great story at its core: Turing. Secondly, Cumberbatch's serious, transmorphing performance as him. While lots in the man's life has been polished and made easier to understand for a mass audience in 114 minutes' time, Cumberbatch has on the other hand been allowed to run wild with a deep-felt and unabashed characterization, which is the film's main selling point, and will quite likely earn him his first Oscar statuette in a couple of weeks' time. [Post-note: It didn't: Eddie Redmayne instead won for portraying Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014).]
Other distinguished performers here include secondaries Rory Kinnear (Cuban Fury (2014)) as the detective that gets a whiff of Turing's secrets, Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)) as his superior Menzies and young Alex Lawther (X+Y (2014)) as young Turing, who is stunningly close to Cumberbatch's portrait.
In the up-played part as Turing's friend Joan Clarke, Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice (2005)) does well but is basically second banana. - Her Oscar-nomination for this supporting performance (her second after Pride & Prejudice) is a bit hard to understand, and definitely shouldn't wind up giving her her first statuette.

Benedict Cumberbatch by the cinematically enlarged, redesigned 'Bombe' decode machine for Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game

The details:

The film is based on the first sold feature script of young screenwriter Graham Moore (Pirates vs. Ninjas (2005), short), who also, amazingly, has been Oscar-nominated for this job. (The script was a Blacklist favorite in 2011.) The complexity of Turing and his math gets washed over here and cooked down to a kind of motto which is repeated by different characters at different times in the film. But the story of the film and its success is so good that scores of audiences and critics won't recognize its dubious reconstruction of Turing, which you can read about towards the bottom of this page.
Together with a visual and score side (by Alexander Desplat, also Oscar-nominated) that both are neat but nothing particularly outstanding, Imitation Game comes off somewhat dusty and old-fashioned, perhaps also because it follows the towering Oscar-winner of last year, the sensuous, emotionally overpowering masterpiece 12 Years a Slave (2013).
But even comparing it to more related fare like Ron Howard's great mathematician biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001) or the recent British home run period biopic The King's Speech (2010), The Imitation Game simply falls short.
It is the English-language debut of Norwegian director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters/Hodejegerne (2011)), who should have given more of a damn of all the well-meaning forces undoubtedly securing that he "got it right" here with this heavy, important material, and instead have given us a bit wilder version of Turing's life. Incredibly, though, even Tyldum is Oscar-nominated for his direction.
At its core, the film presents a startling and incredible story; at its best, it is about how much of the 'great war' and the fate of much of Europe was controlled by mathematicians and statistics in a room in England. - That is new to the screen and mind-bending 'news' to boot. Turing's sad end, condemned for his homosexuality, ending his own life, becomes a a tragic end-note instead of a serious aftermath, the natural 3rd act for the film about his life, which might have made it excell. This doesn't happen.

Oscar-nominated, beautiful Keira Knightley, second banana in Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 14 mil. $
Box office: 134.6 mil. $ (and counting)
= Huge hit
[The Weinstein Company struck gold once again by purchasing the movie for 7 mil. $ for US distribution (the reportedly biggest sum paid for a foreign film ever), where it has made 69.8 mil. $ so far (52 % of the total gross). It premiered at Telluride, played at Toronto, and premiered in Europe at the BFI London Film Festival. It still has just over a dozen countries yet to premiere in, including, most prominently, Japan.]

What do you think of The Imitation Game?

Cars (2006) - Idiotic, loud sports drama animation

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+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

Powerful visuals on this poster for John Lasseter and Joe Ranft's Cars

QUICK REVIEW:

Lightning McQueen is a solo-driving race car star, who falls off the transportation truck and ends up in an abandoned small town, where he learns something about friendship and teamwork, before SPOILER he triumphs completely at the mega-race.

Cars is an almost unendurable movie; intolerably loud and overwrought, and seemingly based on the dubious core value that everyone wants to be famous and # 1.
This rather flat and illusory representation of people and the world is then exposed to a carpet-bombing of mostly American accents, whereof especially the stereotypical Southern ones are gratingly awful.
The story is wildly predictable and sentimental. It doesn't lift the task of getting us to feel any empathy for cars. The idea is in some way just too ridiculous... - What was Paul Newman (Torn Curtain (1966)) doing lending his voice to this film, which became the last of his career?
The one thing that can't be taken away from Cars is its animation, which is incredibly handsome. - But that is, of course, not enough, seeing as Cars is the last exclusive Pixar film (before their merger with Disney), the animation studio that brought us Toy Story (1995) and many other endearing classics.
It is directed by John Lasseter (Toy Story), with (according to IMDb) co-director Joe Ranft (Finding Nemo (2003), voice actor). Lasseter is busy with Cars 3 right now ...

