In 1952, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth sought to wow audiences with its depiction of circus life, and the behind-the-scenes drama that went with putting on such grand entertainment. DeMille infused his movie with the same epic sensibilities that he poured into many of his films, doing his best to ensure The Greatest Show on Earth would be a big-screen extravaganza to rival his own The Ten Commandments.
The problem was the story wasn’t worthy of such a herculean effort, and felt more like a soap opera overflowing with love triangles and backstage drama than it did a grand spectacle. The Greatest Show on Earth has its moments, for sure, including a train wreck towards the end that at least approaches its director’s lofty intentions. But ultimately, I was unimpressed, and wonder why such an overblown motion picture won out over High Noon and John Huston’s Moulin Rouge at the Academy Awards as the year’s Best Picture.
Hell, Singin’ in the Rain was a better movie, and it wasn’t even nominated!
Flash forward a dozen years, when another showman with big ideas, Samuel Bronston, tackled another Big Top-themed movie, 1964’s Circus World. With Henry Hathaway in the director’s chair and John Wayne headlining an all-star cast, Circus World had all the makings of a circus epic.
Circus World came up short as well, but not quite as short as The Greatest Show on Earth. Whereas DeMille’s film was pompous and heavy-handed, Circus World is hoaky, but also kind of sweet, and that sweetness would win out in the end.
Circus owner Matt Masters (Wayne) has just wrapped the show’s American tour. Instead of packing up for the season, he decides to take his troupe overseas.
Unfortunately, things don’t go well for Matt or his team. Upon their arrival in Europe, the cruise ship carrying the circus capsizes and sinks. Matt and his crew manage to save all performers and animals, but lose their most important asset: the big top tent!
Matt does his best to salvage the tour, but his real reason for taking the circus overseas was to track down Lili (Rita Hayworth), an old flame and the mother of Matt’s adopted daughter (and fellow circus performer) Toni (Claudia Cardinale). Lili left Matt and Toni behind 14 years earlier after the tragic death of Toni’s father, a trapeze artist who plummeted to his death during a performance. Matt and Lili do eventually reunite, but are reluctant to tell Toni the truth about their own relationship, and what really happened to her dad on that fateful night all those years ago.
Right out of the gate, Circus World had a mawkishness to it, with character introductions and comedic asides that would have been more at home in a kid’s movie. Even the big scene, the sinking of the cruise ship (unlike DeMille’s film, which saved the train wreck for the final act, this tragedy occurs in the first 30 minutes), featured over-the-top sequences that had me rolling my eyes, including a moment when Wayne’s character subdues an angry lion in the ship’s hold, using a whip to force it back into its cage while sporting a western outfit and ten-gallon hat!
But as Circus World pressed on, it began to win me over. The relationship between Matt and Toni had a tenderness to it, as did the romance that blossomed between Toni and fellow performer Steve (John Smith). Even the inevitable return of Toni’s mother, played quite well by Hayworth, was a welcome turn in the story.
Like The Greatest Show on Earth, Circus World never achieves that epic feel it was reaching for; even the circus performances, though well-executed, don’t quite get there. In its quieter moments, I was absolutely tuned in to Circus World, and this connection to the characters and their situations gave the final scenes, when things get “big” again, a gravity that was lacking early on.
As a producer, Samuel Bronston often reached for the stars, telling big stories in grand fashion. He sometimes hit the mark (El-Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire) and sometimes came up way short (55 Days at Peking). Circus World falls somewhere in the middle, and though occasionally corny, is just endearing enough to be worth a watch.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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