I\u2019m doing this review on a whim.\u00a0 I just saw this movie for the first time since I saw it on Million Dollar Movie probably about fifty years ago and what I could remember of it even as a kid was that it seemed slightly hammy.\u00a0 In retrospect it\u2019s a lot hammy.\u00a0 Instead of the Ringling Brothers\u2019 Barnum and Bailey Circus; \u201cThe Greatest Show Earth,\u201d we\u2019re watching the Whirling and Borman Brothers Circus; \u201cThe Biggest Show on Earth.\u201d\u00a0 Remarkable creativity there.<\/p>\n
But Hank Whirling (played by Victor Mature) has split up with the Borman brothers and taken his own circus on the road.\u00a0 But he needs money so he goes to the local bank and gets a loan but in exchange for the money he has to take along two bank employees; Randy Sherman (played by Red Buttons) and Helen Harrison (played by Rhonda Fleming).\u00a0 Helen is a publicist who is supposed to help make the circus\u2019s tour successful (and end up as the love interest for Hank).\u00a0 Red Buttons is there to be Red Buttons and annoy everyone.\u00a0 Vincent Price is the circus master Hans Hagenfeld.\u00a0 Gilbert Roland is the high wire star Zach Colino.\u00a0 Peter Lorre is an obese decrepit version of himself as an alcoholic clown named Skeeter.\u00a0 David Nelson is Tommy Gordon, the aerialist and saboteur.\u00a0 And Howard McNear is Mr. Lomax, the bank employee sent to foreclose on the circus when Red Buttons refuses.<\/p>\n
Forget the plot.\u00a0 It has to do with the Borman Brothers sabotaging the circus.\u00a0 But it\u2019s too dumb to care about.\u00a0 What you have here is a collection of B-movie actors strung together to make a cinemascope spectacle involving elephants and lions.\u00a0 And you know this from the get-go.\u00a0 Anything with Red Buttons in it will be nothing else.\u00a0 And Victor Mature and Vincent Price are exhibits B and C.\u00a0 Look, they didn\u2019t even get Ricky Nelson, the popular Nelson son.\u00a0 Instead, they got his brother David, the one who couldn\u2019t sing.\u00a0 And the only thing Howard McNear is remembered for is playing the oddly disturbing Floyd the Barber character from the Andy Griffith Show.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m watching this clunker.\u00a0 Everything about it is hackneyed and telegraphed.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a lion act in it and it\u2019s really fun to watch.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a clown sequence and it\u2019s mildly amusing.\u00a0 And there are some scenes with the elephants and suddenly I\u2019m remembering how I used to like seeing the elephants at the circus.\u00a0 And there are some girls dancing around in harem outfits and that\u2019s not so bad.\u00a0 And even Victor Mature and Vincent Price hamming it up isn\u2019t so bad.<\/p>\n
And before you know it, I find myself enjoying this awful movie.\u00a0 By the end when they introduce Steve Allen as himself providing network tv as a lifeline to save the circus during a NYC subway strike, I find myself completely forgiving all the schmaltz.\u00a0 I even forgive the scene where the tightrope walker manages to cross over Niagara Falls to restore his lost courage and honor.<\/p>\n
And of course, by the end of the movie there are at least two incipient marriages.\u00a0 Victor Mature will marry Rhonda Fleming and Red Buttons will marry the sister of Mature\u2019s character (whoever the hell she was).\u00a0 All they left out was bloated Peter Lorre marrying one of the elephants.<\/p>\n
So, I can\u2019t recommend this movie on its merits.\u00a0 It has none.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re nostalgic for the circus, watch this and pretend the Ringling Bros. circus still exists.\u00a0 The lion scene is really fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m doing this review on a whim.\u00a0 I just saw this movie for the first time since I saw it on Million Dollar Movie probably<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[1240,676,1446],"class_list":["post-25180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-peter-lorre","tag-victor-mature","tag-vincent-price"],"yoast_head":"\n