Related reviews:

John Lasseter: Bolt (2008) - Hollywood dog road adventure fun for the whole family! (executive producer)

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Incredibles (2004) - Unwanted animated action slam-dunk (executive producer)

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 120 mil. $
Box office: 461.9 mil. $
= Big hit
[Cars made 60.1 mil. $ in its opening weekend in the US, where its run landed on 244 mil. $ (53 % of the total gross). It was # 1 for two weeks before Click and then Superman Returns overtook the spot. It was even beloved by US critics and twice Oscar-nominated, (Best Animation and Best Song.) Cars was the biggest animated hit of 2006 in the States and the second biggest worldwide, behind Ice Age: The Meltdown. The spin-off merchandise has grossed a stunning 10 Bil. $ in the first 5 years since the release of the film, which has spun a sequel, a spin-off and soon a second sequel.]

What do you think of this huge, glistening money machine?

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) - Good-looking, enthusiastic romcom fun, unfortunately falls down the stairs in its 3rd act

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The colorful, eclectic poster for Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's Crazy, Stupid Love

QUICK REVIEW:

A middle-aged woman decides to divorce the father of her children after she has cheated on him. Her husband then gets trained in dating and laying women by a local Don Juan. - But will he ultimately be able to win his wife back?

Good forces are at play in this second directorial work by director partners Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You, Philip Morris (2009)); Julianne Moore (Still Alice (2014)), Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)) and in particular a well-acting and co-producing Steve Carell (Foxcatcher (2014)), making his first film for his Carousel Productions here.
Crazy, Stupid Love is a fresh romcom in which the kids don't break down at the news of divorce, and the talk at the school about the unruly teenager elapses without problems. - That is, it doesn't initially fall into the cliché pitfalls we've seen before. Dan Fogelman's (Bolt (2008)) script does implode later, unfortunately, as all the male characters are made to jumble together simply by accident. And the mess continues from there, as Gosling's character turns into a major a-hole all of a sudden, simply, it seems, because he has had more partners than our lead Carell...
Before this, the film has been amusing, enthusiastic and featured some good music to boot.
Ficarra and Requa are soon premiering their biggest, and possibly most risky work yet, the Will Smith-starring Focus.

In returning to the film at hand here, we can't get past it without pausing to applaud Gosling, who looks devastating in it:

Related review:

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa: Bad Santa (2003) - Zwigoff sticks dynamite under Christmas in this modern dark comedy classic (writers)

One thing you can't take put a finger on is the trailer for the film. Watch it here, - it's spotless!

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 142.9 mil. $
= Box office success
[Not a super-smash hit, but a lavish, up-beat, broad romcom of the type that a lot of people (women not least) are always ready to watch, internationally. Crazy, Stupid Love made 84.3 mil. $ (59 % of the total gross) in the States. It proved an auspicious first feature for Carell's successful Carousel Productions, which even generally won better reviews than the one here, as well as both People's Choice and Teen Choice awards for Emma Stone (Birdman (2014)).]

What do you think of Crazy, Stupid Love?

Child Bride/Child Brides/Child Bride of the Ozarks/Dust to Dust (1938) - Revier's dubious curio

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An original, boding poster for Harry Revier's Child Bride

QUICK REVIEW:

A female teacher in the Ozark mountains talks against village stupidity and the custom of taking a child bride, but she encounters strong resistance.

I saw this short (62 min.) feature from the Internet Archive, where it is in public domain, and the copy there is, unfortunately, terrible, both image- and sound-wise. But it is an interesting and unusual film, controversial for its lengthy scene of its 12 year-old star Shirley Mills' (The Grapes of Wrath (1940)) skinny dipping.
It has therefore been labeled an exploitation film by many, (undoubtedly also due to its suggestive posters like the one above), but it is also an honest rejection of the unnatural marriage system depicted. - Although, of course, its blending of the two is highly unusual, questionable, and, for many, hard to take.
The film's cast also includes one of the little people of Tod Browning's Freaks (1932). Among its oddities counts also its ending, SPOILER in which the girl is allowed to avoid the marriage and be in love with her half-brother!?!
It is directed by Harry Revier (The Revenge of Tarzan (1920)) as his penultimate film (out of 26, including a few shorts.)

This collage of stills from the film also includes some from the notorious nude swimming scene:

This original trailer seems to lend something to the exploitation argument: 'Sextastic' the film was actually sold as ...

Cost: Estimated 24k $
Box office: Unknown
[Reportedly, the film ran the 'exploitation circuit' for many years. The controversial elements got past the Hays Office, because the film was made independently and claimed to be educational. It is now available free and legal right here.]

What do you think of Child Bride?
If you've seen other films by Revier, how was/were it/they?

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?